EX FIFA CHIEF, JAO HAVELANGE DIES AT 100 IN BRAZIL

Joao Havelange, whose two-decade presidency of FIFA saw football's governing body transformed into a multibillion dollar business and a hotbed for subsequent corruption that damaged its reputation, has died. He was 100.

The Brazilian had been treated for pneumonia in Rio de Janeiro's Samaritano hospital back in July.

The hospital said in a statement that Havelange died on Tuesday morning, but did not state cause of death. 

"The institution supports the family and friends of the sports leader," said the brief statement.

Born on May 8, 1916, Havelange turned 100 this year, just before Rio hosted the Olympic Games.

In 2009, Havelange led off Rio's bid presentation to the IOC in Copenhagen by inviting the members to vote to "join me in celebrating my 100th birthday'" at the 2016 Games in Brazil.

The Brazilian expanded the World Cup from 16 to 32 teams and made it one of sport's most important events. He organised six World Cups as FIFA president from 1974 to 1998, when Sepp Blatter replaced him. He secured lucrative broadcast deals, brought nations into FIFA, and created the women's World Cup.

With more cash for football also came widespread financial wrongdoing by its top officials, including Havelange.

In 2013, FIFA ethics court judge Joachim Eckert said Havelange's conduct had been "morally and ethically reproachable."

Havelange was never punished. He was allowed to resign his FIFA honorary presidency in 2013, a move that kept him out of reach of the federation's ethics committee.

Havelange resigned from the International Olympic Committee in 2011, citing unspecified health problems. By stepping down he avoided a possible suspension for taking kickbacks from former FIFA marketing partner ISL.

Prior to that, Havelange also resigned in December 2011 as a member of the International Olympic Committee just days before its leadership was expected to suspend him and rule on claims that he took a $1 million kickback.

Three of FIFA's most notorious officials -- his son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira, Chuck Blazer and Jack Warner -- joined FIFA's executive committee during Havelange's presidency. All three were subsequently swept up in corruption investigations by Swiss and U.S. authorities last year that also brought the end of Blatter's 17-year presidency.

FIFA was a small organisation with about a dozen employees when Havelange took over at its Zurich headquarters in 1974.

"I found an old house and $20 in the kitty," Havelange told FIFA's website. "On the day I departed 24 years later, I left property and contracts worth over $4 billion. Not too bad, I'd say."

He was re-elected president six times, capitalizing on his contact-building across world football. FIFA's membership expanded by nearly one-third, to more than 200 nations and territories, under Havelange. China was readmitted in 1980 having left the organization in 1958.

"I clocked 26,000 hours in the air, the equivalent of spending three years in an airplane," Havelange said. "The only country I never visited was Afghanistan, because they wouldn't let me in."

The son of a Belgian father and a Brazilian mother, Havelange was a top-notch athlete before becoming a sports administrator. He swam for Brazil at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin and played on its water polo team at the Helsinki Games in 1952.

He headed the Brazilian football confederation for nearly two decades, when Brazil's national team won its first three World Cup titles in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

Havelange was the first non-European head of FIFA and its longest serving president, stepping down at age 82.

In a 1999 survey by the IOC, Havelange was voted among the top three sports leaders of the 20th century, behind former IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch and modern Olympics founder Pierre de Coubertin. He joined the IOC in 1963.

Havelange had a heart pacemaker implanted in 2006. He was hospitalized for more than two months, including several weeks in intensive care, in 2012 because of an infection in his right ankle.

The stadium used for track and field during these Olympics is officially named the Joao Havelange Olympic Stadium, although organising officials removed his name for the Games, simply calling it "Olympic Stadium."