Midfielder Michael Essien will take a break from playing international football for Ghana, national team coach Milovan Rajevac said on Friday.

Fernando Torres is still one month away from reaching full fitness although he is ahead of schedule in his ongoing rehabilitation.

Former Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier has emerged as a leading candidate to replace Martin O'Neill as Aston Villa manager, according to reports.

Juventus coach Luigi Delneri has been defending his exuberant off-season transfer dealings.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has been left out of Juventus's 25-man Europa League squad.

David Beckham, sidelined since March with a torn achilles tendon, is hoping to take the field for the Los Angeles Galaxy against Columbus Crew on September 11.

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli admitted there's an atmosphere of apprehension surrounding the national team ahead of Friday's Euro 2012 qualifier against Estonia in Tallinn.

England manager Fabio Capello has been encouraged by Wayne Rooney's return to goalscoring form ahead of Friday's opening Euro 2012 qualifier against Bulgaria.

Capello: I've learned lessons from World Cup flop
Fabio Capello insists he has learned enough from England's World Cup flop to make changes he believes will put his team back on track as long as they play without fear.

Germany striker Miroslav Klose says he would like to carry on playing for the national side at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil at the age of 36.

Former Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho believes AC Milan can emerge as Champions League contenders this season following the arrivals of Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Robinho at the San Siro.

Everton striker Louis Saha has turned to leeches in a bid to solve his chronic knee problems.

Inter Milan president Massimo Moratti said he would be open to former coach Jose Mourinho one day returning to the club.

Italy international Marco Borriello came close to signing for Manchester City earlier this week, according to his agent.

I'm not the new Ronaldinho, says Coutinho
Inter's Brazilian teenage talent Coutinho has pleaded not to be dubbed the new Ronaldinho as he begins his Italian adventure.

The supposed conflict between Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola and his Real Madrid counterpart Jose Mourinho has intrigued Spain since the Portuguese signed for Real in May.

Top European club coaches welcomed the experiment with two extra assistant referees in the Champions League this season.

The Premier clubs are taking a break this weekend due to Euro 2012 qualifier which means the spotlight is on the national teams and how they will fare.

Stand-in Germany captain Philipp Lahm on Thursday denied he had any problems with coach Joachim Loew's decision to retain Michael Ballack as permanent skipper for the Euro 2012 campaign.

Schalke 04 boss Felix Magath has defended his transfer policies after spending some 35 million euros (45 million dollars) on new players this summer.

A report on the one-day mutiny by France's international football side during this year's World Cup has reserved harsh criticism for former coach Raymond Domenech, the website of the weekly Le Point reported Thursday.

New Wolfsburg signing Diego believes his former club Juventus have made "huge mistakes" in this summer's transfer market.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola is close to signing a new contract at the Nou Camp, according to the club's vice-president.

Former Aston Villa player Alan Curbishley has emerged as one of the candidates to succeed Martin O'Neill as manager of the Midlands club, according to reports.

Malta’s campaign in the Euro 2012 Group F qualifiers got off with a 3-1 defeat to Israel with Yossi Benayoun scoring a hat-trick on Thursday.

Birkirkara signed Scottish defender Ryan Harding who will be the fourth foreigner for Malta Premier League champions.

Paola Hibs Youth Nursery will kick-off its football season with a mass which will be held on Wednesday 8th September at 9.30am at Sant’Antnin Church Għajn Dwieli.

Bank of Valletta Chief Executive Officer Tonio Depasquale met with Norman Darmanin Demajo. the new Malta Football Association President.

Malta national coach John Buttigieg named on Sunday an 18-man squad for next week's first Euro 2012 Group F qualifier.

The Mellieha Sports Club in a bid to reinforce the team playing in the BOV Second Division have secured the services of Bulgarian brothers, Nikolai and Rosen Filipov.

This year's Fgura United pre-season tournament came to an end with Senglea A finishing top with maximum points after defeating Sta. Venera L 3-1.

Bjorn Vassallo, the MFA new Chief Executive Officer, announced during a press conference held on Friday a series of incentives to attract the public to the stadium to watch our national team's matches.

Third Division side Gudja United continued to strengthen their squad in their bid to challenge for promotion in the coming season, with the signing of 19-year old Daniel Bonnici from Hamrun Spartans on loan for the coming season.

Malta national coach John Buttigieg and his assistant Carmel Bussutil had ideal weather conditions to work as the evening cooled down to a decent temperature to train.

Valletta F.C. players and officials paid a visit to Dar tal-Providenza in Siggiewi on Sunday 29th August.

Hibernians will be playing a friendly match against newly promoted side Vittoriosa Stars.

The second part of the administrators’ course for officials of MFA member clubs and member associations came to an end early on Sunday afternoon.

This coming September, the Malta Futsal School will open its doors for the start of the new Futsal School venture.

Hibernians claimed their pre-season tournament after beating Malta champions Birkirkara 2-0 in the final game at Corradino on Friday.

Hibernians have reached an agreement with San Gwann regarding the loan of the promising Malta Under-19 forward Steve Pisani for season 2010/11, with an option to retain the player on a permanent basis as from season 2011/12.

