The 11-year-old FIFA-ISL corruption case is going to Switzerland's supreme court after appeals were lodged to block publication of a key document.
The Swiss Federal Tribunal told The Associated Press on Thursday that it has opened five separate case files. The cases are likely to take several months to process.
The court said the appellants' identities must remain confidential.
The appeals challenge a December decision by the Zug canton supreme court that call on FIFA to publish the dossier naming soccer officials who took kickbacks from World Cup broadcast deals.
The 2010 settlement document reportedly identifies soccer officials who admitted taking kickbacks, and repaid $6.1 million to remain anonymous.
FIFA's attempts to keep the contents secret were challenged by media organizations, including Zurich business weekly Handelszeitung.
FIFA said in December that it supported the Zug ruling and would not appeal, because the decision ''corresponds to the position of FIFA and its President, Joseph S. Blatter, to open the ISL case file.''
Dealing with the ISL case, which has often cast a shadow on Blatter's 14-year presidency, has became a central part of the FIFA president's promised anti-corruption reforms after a series of scandals implicating executive committee members.
In October, Blatter promised to release the Zug court document, with the permission of his ruling board after a meeting in December. But FIFA postponed publication, citing ''legal measures'' taken by a party involved in the ISL scandal. FIFA did not identify which third party had stalled the process.
The BBC has reported that the settlement document implicates two Brazilian officials, former FIFA President Joao Havelange and Ricardo Teixeira, who has taken a leave of absence through illness from his duties as the 2014 World Cup organizing committee president.
Havelange resigned his 48-year membership of the International Olympic Committee in December, days before he faced sanctions and a likely suspension following an IOC ethics commission investigation into the ISL case.
The IOC said last month it no longer sought access to the Zug court dossier after completing its ethics probes. It issued a reprimand to Issa Hayatou, a FIFA vice president and IOC member from Cameroon, who received $20,000 in cash from ISL in 1995.
The ISL scandal stemmed from alleged payments of tens of millions of dollars made by the Swiss-based marketing agency before its 2001 collapse with debts of $300 million.
