A group of managers from Fifa's former sports marketing agency International Sport and Leisure (ISL) have been charged with embezzlement and fraud.

Swiss state prosecutors said today that they had filed charges with a regional criminal court in Zug, where ISL was based. They will not reveal the names of the managers, or say how many were charged.

The agency collapsed in May, 2001, with estimated debts of at least €229 million.

ISL managed the marketing and television rights of world soccer's governing body Fifa for more than 20 years.

This work included marketing and television rights management for the World Cup finals.

ISL went into bankruptcy amid allegations it had bribed sports officials to secure lucrative contracts.

The charges announced today are based on the preliminary findings of investigating magistrate Thomas Hildebrand, who concluded his four-year investigation into the firm's collapse in 2005.

State prosecutor Marc von Dach has said that all the accused are former employees of ISL or its parent group ISMM.

He added that no former or current Fifa employees were among those under investigation.