In the later stages of life, Havelange allowed controversies to become a pattern.
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Fifa’s financial power greatly increased under Havelange, by 1998 sales for the TV rights for the following three World Cups were worth over £1.3billion. In response to his death, the Brazilian flag at the International Olympic Committee and the Olympic venues were lowered to half-staff.
At the Melbourne 1956 Games, he was Brazil’s chef de mission before joining the International Olympic Committee in 1963. This July, he was admitted to the Samaritan Hospital in Rio de Janeiro due to pneumonia.
Prior to entering sports politics, Havelange was a world-class swimmer, who swam for Brazil in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and was part of his country’s water polo team at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki.
The son of a Belgian father and a Brazilian mother, Havelange was a top-notch athlete before becoming a sports administrator.
Havelange’s reputation took a nosedive in 2011 when, at the age of 96, he was forced to resign from the IOC.
“Havelange was one of the biggest figures in world sport and number one in football”.
Membership in the worldwide de Football Association, as the group is formally known, increased from 139 national associations in 1975 to more than 200, while several competitions were added including under-17 and under-20 world championships. He also pioneered the development and inception of the Women’s World Cup, the U-17 World Cup and the U-20 World Cup.
However, on more than one occasion he was the subject of corruption allegations.
Born in Brazil, Havelange, who was 100, served as Federation Internationale de Football Association president for more than two decades and resigned from honorary presidency in 2013.
The FIFA scandal was not the first time Havelange made headlines for corruption.
When Havelange became President of FIFAin 1974 it was seen as nearly revolutionary.
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The Rio 2016 Olympic stadium, where athletics and football matches are being played at the Games, was named after Havelange.
