Karlsruhe, Germany - FIFA, the world football body, demanded Thursday that an Italian candy company stop distributing collectable football-player stickers as a free gift with children's chocolate wafers.

FIFA lawyers told Germany's federal high court in Karlsruhe that Ferrero had no right to register the trademark "WM," which is the German abbreviation for World Cup, or "2010" in reference to next year's World Cup football tournament in South Africa.

During past tournaments, Ferrero has distributed stickers on its Hanuta and Duplo chocolate-and-hazelnut wafers depicting each player in the German national team. Children were encouraged to buy more candies to complete the set.

Germany is a main foreign market of Ferrero, a worldwide confectionery company based in Pino Torinese, Italy.

Lawyers said the case was the first where a sports body was seeking to extend its control over the franchise in this way. No date has been set for the panel of judges to deliver a verdict.

FIFA, which seeks to sell the same right to the highest-bidding candy-maker and charge a fee, argued that Ferrero's registration of the WM trademark in Germany was an infringement of fair competition law. (dpa)