Six players from Premiership club Leicester City were detained last night by a Spanish court after allegedly being involved in a sexual assault on three women at the exclusive La Manga resort in south-east Spain.

Nine were originally held over the alleged attack. Stefan Freund was released earlier yesterday and another two - reserve goalkeeper Danny Coyne and centre half Nikos Dabizas - were released late last night.

The players had spent the previous night in police cells after being arrested for their alleged role in a drunken raid on a room in the Hyatt hotel in which the women said they were attacked.

Spanish television pictures showed several players being led into a police van. Among them was the club captain Matt Elliott, and defender Frank Sinclair. Also named were James Scowcroft and Paul Dikov.

The players have protested their innocence.

The allegations against them were categorised by police yesterday as "sexual assault" which, under Spanish law, covers assaults that may, or may not, include rape.

The three women reported the alleged assault to police at Alicante airport, from where they had been planning to travel on to Germany, a police spokesman in the nearby city of Murcia said.

"They said that the arrested men had forced their way into a hotel room that they occupied and that they had been sexually assaulted by some of them," police said in a statement.

It added: "The complainants handed in a bracelet, wrenched from one of the attackers, as well as some blood-stained underwear."

A hospital report confirmed that the women had injuries on various parts of their bodies.

The women had, separately, been asked to identify the men who allegedly forced their way into the room and had also been able to pick out the ones who allegedly attacked them, according to police.

Police said they had arrested four of the men on suspicion of both sexual assault and breaking and entering. Another was arrested on suspicion of ordinary assault and breaking and entering while three others were suspected of both breaking and entering and failing to help a person in danger.

The German midfielder Steffen Freund, was released and, accompanied by the team manager Micky Adams, was driven away from the court in the nearby town of Cartagena yesterday.

"A report from the security guard at the hotel where the events took place stated that the players had shown signs of being drunk that night, resulting in arguments between them and other clients," a police spokesman said.

Sources at the hotel said the incident appeared to have happened on Sunday night.

The women, who were African-born according to Spanish TV channel Telecinco, reportedly filed the complaint on Tuesday.

The Leicester club were on a mid-season break - with warm weather training. The rest of the players flew home on Wednesday.

The club's next match take place on March 13th against Birmingham.

Meanwhile, Paul Sturrock yesterday took charge of Southampton a day after Glenn Hoddle ruled out a controversial return to the club.

The Scot (47) was appointed successor to Gordon Strachan after Southampton struck a compensation deal with Plymouth Argyle, who Sturrock transformed into Second Division promotion hopefuls.

Guardian Service