Now we're sure you already know this but today is pretty special in the history of rugby league.

It was on 13 November, 1954, that Great Britain won the first rugby league World Cup, defeating France 16-12 in Paris.

There were only four nations involved and GB won a very fancy-looking trophy, donated by the French, which was worth eight million francs.

Image source, Getty Images

Kei Nishikori versus supersub David Ferrer - in for the injured Milos Raonic - is under way at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

It is going with serve at the moment and, remember, this is an important game for Andy Murray.

We'll spare you all the mathematics but, put simply, a Nishikori defeat would improve Murray's chancing of making the semi-final stage. However, the British number one has the small task of taking on Roger Federer later.

Live coverage of Nishikori-Ferrer is on the BBC Sport website here and on BBC Two. The Murray match starts at 8pm.

Mauro Zarate has taken to Twitter , externalto deny reports that he wants out of West Ham.

The Argentine striker said: "According to recent news articles I would like to inform that I have no agent and I never said that I wanted to leave West Ham.

"If that were to happen it would be because of a joint decision between the club and myself.

Image source, Getty Images

"The most important thing is that West Ham will keep progressing. The manager is doing a great job and has my full support."

Zarate, who joined on a free in the summer, last played for the Hammers on 5 October in a 2-0 win over QPR.

An investigation has found the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby has been run over the wrong distance for five years.

Instead of the official three miles and 'about' one furlong, it has been staged over 78 yards too short, and the start will now be moved.

Menorah won this year's contest, one of the big early races of the jump racing season, on 1 November.

Denmark has dropped out of the battle to host the 2022 Ryder Cup, leaving six European nations in the running.

Austria, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Turkey have all announced their intention to submit a formal bid.

Remember that World Cup semi-final when Brazil were humiliated 7-1 by Germany, a thumping so comprehensive that it was difficult not to feel sorry for the host nation?

Well, good news. Brazil have bounced back and after last night's 4-0 friendly win in Turkey they are today being hailed by a media who so recently savaged them.

Image source, Getty Images

Neymar scored twice in Turkey in what was a fifth straight win since their World Cup exit.

"Brazil whip Turkey and maintain Dunga's 100 percent record," said Brazilian paper Correio Braziliense, while Estado de Sao Paulo noted: "Neymar given standing ovation by Turks."

Happy days are here again.

Gordon Strachan: "If you take Gibraltar out, there has just been one goal in every game in our (Euro qualifier) group. That's how tight this group is.

"The sides know each other very well. There is nobody that will surprise us in the game because of the video analysis you can do now. It may just come down to a bit of bad or good luck, I hope not, I hope the winner is the team who performs best.

"I can only ask the players to perform. We have done that in three games."

Strachan added: "You should wait and see how the group looks when the teams have played each other once, and then that will give you a better idea of how things stand."

Image source, Getty Images

Gordon Strachan: "I am looking forward to it, everybody is. The fans, the media… it has all built up and this is a hot game now.

"We want to turn Celtic Park into the home of Scottish football. You will know full well you are in Scotland tomorrow, that's for sure. They are coming into our territory."

Scotland manager Gordon Strachan is speaking to the media ahead of Friday's Euro 2016 qualifier against the Republic of Ireland.

He began by apologising for being late. "On the upside, I had a nice dinner, though," he said.

When you are captain, your place in the team is usually pretty secure.

Not so, it seems, at Crawley Town.

The League One club have appointed Joe Walsh as their new club captain, after transfer-listing former skipper Josh Simpson.

Simpson, who has scored 13 goals in 162 appearances for the Reds, is one of five players to be made available for loan or transfer by boss John Gregory.

It is a busy day, but remember we're still asking for #greatsportingrecords after Rohit Sharma's innings of 264 in India's one-day international against Sri Lanka. Here are some more of your memories.

Paul:, external Huddersfield Town's longest unbeaten league run 43 games in 2011.

Image source, AFP

Andrew Priestley:, external Michael Phelps' record of 22 Olympic medals, 18 of them Golds. Not to mention 33 World Championship medals, 26 Golds.

The Fifa report - you know the one, we've mentioned it quite a bit today - said the Russian team hired computers that were subsequently destroyed, denying the inquiry access to email accounts.

But chief of Russia's 2018 World Cup organising committee, Alexey Sorokin, insists the country has nothing to hide.

"We were always confident that there could be nothing which would come out from this investigation," he told Sky Sports News. "It's something FIFA deemed important to do. We complied. What more can we do?

"There were no deleted emails. We rented the equipment, we had to give it back then it went - we don't even know where it went - to some sports schools so quite naturally other people used it."

A couple of footie titbits for you.

Bristol City recall midfielder Bobby Reid from loan at Plymouth Argyle, while Oscar Gobern has returned to Huddersfield following a spell on loan at Chesterfield.

Just in case you've been hiding under a rock all morning, Fifa has issued a report criticising the English FA, but since then the author of the report has criticised Fifa's representation of it.

Clive Efford MP, Labour's Shadow Minister for Sport, has become the latest to respond to the saga.

"Fifa has no choice but to publish Michael Garcia's report in full, if it expects anyone to believe their claims that that there has been no cover up over allegations of corruption in the World Cup bidding process," said Efford.

"Our FA has been accused of wrongdoing regarding its bid for the 2018 tournament in the conclusions published by the Fifa Ethics committee, but these have been attacked by Michael Garcia for being 'incomplete and erroneous in its representations of the facts.'

"The FA will only be able to defend itself if it is given full access to the report."

BBC horse racing correspondent Cornelius Lysaght on the disqualification of The Young Master.

"The disqualification is understandable and correct; the responsibility of trainers when it comes to race entries are very clear.

"There is a big 'however' here too because the Authority is having it both ways.

"On the one hand, it's saying the horse shouldn't have run, so is thrown out, but on the other the performance is still being taken into account when assessing The Young Master's future weights. That, plus a fine, looks like kicking a man when he's down."

Wincanton winner The Young Master has been disqualified and his trainer Neil Mulholland fined £250 after a British Horseracing Authority (BHA) inquiry.

Image source, PA

The horse was found not to have been qualified after a seven-length victory in Saturday's Badger Ales Trophy.

The BHA objected to the result as entries should have run three times previously over fences but the winner had only done so twice.

One further line from Mesut Ozil's injury is that the German FA first said the midfielder would be out for 12 weeks. Arsene Wenger then disputed that by saying he could be back within six weeks.

But it turns out the Germans were right all along.

Image source, Getty Images

Look away Arsenal fans. It is bad news. Mesut Ozil has been ruled out for a further seven weeks.

The Gunners originally said the Germany midfielder would be back in six weeks after sustaining a knee ligament injury in early October.

However, Ozil said: "I've already been injured for five weeks and I'm going to be out for another seven. It's a long process. Injuries are part of football, but life goes on and you have to keep your spirits up."

So we told you that David Ferrer has replaced Milos Raonic in the ATP World Tour Finals. So what does that mean for the competition? Who qualifies?

The answer is in this picture. So get your calculators out and prepare to lie down at the end of reading it as you will probably have a headache, but here is the official version.

Image source, British tennis

Got that? Good stuff.

A little more from FA chairman Greg Dyke.

Asked about the allegation that the Russians deleted emails during the bidding proces, Dyke replied: "Those who cooperate the most and gave them the most information seem to be the ones that have been most criticised. Others who didn't co-operate didn't get criticised at all. Now there's a surprise.

"I don't think anyone will accuse the (English) FA of anything other than behaving properly."

Asked if England would bid to stage another World Cup, Dyke replied: "Never say never but under present leadership we won't be."