A 'high-ranking' member of ISIS has been arrested in Germany after police received a tip-off that the suspect was involved in alleged threats to target top-flight football matches.

The special police unit received information about the suspect and detained the 24-year-old asylum seeker in the southwestern town of Mutterstadt.

He was apprehended following a tip from a prison inmate in the western city of Gelsenkirchen.

A 'high-ranking' member of ISIS was arrested in Germany following a tip-off from a prison inmate

The intelligence about the suspect came in connection with alleged threats against the German Bundesliga - the country's equivalent to the Premier League.

A spokesman for the interior ministry of Rhineland-Palatinate said: 'There are indications that something is being planned for the start of the Bundesliga season.'

It is believed that the suspect, whose identity was not given, had previously been monitored over a long period of time.

League champions Bayern Munich will host Werder Bremen as the new season of Germany's first division football championships kick off on August 26.

The largest stadium in the country is Borussia Dortmund's Westfalenstadion, which can hold more than 80,000 fans. It is not known which stadiums the terror group was allegedly targeting.

Borussia Dortmund's Westfalenstadion (pictured) has a capacity of more than 80,000. It is not known which stadiums the terror group was allegedly targeting

In July, the southern state of Bavaria suffered two attacks carried out by asylum seekers and claimed by the Islamic State group - an axe rampage on a train in Wuerzburg and a suicide bombing in Ansbach.

In Wuerzburg, the 17-year-old attacker was shot dead by police after injuring five people.