BERLIN — FIFA has been given more time to present its case to sport's highest court in a fight over whether clubs must release its players for the Beijing Olympics.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has allowed the world soccer body until midnight (2200 GMT) Monday — instead of 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) that morning — to turn in its paperwork, Schalke and Werder Bremen lawyer Theo Paeffgen told The Associated Press Saturday.

The two German clubs and FC Barcelona has filed a joint appeal to CAS, asking it to overrule a FIFA decision that players aged 23 or under must be allowed to play for their country in Beijing. Barcelona wants to keep Argentina's Lionel Messi at home, while the German clubs are fighting to keep Brazil's Rafinha and Diego.

Despite the delay, CAS promised on its Web site to issue its ruling by Wednesday — a day before the Olympic tournament starts.

"The Olympics is getting close," Paeffgen said. "We have done what we could, we have succeeded in pushing this to a decision by the highest court."

Paeffgen said the clubs' would lose the legal basis for the appeal once the Beijing Games start. If the appeal is won, they can then force their players to return home.

Bremen's Diego and Schalke's Rafinha defied their teams by flying to join Brazil in Singapore instead of reporting to training camp in Germany.

FIFA has said the release of young players has traditionally been accepted by clubs since the rule first came into force 20 years ago. Schalke and Bremen, however, insist the ruling doesn't have any written legal backing.

"This customary law, in our opinion, doesn't really exist, because the FIFA regulations have been changed many times in recent years," Schalke manager Andreas Mueller said.

Both Barcelona and Schalke are scheduled to play Champions League qualifying matches during the Olympics, and a failure to advance to the lucrative group stage would mean missing out on millions of euros (dollars) in income.

Paeffgen said there were also unsettled insurance issues, among a host of other problems.

"If anything happens to those players, we will sue for damages," Paeffgen said. "This should be settled, its also in the interests of FIFA."