Sports have the ability to transform groups of strangers into a united community. In the celebratory spirit surrounding the 2014 FIFA World Cup, Sony and the World Photography Organisation present UNITED – a contest honouring the passion of football fans around the world. Seven inspirational photographers have been selected by Sony and WPO to capture the atmosphere and celebration of the World Cup across the globe. Photo: France – French fans cheering for their team. (Photo by Anthony Lepinay)

Teams face off in the Cartier Elephant Polo Cup November 18, 2006 in Jaipur, in the Indin state of Rajasthan. Cartier hosted the event which was held to highlight the plight of the dwindling numbers of Asian elephants. Indian and international celebrities flew in the India's “Pink City” for the high society event held by the global watch and jewelry giant. The animal rights organization, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, “PETA” had planned to protest the match, saying that elephants should not be used for sport. Elephants in Jaipur are commonly used for carrying tourists at historic sites. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

A mahout (a person who rides an elephant) decorates his elephant using chalk while preparing for the Elephant Festival at Sauraha in Chitwan, south of Kathmandu, December 26, 2014. Elephants and mahouts from Chitwan will participate in the Elephant festival, which involves elephant races, elephants playing an exhibition soccer match and taking part in various other sporting activities. The event will start from 26 December and will end on 30 December, 2014. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

Football transfers are not cheap. To have a player strengthen their ranks, teams are willing to pay big money. The football transfer considered to be the most expensive in the sport's history was that of Gareth Bale leaving Tottenham to play at Real Madrid. The Spanish club paid not less than £86 million (about $133 million at today's exchange rates) to have the player among its own. But recent news suggest that this record might be broken this year. According to reports in the media, UK Premier League team Manchester United is willing to almost double that amount.

A woman attends a boxing class at Princess Women's Boxing Club in Shanghai December 3, 2014. Women have boxed as long as the sport has existed but for years they were relegated out of national and international competitions in many countries around the world. Female boxers entered the ring in an exhibition match at the 1904 Olympic Games, but it was more than a century later when they were given the green light to make their Olympic debut in London in 2012. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

In this Friday, March 28, 2014 photo, singers of the Moranbong Band, Jong Su Hyang, foreground, and Pak Mi Kyong, left perform on their stage in Pyongyang, North Korea. Step aside, Sea of Blood Opera. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's favorite guitar-slinging, miniskirt-sporting girl group, the Moranbong Band, is back. And these ladies know how to shimmy. (Photo by Jon Chol Jin/AP Photo)

Spanish bullfighter Manuel Jesus “El Cid” is seen through a small window of a door as he performs a pass to a heifer during a “tentadero” (a small bullfight to check the bravery of calves and heifers which are not killed) during the first International Biennial of bullfighting at Reservatauro Ronda cattle ranch in Ronda, near Malaga February 17, 2013. Spain's parliament voted last Tuesday to consider protecting bullfighting as a national pastime, angering animal rights campaigners and politicians in two regions where the sport is banned. (Photo by Jon Nazca/Reuters)

Members of the “Exit Point” amateur rope-jumping group stage a performance as they jump from a 44-metre high (144-ft) waterpipe bridge in the Siberian Taiga area outside Krasnoyarsk, November 3, 2013. Fans of rope-jumping, a kind of extreme sport involving a jump from a high point using an advanced leverage system combining mountaineering and rope safety equipment, marked the end of the group's jumping season and recent Halloween festivities. (Photo by Ilya Naymushin/Reuters)