Lindsey Vonn, who swept all three races last year at Lake Louise, easily won the downhill here Friday, her 12th World Cup title at the venue, giving credibility to her desire to race the men.

The four-time overall World Cup champion will race her second downhill of the season Saturday and a super-G Sunday.

The Russian Premier League is studying the possibility of organizing a new championship that would involve the other states of the former Soviet Union, its chief said on Friday.

"Several premiership clubs have asked the league to study their proposal to create a CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) football championship," Sergei Pryadkin said in a statement on the league's official website.

A mixed bag of San Antonio Spur bench warmers almost handed the defending NBA champion Miami Heat their first home loss of the season in a matchup that had been billed as a preview of the NBA finals.

The Heat appeared to be headed for a humiliating loss but they survived the mighty scare to beat the Spurs 105-100 behind a 20-8 closing run and 23 points from LeBron James at AmericanAirlines Arena.

Luiz Felipe Scolari believes Brazil have a solemn duty to win the World Cup on home soil in 2014, but admitted that the faltering giants are nowhere near favorites for a sixth world title.

Scolari is used to guiding Brazil through stormy waters having taken over a side struggling even to qualify for the 2002 World Cup before guiding them to their most recent triumph 10 years ago.

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone on Thursday blasted the controversy surrounding world champion Sebastian Vettel's Brazilian Grand Prix overtaking maneuver as a "joke".

Ferrari had contacted Formula One's governing body, the FIA, concerning the move by the Red Bull driver during last weekend's season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix that won him a third successive title.

Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Andres Iniesta were on Thursday shortlisted for this year's Ballon d'Or, football's world governing body FIFA and sponsors France Football magazine said.

Barcelona forward Messi, 25, has already won the title three times and the Argentine is again favorite to win the prize, which will be presented in Zurich on January 7 after votes from journalists, national team captains and coaches.

Luiz Felipe Scolari is back in charge of Brazil's national football team, 10 years after leading the team to the 2002 World Cup title.

The Brazilian football federation said Thursday that Scolari has been hired to lead the team through the 2014 World Cup at home. He replaces Mano Menezes, who was fired last week because the federation didn't like his methods.

Hardened by coach Diego Simeone and fueled by striker Radamel Falcao, Atletico Madrid appears poised to finally break Real Madrid's dominance of the Spanish-capital derby with a long-awaited victory its fans have been coveting for 13 years.

Atletico enters Saturday's game at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in second place and a commanding eight points ahead of its crosstown rival after its best start in club history with 11 wins, a draw and one defeat.

Borussia Dortmund will need to stop the seemingly unstoppable at Bayern Munich on Saturday to retain any realistic hopes of successfully defending its Bundesliga title.

Dortmund is already 11 points behind the league leader, which has won 12 games from 14 and lost just once, becoming the fastest side in 50 years of the Bundesliga to claim the unofficial title of "autumn champion."

Inter Milan President Massimo Moratti denies the club is blackmailing Wesley Sneijder into signing a new contract, saying the Netherlands midfielder is not playing purely for footballing reasons.

Club director Marco Branca said over the weekend that Sneijder wouldn't play again for Inter until he made a decision about his future, and a new deal which requires him to take a pay cut.