A former president of Guatemala's soccer federation pleaded guilty on Friday to charges he received bribes to award lucrative media and marketing rights for soccer matches, the latest development in the U.S. corruption investigation into world soccer's governing body FIFA. Jimenez, who had been president of the country's soccer federation since 2010, was arrested in Guatemala in January and later extradited to the United States. Brayan Jimenez said he was guilty of racketeering conspiracy and wire fraud charges at a hearing in federal court in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Levy. Gianni Infantino, FIFA's recently elected president, has vowed to lead the organization out of years of scandal even as U.S. and Swiss corruption investigations continue. Jimenez is accused of taking bribes in exchange for authorizing "friendly" matches played by the Guatemalan national team and for awarding media rights contract for the team's World Cup qualifier matches to the sports marketing firm Media World.

Source: dna July 30, 2016 05:15 UTC