Fifa's agents survive winding-up order

Blatter says the collapse of ISL will cost a fortune

The financially crippled company which owns the marketing and television rights to the 2002 World Cup was given a stay of execution on Tuesday to complete its sale to a French media group.

A Swiss court granted an appeal by the struggling Zug-based ISMM Group to hold off bankruptcy proceedings so it could carry out financial restructuring.

The group is negotiating selling to Canal Plus, a fully-owned subsidiary of the Vivendi Group which owns a number of football clubs.

ISL Worldwide - one of ISMM's companies - holds the non-European television rights to the World Cups of 2002 and 2006, as well as the marketing contracts for the events.

It also holds rights to the 2002 track and field world championships, and a number of other major sports contracts.

Fifa, owed millions of pounds by ISL, said last month that if the company went out of business, World Cup television rights would be offered instead to Germany's Kirch Group, which already holds the European rights, and that Fifa would do its own marketing.

Fifa President Sepp Blatter said the company's collapse would cost between 17m and 23m while European football's governing body Uefa is owed an additional £14.4m dollars by ISL which also marketed the Euro 2000 tournament.