Donald Trump has cancelled a White House event with the Philadelphia Eagles after it emerged the Super Bowl champions were only sending a "small delegation". 

The president said more than 1,000 fans due to attend the celebrations would be invited to a "different type of ceremony" that would honour "our great country". 

Nearly all the Eagle's players and coaches were due to boycott the visit following Mr Trump's demands that players stand during the national anthem at games, wrote independent.

White House officials said fewer than 10 members of the NFL team planned to attend the event on the South Lawn on Tuesday afternoon. 

“The Philadelphia Eagles are unable to come to the White House with their full team to be celebrated tomorrow,” Mr. Trump said in a statement. “They disagree with their president because he insists that they proudly stand for the national anthem, hand on heart, in honor of the great men and women of our military and the people of our country.”

He said the team wanted to send a smaller delegation on Tuesday, but "the 1,000 fans planning to attend the event deserve better."

The celebration will instead feature the US Marine Band and the US Army Chorus, that "will honor our great country, pay tribute to the heroes who fight to protect it, and loudly and proudly play the National Anthem", Mr Trump said.

None of the Eagles took a knee during the anthem in 2017.

Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney replied with his own statement, saying that he is "equally proud of the Eagles' activism off the field" and that the players "represent the diversity of our nation — a nation in which we are free to express our opinions".

"Disinviting them from the White House only proves that our president is not a true patriot, but a fragile egomaniac obsessed with crowd size and afraid of the embarrassment of throwing a party to which no one wants to attend," Mr Kenney said.

It was unclear exactly what prompted the change of plans. The White House did not immediately respond to questions about what had sparked the decision and why the circumstances were different from other events honouring winning teams, which some players have boycotted.

Late Monday, though, Mr Trump wrote on Twitter: "Unfortunately, only a small number of players decided to come, and we canceled the event."

Several players asked about Mr Trump's decision not to host them declined to respond. The Eagles issued a statement without directly addressing the White House cancellation.

"Watching the entire Eagles community come together has been an inspiration," the team statement read. "We are truly grateful for all of the support we have received and we are looking forward to continuing our preparations for the 2018 season."