The Brazilian died in Rio de Janeiro’s Samaritano Hospital on Tuesday, the hospital said.
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The current Federation Internationale de Football Association president, Gianni Infantino, expressed thanks to Havelange in a short statement that focused only on his achievements, while Andrew Jennings, the British journalist who uncovered the ISL scandal, posted a message on Twitter which said: “Havelange was a gangster – urbane but still a gangster”.
Havelange also served as the head of Brazil’s swimming federation and spent nearly 50 years as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).
It’s reported he had been suffering from respiratory problems in recent months.
Along with former FIFA Ex-Co members Ricardo Teixeira and Nicolas Leoz, Havelange was found to have taken millions of dollars in illegal payments throughout the 1990s from the former marketing partner of world football’s governing body.
Havelange was praised for expanding football into the global game that it is today, having helped take the sport to the likes of Africa and Asia.
As well as swimming at the 1936 Olympics, Havelange was part of the Brazilian water polo team at the 1952 Helsinki Games and was chef de mission for the Brazilian delegation at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.
With outsider backing strong enough as to be impossible to ignore, Havelange managed to depose Englishman Sir Stanley Rous as President in 1974.
According to Carlos Nuzman, the president of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, Havelange was the most influential official football has known. Havelange also created the women’s World Cup.
He also had a hand in Rio winning the right to host the 2016 summer Games, leading off the city’s bid presentation in Copenhagen by calling on International Olympic Committee members to “join me in celebrating my 100th birthday'” at the 2016 Games in Brazil.
In 2012, a report found that Havelange and his son-in-law had received a total of over 41 million USA dollars in bribes linked to the distribution of World Cup marketing rights.
He became a member of the Brazilian Olympic Committee in 1958 and, soon after, was appointed President of the Brazilian Sports Confederation, a position he would hold until 1973.
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Joao Havelange while at the Under-20 men’s World Cup in Chile in 1987.
