For the first time since 2007 the Ballon d'Or award has gone to a player other than Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi - with Luka Modric collecting the golden ball in Paris last night. Lyon's Ada Hegerberg was named the first winner of the women's Ballon d'Or, and the biggest controversy of the night came when she was asked by co-host Martin Solveig if she knew how to "twerk". Meanwhile there were two all-Premier League ties in yesterday's FA Cup third-round draw, with promoted Wolves hosting high-flying Liverpool, while Bournemouth and Brighton will clash on the south coast.

The Heineken Champions Cup returns this weekend, and in his column this morning, Gerry Thornley explains why these are the defining European rounds: "Over the last 10 seasons, going back to Leinster's first Heineken Cup success in the 2008-09 season, of the 80 teams who have qualified from the pool stages for the quarter-finals, 73 of them have emerged from these double headers with at the very least a better head-to-hear record over the two matches."

Gordon Elliott's four-timer last Sunday at Fairyhouse made a significant dent in Willie Mullins's lead in this season's championship and there is over €1.4 million available in prizemoney during the upcoming four days of Leopardstown alone. "If you don't want to be champion you shouldn't be doing it," he tells Brian O'Connor. "We'll struggle this time because the horses weren't right for the first six weeks of the season. But my ambition in life is to be champion trainer."

Judd Trump believes Ronnie O'Sullivan is "living on a different planet" as he talks of launching a breakaway snooker tour: "Money's not an issue to him, he can take chances, he's got such a strong following he's always going to be able to earn money in the game, he's got absolutely no worries. I think he's a bit on his own there."