Nigeria's footballers stand to gain more than $100,000 each, should the African champions win every game at the World Cup and win the tournament, according to figures submitted to parliament.

The Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) is requesting that lawmakers approve a 1.2 billion-naira ($7.2 million) war chest for the Super Eagles' bid to become the competition's first African winners.

An American investment firm has acquired a quarter of all the Manchester United shares available on the New York Stock Exchange, the club announced on Tuesday.

Baron Capital now owns 24 percent of all the shares that were sold by United's owners, the Glazer family, in 2012, although that represents only a 2.5 percent stake in the club.

The Women's Tennis Association offered only lukewarm support for the new International Premier Tennis League on Tuesday, with some details still sketchy even after the player draft.

Melissa Pine, the WTA's Asia-Pacific vice-president and tournament director of this year's WTA Championships in Singapore, also raised concerns over possible player burn-out related to the new "exhibition" event.

Barcelona host Manchester City in the second leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on Wednesday desperately in need of a good performance to distract attention from a dreadful start to 2014 on and off the field.

When the Catalans were given the hardest draw open to them in a pairing with City back in December, it was a minor setback on what had until then been a season that had exceeded expectations.

Defending champions Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova were upset in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open on Monday.

First, Sharapova went down to qualifier Camila Giorgi, 6-3, 4-6, 7-5, giving the young Italian her first victory over a top-five player. Then, Nadal followed on the main stadium court, losing 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (5) to Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine.

The New York Knicks defeated Philadelphia 123-110 on Monday to send the 76ers to their 17th straight loss, while the Miami Heat edged the Washington Wizards to clinch an NBA playoff spot.

Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 28 points for the Knicks, Amare Stoudemire added 23 points, and J.R. Smith and Carmelo Anthony each had 22 as New York won its fourth game in a row.

Fans attending the inaugural match at the new stadium in the jungle city of Manaus were not completely satisfied and reported a lot of unfinished work at the venue, which is set to host its first World Cup match in about three months.

Local media also reported a series of problems at the Arena da Amazonia, which opened on Sunday with a local match attended by about 20,000 people, including workers who helped build the 44,000-capacity stadium.

In a severe blow to the Netherlands' World Cup hopes, midfielder Kevin Strootman looks certain to miss the tournament in Brazil because of a serious knee injury.

AS Roma said Monday that the 24-year-old Strootman will undergo surgery after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament and possibly damaging the meniscus in his left knee during Sunday's 1-0 loss at Napoli.

Tottenham's gamble of selling Gareth Bale to Real Madrid and using the proceeds of the world-record fee to bolster its squad with a slew of new, expensive players has backfired.

Badly.

Bayern Munich president Uli Hoeness admitted Monday to evading taxes through an undeclared Swiss bank account at a trial that could send the German football great to prison.

Prosecutor Achim von Engel told the Munich state court that Hoeness evaded 3.5 million euros ($4.9 million) in taxes by concealing 33 million euros income through an undeclared Swiss bank account, the dpa news agency reported.