Former vice-president of FIFA Jack Warner has labeled former FIFA president Joao Havelange, who died yesterday, as “the man who changed the face of football forever”. Earlier this year, Havelange was in the news for corruption and stepped down as a result. In the later stages of life, Havelange allowed controversies to become a pattern. Joseph Blatter, who was FIFA secretary general and succeeded Havelange, was seen as the Brazilian’s protege and has himself been mired in the scandals which have rocked the football ruling body.
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But there were pointedly no fulsome tributes to him from either the IOC or the organising committee at the daily briefing of worldwide media at Rio 2016, with only a brief comment on the Brazilian Olympic Committee’s request for the flag tribute being granted. Havelange was important in Brazil’s efforts for landing the 2016 Olympic Summer Games as he was a key presenter during their presentation to the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen.
He had been treated at a hospital in Rio de Janerio in July this year.
He was re-elected president six times, capitalizing on his contact-building across world football.
A Brazilian businessman with a law degree, Havelange was an Olympic swimmer and water polo player in his youth.
The son of a Belgian father and a Brazilian mother, Havelange was a top-notch athlete before becoming a sports administrator. An International Olympic Committee (IOC) member from 1963 until 2011, Havelange resigned because of illness.
It is thought the bankrupt sports marketing company ISL paid more than 100 million dollars in the 1990s to senior officials including Havelange. In his 18 years leading the organization, he saw Brazil win the 1958 (Sweden), 1962 (Chile) and 1970 (Mexico) World Soccer Cups.
During his time in office, Havelange helped transform FIFA’s flagship event, the World Cup, into a multibillion-dollar enterprise, overseeing its expansion from 16 to 32 teams, with 12 of those places coming from Asia, Africa or the CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Caribbean). He secured lucrative broadcast deals, brought nations into Federation Internationale de Football Association, and created the women’s World Cup. He was also instrumental in putting women’s football on the map, championing their cause for a separate World Cup, and taking part in Olympics.
Despite allegations of impropriety staining his legacy, ex-FIFA chief Joao Havelange should be fondly remembered according to Jack Warner.
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However, on more than one occasion he was the subject of corruption allegations. He resigned from his post as FIFA’s honorary president a short while later.
