Local newsmagazine Epoca was the first to report on the inquiry, saying it had obtained the two-year police investigation into Ricardo Teixeira, which was concluded and delivered to prosecutors in January.

Federal prosecutor spokesman Marcelo Del Negri in Rio de Janeiro confirmed the investigation exists, but said he could give no details.

Under Brazilian law, only prosecutors can file criminal charges and they then must be accepted by a judge. That has not yet happened in the Teixeira case.

According to the report in the magazine, police have requested that prosecutors charge Mr Teixeira with money-laundering, tax evasion, forgery and falsification of public documents related to bank transfers made between 2009 and 2012, in the run-up to last year’s World Cup in Brazil.

The case is not yet directly tied to the American investigation into Fifa, but Brazilian police have told local media they are willing to assist US investigators if asked.

The 67-year-old Mr Teixeira, who was once considered a potential successor to Fifa president Sepp Blatter, has faced allegations of corruption before, but they have never stuck.

The one-time son-in-law of former Fifa president Joao Havelange, Mr Teixeira resigned as the president of the Brazilian football confederation and the 2014 World Cup organising committee in early 2012 after a contentious 23-year stint in charge of the sport in the country.

When he resigned for what he said were medical reasons, local media reported that prosecutors had found evidence linking him to a company that organized a game between Brazil and Portugal in 2008 in Brasilia.

The company was investigated over irregularities in organising the match.

Mr Teixeira was never convicted of any wrongdoing, but he was twice investigated by Brazil’s Congress, including over a contract signed with Nike.

After Brazil won the 1994 World Cup, Mr Teixeira found himself amid a controversy when players and officials tried to re-enter Brazil without paying proper taxes on gifts and other imported goods bought by them in the United States.

Before the 2006 World Cup, prosecutors accused him and a tourism agency of selling tickets for the event without following legal procedures.