Frankfurt  - German football authorities will consider legal action if world organizing body FIFA insists players be released from their clubs for the forthcoming Under-20 World Cup in Egypt.

Christian Seifert, chief executive officer of the German Footnall League (DFL), told Friday's Bild newspaper: "We as the DFL will examine all the judicial possibilities."

The DFL, which is responsible for the running of the Bundesliga, will also urge the German football federation DFB to do the same, he said.

In an interview this week FIFA president Joseph Blatter called for "solidarity" from clubs in releasing players for the tournament and said he would take the issue to the body's executive committee.

The executive committee meets in Rio de Janeiro on September 29 and 30, after the start of the 24-team Under-20 tournament between September 25 and October 14.

"I will do what I can to see that before then the executive committee in September makes it compulsory for clubs to release their players for the Under-20 World Cup," Blatter told Sports Bild.

Seifert accused FIFA of "distancing itself further and further from real football life".

He added: "To hold an Under-20 World Cup in the middle of the league programme and - even worse - to give an Under-17 World Cup to a politically unstable region such as Nigeria shows for me how divorced from reality FIFA has become."

The DFB has already written to Blatter complaining about the scheduling of the tournament.

Matthias Sammer, the federation's sports director, has also criticized FIFA for holding the tournament during the season, saying it could lead to Germany sending a much weakened team to Egypt.

But Blatter, in his interview, said FIFA should be congratulated for organizing the tournament. "And when one holds such a tournament one cannot always go by the match calendar of the Europeans," he added. (dpa)