Brett Favre has started the wheels in motion on his controversial return to the NFL by officially filing for reinstatement with the league.

The record-making quarterback has recently indicated his desire to continue his career despite hanging up his boots in the aftermath of last season.

The NFL have confirmed that Favre has now faxed a letter to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell asking to be officially reinstated to the league.

The move means that once his request is sanctioned, the Green Bay Packers will then have 24 hours to put Favre back on their roster or agree to his release.

The Packers have consistently said that they will neither release Favre, nor give him his job back as starting quarterback - saying Aaron Rodgers will be their man.

Favre stayed away from training camp on Sunday to give Green Bay general manager Ted Thompson time to try and work out a trade, but now the 38-year-old could well join-up with his team-mates and coach Mike McCarthy as early as Wednesday.

Coach McCarthy insists that the Packers have a plan for Favre's return but he did admit that it could be a distraction for some of the players should he return to training.

"It's obviously the first step in Brett coming back, but we'll deal with that once he is reinstated," McCarthy said.

"We'll definitely have a plan in order. We'll address everything, as far as the details about how Brett Favre fits into our future plans, when he arrives here in Green Bay.

"I'm not going to sit here and tell you it's not a distraction. But it's only a distraction if we let it be a distraction. It's an external problem, that's really the way we view it."

A trade is still the likely option for the Packers and Favre - but it seems that finding the right franchise for both parties is proving problematic.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are often being mentioned, as are the New York Jets, but as yet no firm offers have been confirmed.

McCarthy and the Packers are standing by their stance of starting with Rodgers as their triggerman for the coming season.

"He'll be starting all of the games as the starter," McCarthy added of Rodgers.

"We've talked about possibly playing our first group maybe a little longer, and those are things that we'll discuss. The health of your football team obviously factors into that, so that is our plan going into the pre-season with Aaron."