With Lionel Messi finally achieved his dream, as Argentina won their third crown on penalties, in what was said to be one of the greatest finals in the tournament's history, it brought a fitting end to what was the first FIFA World Cup to be held in the Arab world, during what, for many countries, was the first to be held in the middle of a football season, which provided arguably the most open in its history.

West Indies skipper Kraigg Brathwaite said he had full confidence in his young side, despite two crushing Test defeats to Australia, insisting they will learn from their mistakes.

The Caribbean team put up a fight in the first Test at Perth, taking it to a fifth day before losing by 164 runs. But in Adelaide, they were completely outclassed, being dismissed for just 77 in their second innings.

Eight-time Olympic Gold medalist, Usain Bolt, is to receive the Lifetime Achievement award at BBC Sports Personality of the Year 2022. The event takes place at MediaCity next week, with the Jamaican superstar saying: “I feel accomplished.

“I’ve accomplished all I wanted to in my sport, so it’s just a great feeling to know that with the determination and sacrifice that I put in that I could accomplish what I wanted to. I always try to motivate people and say listen, believe in yourself and just go out there and do your best.”

The FIFA Qatar 2022 World Cup continues to throw up stories of ‘romance’, ‘shocks’, ‘tears’ ‘dejection’ and ‘celebrations’ as, following France’s place being the last to be booked for the semi-finals, this has, already, got to be the most open celebration of unpredictability of a tournament that has given loads.    

Japan’s stunning victory over Germany, in the group stages of the FIFA Qatar World Cup 2022, left their football fans in a state of joyous disbelief and got the rest of the world firmly behind them.

But it’s their supporters who are earning praise in Qatar for their off-pitch tradition that appears to be uniquely Japanese: Cleaning up stadiums after other football fans have left. In what was becoming an increasingly common sight, Japanese fans stayed behind after their team’s win and helped to clean up the Khalifa International Stadium.

Baku City Circuit (BCC), Promoter of the Formula 1 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, has confirmed a change to its senior management structure that sees Arif Rahimov leave his position as Executive Director of the organisation after seven highly successful years.

Magsud Farzullayev has been named as the new General Director and brings with him a wealth of experience delivering major sporting events to Azerbaijan.