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FIFA Official’s Extradition Approved on Eve of Meeting in Zurich

As top world soccer officials gather in Zurich this week to discuss efforts to clean up corruption in the sport, several of their colleagues continue to sit in a Swiss jail, fighting an increasingly difficult battle against efforts to bring them to court in United States.

On Wednesday, the Swiss Federal Office of Justice said it had approved the extradition of Rafael Esquivel, the former president of Venezuela’s soccer federation, to the United States. Last week, Swiss authorities made a similar announcement regarding Eugenio Figueredo, the former vice president of the South American soccer confederation who lives in Uruguay.