At just 23 years old, Maria Sharapova considers herself still to be in the bloom of youth, but things are moving fast.

Mohammed Zaidi works with a jumble of cables in one of the apartments built at breakneck speed for athletes who will compete at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi in one month's time.

World Touring Car Championship ace Yvan Muller will make his first World Rally Championship appearance on the Rallye de France in October.

Four Indian wrestlers and a shot-putter were suspended from next month's Commonwealth Games on home soil after failing drug tests, officials said on Friday.

Disgraced former Olympic and world champion Justin Gatlin says he has turned a corner and is not looking back.

Serena Williams has revealed that she underwent surgery to repair a lacerated tendon near her big toe to avoid a lifetime with a "droopy" digit.

The Commonwealth Games are often known as the "friendly games" but New Delhi has little to smile about one month before the opening ceremony.

Kim Clijsters cut her error count on the fly, playing her way out of trouble to produce a 6-2, 6-1 defeat of Australian Sally Peers and power into the third round of the US Open Wednesday.

Ryan Rhodes has withdrawn from his European junior-middleweight title clash against Lukas Konecky in Birmingham.

Dani Pedrosa returned to the head of the MotoGP timesheets by a dominant 0.6 seconds during Friday practice at Misano, San Marino.

Reigning Tour de France champion Alberto Contador will skip the UCI Road World Championships this year in order to better prepare for next season, the Spanish team coach said Friday.

Norwegian sprint specialist Thor Hushovd won the sixth stage of the Tour of Spain here on Thursday, while Belgium's Philippe Gilbert retained the overall leader's red jersey.

World 800m champion Caster Semenya insisted that she is not interested in what people say about her as she steps up her preparation for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi next month.

Felipe Massa says the pressure will be on Ferrari to deliver a strong result on home ground in Italy next week - as it bids to get itself back in the hunt for the world championship.

American boxer Bernard Hopkins is scheduled to fight Jean Pascal for the World Boxing Council light heavyweight title December 18 in Quebec.

Outside title pick Andy Murray stormed out of the starting gate after waiting three days to play at the US Open, with the fourth seed wasting no time in crushing Slovak Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round Wednesday.

A two-day fundraising event organised by Inspire aims at creating awareness of the environment by encouraging the public to forego normal mode of transport for two days and have fun cycling whilst reducing their carbon footprint.

After five weeks of the National ten Pin League, it’s neck and neck once again at the top of Division One with Fina holding the edge with their superior pinfall but are equal on 36 with Ramis, who were 8-0 winners against HSBC, while Fina beat Turu’s Knights 6-2.

On a very hot summer day, two club members participated on a scheduled test competition for the first selections for the Mediterranean Cup which will be held in Malta next October organized by the Malta Weightlifting Association.

The third race in this year’s edition of the Birkirkara St. Joseph Triathlon Series will be held on Sunday, 5th September.

The Malta Basketball Association (MBA) together with the Malta Basketball Referees Association (MBRA) will be organizing a course for prospective Minibasket and junior referees.

More than 35 children at the Scuola di Pallavolo Malta Sport Summer School enjoyed a rugby league day recently as Anthony Micallef of the Malta Rugby League (MRL) delivered a session at the G.F. Abela Junior College at Msida.

Clive Farrugia showed his shooting talent this weekend at the Malta Shooting Sport Federation ranges in Bidnija when he won the All Malta Skeet Selection.

In its strive to instigate a sport culture, the Kunsill Malti għall-iSport (KMS) endeavours to develop and implement sport programmes targeting all members of the Maltese community.

Għat-tielet sena konsekuttiva l-Gvern qed joħloq fond ta’ €120,000 biex għal darb’oħra jniedi l-Iskema ta’ Inizjattivi Sportivi għall-Kunsilli Lokali 2011. Fl-2010 kienu organizzati 138 attivita’ sportiva minn 27 Kunsill Lokali differenti.

After a four-month euro-trotting experience teamSeb&Ben, namely Sebastian Ripard and Benji Borg, are back home.

The sixth and final race in this year’s edition of the Birkirkara St. Joseph Open Water Swimming Series will be held on Wednesday, 1 September at Tax-Xama in St. Paul’s Bay.

The course record for the Birkirkara St. Joseph 5K Road Running Series held on the Mtarfa By-Pass, set by Jonathan Balzan, was completely smashed in this year’s third race of the Series, by Britain’s Carl Hardman of the Salford Harriers with a time of 15 minutes 31 seconds.

A squash team from the Marsa Sports Club will be visiting Poland from the 8th to 12th of September to take part in a series of team matches as well as the Krakow Open Squash Tournament 2010.

The Malta Cricket Summer League Division Two continued on Sunday with another match in which Betfair played against RMG.

I & J Amateur Boxing Club of Mosta held a boxing event at the Mosta Football Ground to raise funds for a non-profit organisation "Amputees for Amputees".

The Malta Weightlifting Association has organised a competition held at the Cottonera Sports Complex.