Havelange was found guilty of accepting £1m in bribes during his tenure from 1974 to 1998.
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When Havelange was elected president, Fifa’s Zurich headquarters housed just 12 staff members. “Flags will be lowered to half-mast at all Olympic stadiums”, Andrada told reporters.
Warner went on to specifically mention the CONCACAF Centre of Excellence named in Havelange’s honour in Macoya – the complex that has been a huge source of controversy in Caribbean football.
Many have thanked Joao Havelange for his contributions to worldwide, even crediting him for making soccer the world’s most popular sport.
Havelange represented Brazil in swimming at the 1936 Olympics – the year he qualified as a lawyer – before his election to the IOC.
As a young adult had a successful career in law, graduating with an advanced degree from Fluminense Federal University and serving as a legal advisor to several companies in Brazil.
The introduction of the FIFA Confederations Cup, and the Under-17, Under-20 and the women’s World Cups also came under his watch.
Havelange was born in Rio in 1916, the son of wealthy Belgian immigrants.
“He was one of the most progressive thinkers who was never starved for ideas”, said Warner, also a former government minister of Trinidad and Tobago.
Blatter was subsequently at the centre of a more recent corruption scandal, which saw his 17-year reign at the head of Federation Internationale de Football Association ended after the organisation’s ethics committee banned him for eight years.
In 2013, the soccer body’s ethics court judge Joachim Eckert said Havelange’s conduct had been “morally and ethically reproachable”.
Havelange stepped down from his position as honorary president in 2013, citing health issues.
As head of soccer’s highest body for 24 years and with half a century on the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Havelange FIFA a global powerhouse, becoming a central figure in the evolution of today’s sporting mega-events.
At the Melbourne 1956 Olympic Games he was Brazil’s chef de mission before joining the International Olympic Committee in 1963.
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The Engenhao stadium in Rio, where numerous Olympic events are now under way, was named in his honour.
