In this Dec 13, 2017 photo, Juan Ángel Napout of Paraguay, one of three defendants in the FIFA scandal on trial in Brooklyn, arrives at the Federal Courthouse in Brooklyn in New York. (DON EMMERT / AFP)

ASUNCION - Juan Angel Napout, the jailed former head of the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL), has asked to be transferred to house arrest for fear of contracting COVID-19, his sister said on Wednesday.

Juan Angel Napout was sentenced to nine years in prison in August 2018 for crimes related to a sprawling graft probe that ensnared dozens of top football officials

Napout was sentenced to nine years in prison in August 2018 for crimes related to a sprawling graft probe that ensnared dozens of top football officials.

The 61-year-old Paraguayan is being held in a Florida state jail after initially serving his term in New York.

"We are requesting that Juan be placed under house arrest in Miami during the pandemic," Virginia Napout told Paraguayan television station NPY.

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"As a family, we ask that he be given the opportunity to take care of himself because he is at risk. In the end, his sentence could become a death sentence."

Napout, a former FIFA vice president, served as CONMEBOL's leader from August 2014 until his arrest in December 2015.

On Sunday, former Brazilian football chief Jose Maria Marin returned to his homeland after being granted an early release from a New York jail on humanitarian grounds.

The 87-year-old, who was president of the Brazilian Football Confederation from 2012 to 2015, was found guilty in August 2018 of accepting 6.6 million U.S. dollars in bribes for the awarding of broadcast rights.