João Havelange
Brazilian businessman and athlete (1916-2016) · Brazil · Politicians · Died at 100
João Havelange is read about 543 times a day, in 53 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 15 September 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?He ran global football for nearly a quarter-century and left with an honorary title - until Swiss prosecutors traced £21 million in bribes back to his desk.
A life in dates
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Awards
About this person
João Havelange was a Brazilian lawyer and businessman who became FIFA's seventh president in 1974, succeeding Stanley Rous. Over the next 24 years he held the office longer than anyone except Jules Rimet, reshaping the World Cup's commercial reach. He also sat on the International Olympic Committee from 1963 to 2011, eventually its longest-serving active member. When he stepped down from FIFA in 1998 he was named honorary president, handing power to Sepp Blatter. That title lasted until April 2013, when he resigned. A month earlier a Swiss prosecutor's report had detailed how he and his son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira took more than 41 million Swiss francs in bribes tied to World Cup marketing rights. He died in August 2016 at 100.
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