Former FIFA president Joao Havelange, investigated for fraud, dies aged 100

“The institution supports the family and friends of the sports leader”, said the brief statement.

In 2012, a report found that Havelange and his son-in-law had received a total of over 41 million US dollars in bribes linked to the distribution of World Cup marketing rights.

Havelange succeeded Englishman Stanley Rous to the top spot at world football’s governing body in 1974, and was credited with redistributing some of Fifa’s powers to developing nations.

He helped to transform the group and its flagship event, the World Cup, into a multibillion-dollar business. It stated: “It is certain that not inconsiderable amounts were channelled to former Fifa president Havelange and to his son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira, president of the Brazilian Football Confederation, as well as to Dr Nicolas Leoz, President of South America’s football governing body”. He was also hospitalized in July in Rio because of pneumonia.

On the field the World Cup went from 16 teams in 1974, nearly all drawn from Europe and South America, to 32 in 1998, most of the added places going to the confederations of Africa, Asia and North and Central America.

Interestingly, the Olympics stadium used for track and field in Rio de Janerio is named the ‘Joao Havelange Olympic Stadium’.

In 2013, FIFA’s ethics court said he was responsible for financial wrongdoing, but he was never punished.

Two years earlier he had quit as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), a post he had held since 1963.

Havelange had a career in swimming before moving into politics. Later, Havelange won a bronze medal in the sport of water polo with the Brazilian team at the 1951 Pan American Games and also represented Brazil in water polo at the 1952 Helsinki Olympics.

He was re-elected president six times, capitalizing on his contact-building across world football.

Under Havelange’s watch, the World Cup expanded from 16 to 32 teams and was extended to women’s soccer, as well.

Havelange was the first non-European head of Federation Internationale de Football Association and its longest serving president, stepping down at age 82.