FRANKFURT, Germany - Former France international Youri Djorkaeff, who left the New York Red Bulls last week ostensibly for a family emergency, was briefly arrested during a weekend visit to the World Cup.

Frankfurt police spokesman Carsten Sippel confirmed Wednesday that Djorkaeff was arrested before France's quarterfinal win over Brazil on Saturday, but declined to comment on other details of a report in the Rheinpfalz daily.

He referred further questions to prosecutors in Kaiserslautern, who could not be reached for comment after office hours.

The newspaper reported Djorkaeff's detention was related to accusations he left the scene of an accident after his car scraped another vehicle in Kaiserslautern in late 2001.

Djorkaeff, 38, was a member of the French team that won the 1998 World Cup and later played for Bundesliga club Kaiserslautern. In his second season in Major League Soccer, he was given permission to leave the Red Bulls last week for "a serious family matter," but was caught by television cameras at the France-Brazil match in Frankfurt.

The New York club issued a release later in the day saying it gave Djorkaeff permission to attend to the family matter, but that he never mentioned the World Cup match as part of his trip. The Red Bulls said they would address the situation when he returned. The club was expecting Djorkaeff back for its Saturday match at Dallas.