The multi-million dollar corruption scandal engulfing FIFA widened on Thursday with 16 people indicted by US justice officials who pledged an unremitting crackdown on an "outrageous" betrayal of trust.
The latest dramatic twist in a long-running saga began with a dawn raid on a luxury Zurich hotel where Swiss authorities arrested South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) president Juan Angel Napout, and Alfredo Hawit, head of the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean (CONCACAF).
Hours later, the two appeared on a list released in Washington of 16 men - all from the same two confederations - indicted on charges of corruption.
They included Ricardo Teixeira, the former head of the Brazilian Football Confederation and a former FIFA vice-president; Ariel Alvarado, a Panamanian who sits on FIFA's disciplinary committee; and Rafael Callejas, president of Honduras 1990-1994 and former head of the Honduran football federation.
"The message should be clear to every culpable individual who remains in the shadows, hoping to evade our investigation: You will not wait us out. You will not escape our focus," US Attorney General Loretta Lynch said.
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Lynch also revealed that eight other people indicted since authorities launched an earlier wave of FIFA raids in Switzerland in May had now pleaded guilty.
Among those were Jeffrey Webb, a former FIFA vice president and head of CONCACAF, who has admitted racketeering and money laundering.
As part of his plea deal, he has agreed to forfeit more than $US6.7 million ($A9.1 million) in assets.
Webb and banned former CONCACAF chief Jack Warner, who was indicted earlier, were also accused of siphoning off cash intended for disaster relief, according to the new indictment.
Hawit, a Honduran national, and Napout of Paraguay are both opposing extradition to the United States, the Swiss justice ministry (FOJ) said.
Both are suspected of taking millions of dollars in bribes in return for selling marketing rights for regional tournaments and World Cup qualifying matches, the FOJ said.
FIFA's remaining leadership approved a series of measures aimed at improving transparency and curbing the authority of the body's much-maligned executive committee, which has emerged as an epicentre of graft.
The measures include a 12-year term limit for FIFA's president and other senior leaders, public disclosure of compensation for top officials and a pledge to include more women in senior positions.
They must be approved at a meeting of FIFA's 209-member associations in February, when a replacement will also be chosen for the organisation's suspended president Sepp Blatter, who is the subject of a Swiss criminal investigation.
The latest arrests were carried out at the five-star Baur au Lac hotel, a favourite of FIFA's officials, and the same spot where seven football executives were arrested in May on charges of corruption dating back decades.
Blatter has been suspended for 90-days and is facing tougher punishment by FIFA's ethics watchdog.
The man who had been tipped to succeed him, European football chief Michel Platini, has also been suspended over taking a $US2 million ($A2.72 million) payment and could be hit with a lifetime ban from football by the end of the month.
