By all accounts, Saturday's Barcelona-Atletico Madrid game at the Camp Nou could represent a last hurrah for Atletico coach Diego Simeone. They head into the game tied for the lead in La Liga, four points ahead of Real Madrid, but Barca has a far superior goal difference and a game in hand. A win would put Barca in a position to pull away from Atletico.

Juventus has won 11 straight Serie A games, after the four-time defending champion began the season in disarray. The Old Lady of Italian soccer has since risen from the dead on the shoulders of two 22-year-old stars, one whose talent has always been clear, in Paul Pogba, and the second a somewhat lesser known jewel that is now sparkling as bright as any, in Paulo Dybala.

World markets have roiled in response to data that suggests the Chinese economy is slowing down, but you'd never get the impression anything is wrong in China, given the spending of Chinese companies on soccer. Indeed, the money being thrown around shows just how much extra cash these Chinese companies still have.

One month from now, a new FIFA president will be elected. FIFA confirmed on Tuesday the candidacies of five men for the Feb. 26 special election: Gianni Infantino of Switzerland; Tokyo Sexwale of South Africa; Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain; Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan; and Jerome Champagne of France. By all estimates, though, it is a two-man race.

Relations between Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal and the club's fans were irreparably damaged on Saturday when United fell at home to Southampton, 1-0. Fans booed van Gaal as he left the field at halftime and after the game at Old Trafford. Afterwards, he admitted he had lost the United fans and offered his resignation. He'll be back in Manchester for more talks with Ed Woodward, the United executive vice chairman, on Tuesday when a decision will be made.

What's the best league in the world? Few discussions get fans and experts going quite like the topic of comparing Europe's top leagues. In England, the feeling still is that the Premier League is the best league in the world. But based on what criteria? The EPL's international TV revenues outdistance those from other leagues by a wide margin so it's the best-sold league, hands down. Beyond that?

The only thing we know about what's in Pep Guardiola's future is that he won't return to Bayern Munich next season. The conventional wisdom is that he'll join Manchester City. After all, Guardiola has said he'd like to coach in England, and Man City is the richest club in England. But what if he didn't choose Man City but instead picked rival Manchester United?

Barcelona emerged from the season's first half after navigating a transfer ban along with injuries to Leo Messi and Andres Iniesta, Real Madrid sought momentum when handing its coaching reins to a club legend, and both Spanish giants are once again staring up in the standings at Atletico Madrid and its historically stingy defense.

Gianni Infantino, the UEFA secretary general, released his manifesto he intends to implement if he becomes FIFA president. The underlying theme to his campaign: give the World Cup to more countries -- participants and organizers -- and hand out some of FIFA's $1.5 billion in reserves.

It's less than six weeks until the FIFA presidential election, and the gloves have come off. It all began with the announcement last week in Rwanda of a memorandum of agreement between the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Confederation of African Football (CAF) and "pledges cooperation on soccer and social development" in the next four years. Innocent enough?

Arsenal and Leicester City are tied for the Premier League game following crucial results on Wednesday that were framed by balls played in the air.

Manchester United fell to sixth in the Premier League after playing one of its most entertaining games of the season on Tuesday, a 3-3 tie at Newcastle, and while it's clear England's biggest club won't mount a title challenge this year, is it possible the future of the world's fifth most valuable sports team is just as bleak?

Lionel Messi says he'd trade his five Ballons d'Or for one World Cup trophy. The Argentine was, of course, hypothetically speaking at the pre-FIFA awards gala on Monday before he was awarded a fifth golden ball as the world's best player.

As expected, Lionel Messi won his fifth FIFA Ballon d'Or as the best player in the world in voting by national team coaches and captains and journalists. The most any other player has won is three awards, mostly recently by Cristiano Ronaldo (2008, 2013, 2014).Embed from Getty Images

Borussia Dortmund striker Pierre-Emerick Aubamayang was awarded with his first-ever African Player of the Year award by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The 26-year-old Gabon international rounded out a fantastic start to the year with 18 goals and 4 assists in just 17 games as Dortmund reached the midway point of the 2015/16 campaign in Germany. Understandably, he was all smiles after winning the prestigious award. However, beaten finalists Yaya Toure of Ivory Coast and Andre Ayew of Ghana were less than impressed after CAF handed the award to the Dortmund striker; in fact, both players heavily criticized Africa's …