NEW YORK - Twelve jurors and six alternates were selected at the FIFA corruption trial in New York on Thursday, tasked with deciding the guilt or innocence of three wealthy and once-powerful South American soccer officials.

The impanelling of the jury clears the way for prosecutors to begin opening statements next Monday, two and a half years after they unveiled what is the largest bribery scandal in the history of the world's most popular sport.

The jurors were whittled down from a prospective pool of 200, and kept in semi-secluded anonymity following documented attempts at intimidation.