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Arrested FIFA official changes mind, plans to fight extradition request

Swiss authorities say that a football official who had agreed to be extradited to the United States has changed his mind and now plans to fight the U.S. request.

The unnamed official was detained on Wednesday together with six others while visiting Switzerland for a meeting of the sport's governing body FIFA.

Unlike the others, he had initially agreed to a simplified extradition procedure that would have allowed him to be handed over within days to the U.S., to face corruption charges.

Swiss Justice Ministry spokesman Folco Galli said the seventh official "declared in a second hearing [Thursday] that he plans to resist the extradition."

The United States has 40 days to submit a formal extradition request for the men, who continue to be held in detention.

Also on Thursday, a judge in Buenos Aires has ordered the arrest of three Argentine businessmen in connection with the FIFA corruption scandal.

Judge Marcelo Martinez de Giorgi told local radio on Thursday that he has issued arrest orders for Alejandro Burzaco, the president of Argentine sports marketing firm Torneos y Competencias, as well as Mariano and Hugo Jinkis, the owners of Argentina-based sports media business Full Play.

The judge says Interpol "is working" on his request. The three men are accused of bribing officials at the CONMEBOL and CONCACAF confederations for TV and marketing rights of continental tournaments.