European soccer's governing body UEFA on Tuesday announced that it planned a high-level ceremony to mark the 1914 Christmas truce match played by Allied and German soldiers in World War I.

UEFA chief Michel Platini has invited the leaders of Belgium, Britain, France, Germany, Ireland and Italy, plus the heads of the national soccer associations, to take part in the December 17 commemoration.

In 1914, soldiers on both sides downed weapons and held an impromptu soccer match between the trenches in Flanders, calling a brief halt to the mass slaughter to celebrate Christmas.

The impromptu soccer match came four months after the war began on the Western Front, and was condemned by both sides' military leaders as fraternization with the enemy.