The United States has asked Switzerland to extradite seven Fifa officials arrested on corruption charges in May, according to Swiss authorities.
The Swiss Federal Office of Justice (FOJ) said formal extradition requests were submitted on Wednesday.
The seven Fifa executives arrested in Zurich and accused by the FBI of corruption and money laundering are among 14 Fifa officials indicted on charges of “rampant, systemic, and deep-rooted” corruption.
The officials and their legal representatives will now have 14 days to respond to the request, which can be extended “if sufficient grounds exist”, according to the FOJ statement.
The FOJ is expected to give its decision within a few weeks. However the FOJ suggested that the extradition process could be a lengthy one as there is an appeals process which will be heard both in the federal criminal court and the federal supreme court. It could be months or even years before a final verdict in the extradition request is delivered.
The seven men include FIFA vice president Jeffrey Webb of the Cayman Islands and former FIFA vice president Eugenio Figueredo of Uruguay.
Costa Rican football federation president Eduardo Li was arrested two days before he was due to formally join FIFA’s executive committee.
Former Brazilian federation chief Jose Maria Marin led the 2014 World Cup local organising committee. The others are Venezuela FA chief Rafael Esquivel; FIFA employee Julio Rocha, a development officer from Nicaragua; and Costas Takkas, a Briton who works for Webb.
The seven are among 14 indicted by the US Justice Department. Four more men have entered guilty pleas in the wide-ranging corruption case.
They are currently being held in prisons around the Zurich region.
The Swiss authorities have stressed they consider the detained officials to be a flight risk, and will not be granting bail.
