A criminal case against two former 21st Century Fox executives and a sports marketing company accused of bribing South American soccer officials to obtain lucrative broadcasting rights was about the corruption of the sport, a prosecutor told a jury in a Brooklyn federal court on Tuesday.

The former Fox executives, Hernan Lopez and Carlos Martinez, and Buenos Aires-based Full Play Group SA have pleaded not guilty to crimes including wire fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

The charges are part of a long-running corruption probe surrounding soccer's global governing body FIFA.