FAI officials said yesterday that they will not back down on their decision to call up Wolverhampton Wanderers striker Robbie Keane for the Under-20 World Championship in Nigeria in April.

They were responding to a statement from Colin Lee, the Wolves manager, that he intended to apply to have Keane excused from the squad which Brian Kerr will take to the championship.

"While the Irish association is within its rights in selecting Robbie Keane if they so choose, I would ask them to bear in mind the implications it would have for our club," said Lee.

"April is normally the most important month of the season and at that stage we hope to be pushing for a place in the promotion play-offs. To have to make do without Keane would damage our chances considerably.

"We are not the only club concerned about the knock-on effects of the under-20 competition, but in our case we are faced with the handicap of having to replace our top scorer. That should count for something," Lee added.

While professing to understanding Wolves's problems, an FAI spokesman said that it would be impractical to consider making any exceptions to their insistence on implementing FIFA's release clause.

"To do so, would be unfair to others and in any event the player is far too important to our team to consider such a move. We are talking about a world championship and that has to take precedence over any club commitments."

He also ruled out the possibility, first mooted by England's under-20 manager, Howard Wilkinson, of cushioning the blow to clubs by using specific players for only a part of the Nigerian competition saying Irish resources did not allow for such a move.

That statement was also seen as an oblique response to Leeds manager David O'Leary, who has indicated that he intends to resist moves to have Stephen McPhail made available to Kerr under the FIFA ruling.

Similar pressure is building at Blackburn where Brian Kidd is loath to release Damien Duff for the trip, but the tenor of yesterday's statement suggests that in this case, too, the FAI intends to take a firm stand.

Meanwhile, Mick McCarthy who hopes to announce his preliminary squad on February 1st, for the European Championship warm-up game against Paraguay, will be at Old Trafford tomorrow for the FA Cup meeting of Manchester United and Liverpool.

With Phil Babb suspended and Steve Staunton likely to miss out through injury, it means that most of McCarthy's interest is likely to be focused on the performances of Roy Keane and Denis Irwin for United.

The professional football committee of UEFA, the sport's European governing body, yesterday agreed to examine proposals by FIFA president Sepp Blatter that the World Cup finals be held every two years.

UEFA chiefs Lennart Johansson and Gerhard Aigner had previously expressed strong opposition to the proposal.