Munich chairman's Fifa threat

Bayern Munich's chairman has threatened to sue Fifa if they do not pay the wages of his club's international players during the World Cup.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge cited the huge profits that the world governing body make from such tournaments as his reason.

He told WirtschaftsWoche: "Fifa have set up their statutes in such a way that we, the clubs, must release our highly paid players for free.

"With these players, Fifa are making billions in turnover and a huge profit without giving the clubs their fair slice. That is a clear monopoly situation.

"The players earn extra money as they not only continue to be paid by the clubs, but also receive bonuses and extra sponsorship money.

"The only losers are the clubs, who go home with nothing and, in the worst-case scenario, with injured players."

Rummenigge, who represents Bayern in the G14 lobby group of leading European clubs, has laid down proposals for a remuneration package to ease the financial burden on clubs.

He said: "The maths are quite easy - there are 32 teams at the World Cup, all with a squad of 23, which makes a total of around 740 players whose salaries Fifa should be paying."

"The G14 has calculated that Fifa would have to pay around £140 million to compensate the clubs completely.

"If Fifa cannot make us an acceptable offer, then we will unfortunately have to take this to the courts."