Bangladeshi village football coach Mofiz Uddin only decided to form a girls' team in 2011 out of frustration at the local boys' failure to bring home any trophies.

Less than five years on, his young female players have won every national tournament going, becoming minor celebrities in the conservative, Muslim-majority nation.

England and defending champions Spain's preparations for next year's European championships step up a notch when Roy Hodgson's men travel to Alicante on Friday defending a proud unbeaten run.

Fifteen games and 17 months have passed since England last tasted defeat when their World Cup in Brazil was brought to an early end after just two games by a Luis Suarez-inspired Uruguay in Sao Paulo.

A rising power in European football meets a fading force this Friday as Wales begin their Euro 2016 preparations against a Netherlands team still reeling from their failure to qualify.

While Wales are looking forward to their first major tournament since the 1958 World Cup, the Netherlands will spend next summer kicking their heels after missing out on a place in France just 15 months on from a stunning third-place finish at last year's World Cup in Brazil.

The sex tape blackmail affair involving Mathieu Valbuena and which has led to star striker Karim Benzema being charged completely overshadows the build-up to France's friendly with Germany on Friday.

The sides meet at the Stade de France just under a month before the final draw takes place in Paris for Euro 2016, a tournament in which both nations will be among the favorites.

Lewis Hamilton intends to climb off his sick bed to realize a childhood dream with a first victory on the native soil of his hero Ayrton Senna in Sunday's Brazilian Grand Prix.

The three-time drivers world champion delayed his arrival in Brazil by 24 hours on Wednesday on doctors' orders after falling ill, but his Mercedes team made clear he has every intention of racing for his first win in Brazil at the ninth attempt.

Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant faces between seven and 10 days on the sidelines after sustaining a hamstring injury, his team said Wednesday.

Durant limped out late in the second quarter of the Thunder's 125-101 mauling of the Washington Wizards on Tuesday, failing to reappear for the second half.

Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia must "do everything" to eradicate doping, ordering an inquiry into allegations of major drug abuse in athletics that have left the country facing international isolation.

Moscow is scrambling to respond to the bombshell World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) report, which outlined systematic doping in Russian athletics, declaring that a foreign specialist could take over its discredited testing laboratory.

Spanish top-flight side Rayo Vallecano have launched an American franchise, Rayo Oklahoma City, who will play in the North American Soccer League, in the first such move by a club from La Liga into the U.S. market.

Rayo, from the Madrid neighborhood of Vallecas, confirmed the franchise will compete in the NASL, the second tier in the United States behind Major League Soccer, from 2016.

Bayern Munich will stand by honorary club president Franz Beckenbauer amid calls for the embattled German legend to explain his part in the 2006 World Cup scandal, chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said.

Beckenbauer, 70, headed up Germany's organizing committee for the 2006 World Cup finals, the awarding of which has become the subject of a police investigation here after magazine Spiegel made allegations that FIFA votes were bought in 2000.

Russell Westbrook's first triple-double of the season more than made up for Kevin Durant's early exit Tuesday in the Oklahoma City Thunder's 125-101 NBA triumph over the Washington Wizards.

Westbrook sat out the entire fourth quarter after amassing 22 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists for Oklahoma City, who led 68-50 at halftime and by as many as 29 points in the second half.