The IOC was investigating allegations that some national Olympic officials were breaking strict rules on selling tickets for the London Games, following a report in The Sunday Times newspaper.

The International Olympic Committee pledged to take the "strongest sanctions" possible if members of national Olympic committees (NOCs) and authorized ticket resellers (ATRs) were found to have broken the rules.

Roy Hodgson is looking forward to unleashing the full force of Wayne Rooney for the first time in his England managerial career on Tuesday as the talismanic striker returns against Ukraine.

Rooney has yet to start for England under Hodgson, appearing only as a substitute in a 1-0 friendly victory over Belgium at Wembley and missing the opening two games of Euro 2012 because of suspension.

Greece on Saturday pulled off a shock 1-0 win to advance to the Euro 2012 knockout stages at the expense of opponents Russia, while the Czech Republic beat Poland by the same score to win Group A and dump the co-hosts out of the tournament.

A goal two minutes into first half injury time by veteran Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis was all it took to take Fernando Santos' side through -- and send the 4,000-strong travelling Greece fans, plus hundreds of thousands back home, wild.

British driver Anthony Davidson was involved in a spectacular crash at the Le Mans 24 Hour Race on Saturday when his Toyota collided with a Ferrari, the clash sending his car airborne.

The incident happened in the fifth hour of the famed endurance race at Mulsanne Corner as Davidson's Toyota was clipped by the Ferrari of Piergiuseppe Perazzini.

UEFA has given German referee Wolfgang Stark his second top assignment at the European Championship, working the Spain vs. Croatia match on Monday.

Some Italian commentators have suggested Spain and Croatia could orchestrate a 2-2 draw in Gdansk to ensure both advance to the quarterfinals and eliminate Italy.

Controversial French television football commentating legend Thierry Roland has died aged 74, it was announced by French TV channel M6 on behalf of his family on Saturday.

Rolland had recently undergone an operation and had declared himself unfit to travel to Ukraine for the Euro 2012 tournament telling Agence France Presse that "it would not be right to go to Ukraine where they do not have great medicine should something happen."

Britain's Saturday newspapers hailed Danny Welbeck's late strike that handed England a 3-2 victory over Sweden, but sounded a warning about the defending that blew a 1-0 lead.

The victory in Kiev -- from 2-1 down -- means Roy Hodgson's team only need a point from their final Group D game against hosts Ukraine to go through to the last eight at the European Championships.

A torrential storm threatened to wash away co-host Ukraine's match against France, and caused a rain delay of nearly an hour at the European Championship on Friday.

Pounding rain and lightning around the Donbass Arena in Donetsk forced the referee to suspend the match in the fifth minute.

Watching Spain play is a lot of fun for Germany striker Mario Gomez, and it will be even more enjoyable if he can beat the land of his father at the European Championship.

Germany was beaten by Spain at the last two major tournaments — in the final of Euro 2008 and in the semifinals of the 2010 World Cup.

New Barcelona coach Tito Vilanova says the Spanish club is looking to reinforce its defense and hopes to hold on to Dani Alves and Seydou Keita.

Vilanova, who signed a two-year contract Friday to take over from Pep Guardiola, said "we want to add to our defense. We have had problems and have been forced to adjust at both left back and center back."