Former president of football’s world governing body Joao Havelange has died at the age of 100.
ADVERTISEMENTFormer president of football’s world governing body Joao Havelange has died at the age of 100.
The FIFA chief from 1974 to 1998 died in Rio de Janeiro’s Samaritano Hospital but no further details are to be given until authorized by his family.
Havelange was a former Olympic swimmer and water polo player for Brazil had been in and out of the hospital in recent months with respiratory problems.
Havelange was the first non-European to head FIFA and his 24-year tenure as President is the second longest in the organisation’s history, behind only that of Jules Rimet.
He helped to transform the group and its flagship event, the World Cup, into a multibillion-dollar business.
But he resigned as its honorary president amid corruption allegations against him in 2013.
He was also an International Olympic Committee (IOC) member from 1963 until 2011 when he stepped down due to ill health.