UEFA has imposed a ban on smoking and tobacco advertising at next year’s European Championship.

UEFA says the ban will apply in and around all eight host stadiums in Poland and Ukraine.

Two part-time prostitutes suspected of robbing France international midfielder Yann M’vila and a friend face charges in a court hearing on December 6, judicial sources said here Thursday.

According to the source, confirming a report in La Gazette de Montpellier, M'Vila and an unnamed friend agreed a sum with the women to provide services of a sexual nature at a Montpellier hotel following France's friendly with Chile on August 10, which ended 1-1.

Australian swimming legend Ian Thorpe has played down his chances of making a fairytale comeback at next year's Olympics, saying he is not expecting to add his tally of five gold medals.

Thorpe, who will return to swimming at the Singapore World Cup event next month, told the BBC in an interview on Thursday he is relaxed about his Olympic chances as he "expects to fail."

Stuart Pearce is hopeful his squad for the 2012 Olympics will include footballers from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after he was confirmed as manager of the Great Britain team here Thursday.

The England Under-21 coach was formally unveiled as the man to lead Britain's Olympic campaign at a press conference at Wembley in an appointment that had long been predicted across English football.

Three South Korean mountaineers have lost contact with base camp during an attempt to scale one of the world's highest peaks in the Himalayas, the Korean Alpine Federation said Thursday.

Renowned climber Park Young-Seok and two colleagues last contacted the camp on Tuesday evening while climbing the southern flank of Annapurna, the KAF said.

Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola hailed Andres Iniesta as a 'one-off' talent in a side dominated by Lionel Messi after the Spanish giants' 2-0 Champions League win over Viktoria Plzen.

Iniesta put Barca ahead after 10 minutes, following an excellent interchange with Messi which cut open the Czech defense, with the second goal coming eight minutes from time when David Villa seized on a loose ball.

Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas believes Fernando Torres has finally rediscovered his confidence after the Spain striker scored twice in a 5-0 demolition of Genk.

Torres had gone 875 minutes without scoring in the Champions League, a miserable run that dated back to April 2009 when he scored for Liverpool against Chelsea.

Arsene Wenger lauded the sang-froid of match-winner Aaron Ramsey after the substitute gave Arsenal a precious Champions League victory with an injury-time winner at Marseille on Wednesday.

Ramsey's goal, two minutes into injury time, came at the end of a dreary encounter that had been drifting towards a goalless draw that would have kept OM two points clear of the Gunners ahead of the return fixture on November 1.

After four consecutive years of rain-postponed men’s finals, the U.S. Open is looking into changing its schedule as soon as next year and could become the first Grand Slam tennis tournament to switch permanently to a Monday finish.

Tournament director Jim Curley told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Wednesday that the U.S. Tennis Association started discussions last month with broadcaster CBS about finding a way to heed top players’ calls for a day off between the men’s semifinals and final.

The Italian club Virtus Bologna says “unexpected engagements” have made it impossible to sign Kobe Bryant(notes) this month, but both sides will keep working toward a deal in November.

Bologna President Claudio Sabatini told The Associated Press this month he had reached a tentative deal with Bryant’s agent or a 10-game contract worth more than $3 million.