Jose Mourinho's sacking by Chelsea is likely to entrench his reputation as a manager who effectively guarantees short-term success, but for whom legacy-building represents an unsolvable puzzle.

The Portuguese, whose remarkable record earlier in his managerial career earned him the famous nickname 'The Special One', returned to Stamford Bridge in June 2013 after three increasingly bitter years at Real Madrid.

Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho has left the club "by mutual consent" after a disastrous start to the season, the Premier League champions announced on Thursday.

"Chelsea Football Club and Jose Mourinho have today parted company by mutual consent," the club said in a statement on their website, confirming earlier media reports.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic said Thursday he wants Jose Mourinho to still be in charge of Chelsea when Paris Saint-Germain play the English club in the Champions League next year.

The Swede added that he was surprised at seeing his former coach in such trouble -- Chelsea have lost nine games, are 16th in the Premier League and there is speculation Mourinho is about to be sacked -- but insisted that would not make PSG favorites when the two sides meet next February and March.

Luis Suarez fired a hat-trick as Barcelona overcame the loss of Lionel Messi to kidney problems to beat China's Guangzhou Evergrande 3-0 and reach the Club World Cup final on Thursday.

The Spanish giants will face Argentina's River Plate in Yokohama on Sunday when they will be chasing a record third title.

American Abby Wambach, whose 184 goals make her the top scorer in international football history, retired with a bang on Wednesday, saying the U.S. Soccer Federation should fire men's coach Jurgen Klinsmann.

The 35-year-old striker helped the Americans win this year's Women's World Cup.

Japanese rugby pin-up Ayumu Goromaru, one of the stars of the World Cup, is set to strike fear into opponents after being made a certified "Master of Ninjas."

The Japan Ninja Council said it awarded him the honor Wednesday because the full-back's kicking pose -- hands clasped together, index fingers pointing upwards and slightly squatting -- evoked images of the ancient stealth warriors.

Swimming legends Michael Phelps and Grant Hackett have been training together and swapping tips about their "ups and downs" as they target next year's Rio Olympics.

Dual Olympic champion Hackett, 35, has come out of six years of troubled retirement to try to make Australia's team for Rio next year, and has just spent three weeks training with Phelps under coach Bob Bowman in Arizona.

Swashbuckling Valentino Rossi accused Spanish riders of ganging up on him as he was denied a career crowning tenth world title in a cut-throat 2015 MotoGP season, won by his dogged Yamaha teammate Jorge Lorenzo.

After a storming start to the season with 12 straight podiums including four GP wins, Rossi's defining moment came in the penultimate race, under relentless pressure from Spanish defending champion Marc Marquez.

Untold riches will rain down upon the English Premier League in 2016, but for all their resources, the country's leading clubs currently seem incapable of staking claims to the title.

The record £5.14 billion ($7.72 billion, 7.06 billion euros) television rights deal due to kick in next year will reinforce the English top flight's status as European football's financial behemoth.

A first Champions League appearance in 19 years followed Juventus's first league and Cup double in two decades, but as 2015 draws to a close the undisputed kings of Italian football are facing a Serie A backlash.

The Old Lady of Turin secured a treble of trophies by the end of last summer with a 31st league title, a 10th Italian Cup and their seventh Italian Super Cup after a 2-0 win over Lazio in Shanghai.