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Napout agrees to be extradited to US

Blatter (left) congratulates Napout on his appointment as president of CONMEBOL in March 2015 Keystone

FIFA Vice President Juan Angel Napout has agreed to be extradited to the United States to face charges in a football bribery case, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said on Tuesday. 

Napout, who is from Paraguay and president of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), agreed to be extradited at a police hearing on Tuesday. He was arrested along with Alfredo Hawit of Honduras, acting president of the North and Central American and Caribbean confederation (CONCACAF), in a pre-dawn police raid at the Baur au Lac hotel in Zurich last week. 

The pair were among 16 football officials charged by US prosecutors on Thursday with taking part in multimillion-dollar bribery schemes for marketing and broadcast rights linked to football tournaments in Latin America.

The 57-year-old official must be collected by American authorities within 10 days.

“No details concerning when he will be handed over are to be disclosed for reasons of security and privacy,” the Swiss ministry said. 

On Friday, Napout and Hawit were also banned from football for 90 days.

Napout, who was elected in March, became the third straight head of the South American confederation – following Nicolas Leoz of Paraguay and Eugenio Figueredo of Uruguay – to be indicted. Leoz is fighting extradition from his native country and Figueredo has been detained in a Zurich-area jail since May. 

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