Former Fifa president Joao Havelange dies aged 100

The head of worldwide football’s governing body from 1974 to 1998, Joao Havelange, has died at the age of 100 in his hometown Rio de Janeiro.

Havelange chaired his country’s football confederation from 1956 to 1974 and was first elected FIFA president 42 years ago after defeating incumbent president Stanley Rous of England.

He visited 186 countries during his time as Fifa president, and crossed by auto the border between the two Germanys in the Cold War era, and saw football transformed into a billion dollar industry.

Havelange was extremely proud that FIFA had almost 200 member associations by the time he left office, more than the United Nations, as he liked to repeat. FIFA’s membership expanded by almost one-third, to more than 200 nations and territories, under Havelange.

In 1974 he got the job of Federation Internationale de Football Association president, succeeding Sir Stanley Rous as the first non-European in the role.

“When Dr João Havelange ascended the football throne the sport was virtually bankrupt but by the time he left, it had become the most affluent sport in the global village”, said Warner. He secured Coca-Cola and Adidas to be the primary sponsors for the 1978 World Cup in Argentina.

The last time I saw Havelange was at a reception on the eve of the 1994 U.S. Soccer Annual General Meeting in San Diego.

Havelange competed as an Olympic swimmer for Brazil in 1936 at Berlin and was a member of Brazil’s 1952 water polo team in Helsinki.

But Havelange was frequently criticized for being autocratic, his reign was tainted with allegations of corruption and his career ended in disgrace.

The Rio 2016 Olympic stadium, where athletics and football matches are being played at the Games, was named after Havelange.

He had been in and out of hospitals in recent years due to respiratory problems.

In 1998, he was replaced by Switzerland’s Sepp Blatter but he was soon dogged by corruption allegations.

Havelange received at least US$ 1.5 million in kickbacks from ISL, according to the findings of an investigation which followed allegations made in a BBC Panorama program about Havelange and his son-in-law Teixeira’s involvement in the bribery scam.