Guatemala approves extradition to US of former football chief

A Guatemalan court on Wednesday authorized the extradition of the former national football chief, Brayan Jimenez, to the United States where he is wanted on bribery charges engulfing the FIFA world football body. Jimenez, 61, was detained a day earlier in a disheveled state in an apartment in a posh suburb of Guatemala City. He had been on the run since December 3 when US officials said he was one of 16 Latin American football officials indicted under their probe of FIFA corruption. "His delivery to the United States government is authorized," Cesar Garcia, the lead judge of the criminal court hearing the extradition request, said. The approval meant Guatemala's foreign ministry would now be able to coordinate with US authorities for the extradition of Jimenez, who was being kept in military barracks in the north of the capital. Another Guatemalan, the federation's former secretary general Hector Trujillo, 62, was arrested in Florida last month. He was freed on bail last week.