Sports

"Messi said to me, 'Dani where are you going to be better off than here?'," Alves said.

The Argentinian forward and his father and agent, Jorge Messi, are accused of defrauding the authorities of more than 4 million euros.

Sevilla midfielder Aleix Vidal will join treble winners Barcelona pending a medical for a reported 23 million euros($25.5 million), the Catalan club said on Sunday.

"If evidence exists that Qatar and Russia received the (World Cup) awards only thanks to bribes, then the awards could be annulled," FIFA's auditing head said.

Whistleblower Almajid has said the abundance of evidence of wrongdoing of Qatar's bid would force FIFA to strip the Gulf country of the responsibility.

"Tevez is a top player, a magnificent centre-forward and, above all, a player who likes to win," Barcelona defender Mascherano said.

It is unlikely that anyone will remain at the helm for that long if age and term limits for future presidents are instituted as part of reforms.

Blatter, 79, announced the decision at a news conference in Zurich, six days after the FBI raided a hotel in Zurich and arrested several FIFA officials.

Pele has lent his support to re-elected FIFA president Sepp Blatter amid a corruption scandal engulfing world football's governing body.

Pele is to join the glamorous New York soccer team's traveling party for Tuesday's exhibition match against the Cuban national team in Havana.

Malaysian midfielder Mohd Nazmi Faiz Mansor could be kicked out of the Southeast Asian Games after being sent off in the opening 1-0 win over East Timor for spitting at an opponent.

Brazilian police began investigating allegations of corruption in its football industry, prompted by the arrests of top officials at world soccer body FIFA in a US bribery probe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin says the United States is meddling in FIFA's affairs in an attempt to take the 2018 World Cup away from his country.

Six of the seven top FIFA officials arrested on Wednesday in Zurich are opposing their extradition to US, the Swiss justice ministry said.

Blatter shrugged off Figo's accusation he had turned world soccer's ruling body into a dictatorship as the election campaign moved towards its final stages on Tuesday.

Drogba will not play for another English team when he leaves Chelsea and may follow Lampard and Gerrard by ending his career in the US.