Mr Modi will leave on his foreign tour on Sunday morning. (File photo)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has picked soccer over meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Mr Modi will make a stopover in Germany on his way to Brazil for a BRICS summit on Sunday, but will be unable to meet Chancellor Merkel as she will be off to Brazil to watch her country's soccer team play the finals of the FIFA World Cup.Mr Modi was reportedly keen to meet Ms Merkel on his stopover and the German Ambassador in India is believed to have pushed for the meeting too. But Germany had reportedly not confirmed a meeting between the two leaders.Germany qualified for the finals of the cup by demolishing hosts Brazil 7-1 in a semi-final match yesterday. They will play the winner of a match tonight between Argentina and The Netherlands, in Rio De Janiero on Sunday, July 13. Germany confirmed after its mammoth win that the Chancellor would fly to Rio to cheer her team.She was also in the stands last month for Germany's opening match against Portugal last month. Her team had won that match 4-0.Mr Modi will leave on his foreign tour on Sunday along with senior ministers and a business delegation. He is expected to meet BRICS (the group of emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) leaders - in Brazil's Fortaleza, where the summit begins on July 15.He will also visit Brasilia, Brazil's capital, where he is expected to meet leaders of other South American countries, invited by his host President Dilma Rousseff of BrazilAt Fortaleza, the BRICS leaders are expected to sign a treaty to launch a 100 billion dollar BRICS bank.

Reports say annual trade between India and Germany is pegged at over 18 billion euros or Rs 1,46,700 crore. The PM would have been keen to pursue his policy of inviting foreign powers to invest and create assets in India, with Germany, one of its biggest trading partners.