Just hours after Sepp Blatter stepped down as FIFA president, the United States prosecutors and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, launched an investigation as part of their corruption inquiry into football's governing body.
U.S. prosecutors launched a criminal inquiry last week, with seven FIFA officials arrested in Switzerland, part of a group of 14 people indicted.
Blatter, 79, resigned on Tuesday from the top position of the world football governing body at a news conference in Zurich, six days after the detention of FIFA officials and just four days after he was re-elected to a fifth term as president.
The Federal agents said they are hoping those detained officials will help them build a case against their former boss.
Though Blatter, who has led soccer's world governing body since 1998, had in recent days sought to distance himself from the inquiry, now he is the subject of the corruption inquiry.
Interpol issued a red notice on Wednesday morning for two former FIFA officials and four corporate executives for charges including "racketeering, conspiracy and corruption".
Former FIFA vice president, Jack Warner, and former FIFA executive committee member Nicolás Leoz, are in the wanted list.
Reports said that the ongoing probe got closer to Blatter on Tuesday, when FIFA denied that his right-hand man, Secretary-General Jerome Valcke, was implicated in a $10 million payment related to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa - something that is at the heart of the U.S. case.
At the same time, a letter addressed to Valcke from the South African Football Association was published outlining the transaction.
On the other hand, Swiss authorities have launched a separate criminal investigation into the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups that are set to be held in Russia and Qatar.
Following Blatter's resignation, and the mounting pressure on FIFA to investigate high-profile allegations of corruption concerning the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bids due to take place in Russia and Qatar, speculation is beginning to grow surrounding whether those commitments will be honored.
