Jean-Marie Faustin Godefroid "João" de Havelange (, ; 8 May 1916 – 16 August 2016) was a Brazilian lawyer, businessman, and athlete who was the seventh president of FIFA from 1974 to 1998. His tenure as president is the second longest in FIFA's history, behind that of Jules Rimet. He received the title of honorary president when leaving office, but resigned in April 2013. He was preceded by Stanley Rous and succeeded by Sepp Blatter. Havelange served as a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 1963 to 2011. He was the longest-serving active member upon his resignation. In July 2012, a Swiss prosecutor's report revealed that, during his tenure on FIFA's Executive Committee, he and his son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira took more than 41 million Swiss francs (£21m) in bribes in connection with the award of World Cup marketing rights. He worked as a legal advisor for bus company Auto Viação Jabaquara, and became president-director of another bus company, Viação Cometa S/A.
Interested in sports since his childhood years, at the age of 20 Havelange competed as a swimmer at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, but failed to go beyond the heats of the 400m freestyle and 1500m freestyle events. He was also part of the Brazilian team that tied for 13th in water polo at the 1952 Summer Olympics in Helsinki. He was the chef de mission of the Brazilian delegation at the 1956 Summer Olympic Games in Melbourne.
Sports administrator
As president of the Metropolitan Swimming Federation in Brazil, Havelange became a member of the Brazilian Olympic Committee and joined the Union Cycliste Internationale in 1958. After becoming vice-president of the Brazilian Sports Confederation, he was president of the Confederation from 1958 to 1973.
President of FIFA (1974–98)
thumb|Havelange with [[Sepp Blatter in 1982]]
In 1974, Havelange defeated Englishman Stanley Rous for the presidency of FIFA, the governing body of world association football. Havelange became the first (and, to date, only) non-European to hold the post. He lobbied in 86 different countries for the presidency, often accompanied by Pelé. Sports marketer Patrick Nally said that "Havelange had seen the future...he knew that if he became the president of the only federation already running its own high-profile world championship then he would enjoy huge economic power".
thumb|Havelange in 1982, during his presidency of [[FIFA]]
The support of commercial organizations was crucial to the future of Havelange and FIFA, and provided a model for global sporting federations. Nally stated that:
The sale of television rights increased greatly under Havelange's leadership. In 1987 the European rights to the next three FIFA World Cups were sold for $440 million, the non-United States rights for the three tournaments from 1998 sold for $2.2 billion. Under Havelange's presidency the FIFA World Cup expanded from 16 to 32 teams, with Havelange overseeing six world cups during his time in office.
Havelange was also an associate of Brazilian criminal Castor de Andrade, head of an illegal gambling association. Andrade was sentenced to six years in prison in 1994 for racketeering. Havelange wrote a character reference for Andrade in 1987 as "amiable and pleasant ... predominant feature .. loyalty .. good family man, a devoted friend, and is admired as a sports administrator". "I authorize Castor de Andrade to use this statement as he deems appropriate". Teixeira was President of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) between 1989 and 2012. A financier, Teixeira had no previous experience of sports administration. Brazilian footballer Pelé accused Teixeira of corruption, resulting in an eight-year feud between Pelé and Havelange. Consequently, Havelange banned Pelé from the draw for the 1994 FIFA World Cup in Las Vegas. Criticisms over the ban were perceived to have negatively affected Havelange's chances of re-election as FIFA President in 1994.
As Brazilian Minister for Sports, Pelé drafted legislation approved as the Pelé Law in December 1997 by the lower house of the Brazilian congress. Football clubs had to become companies within two years, giving players greater freedom of contract and limiting the power of the Brazilian Football Confederation. Havelange threatened to ban Brazil from the 1998 FIFA World Cup if the law passed.
FIFA Presidential elections
thumb|João Havelange in 1997.
At the 1994 meeting of the FIFA Executive Committee in New York, Havelange was criticized for his allocation of appointments to FIFA's standing committees. Havelange postponed a discussion on the appointments, distributed a list with the new composition of the committees, and declared the list passed without a vote. The English Football Association had pledged support to Lennart Johansson in the forthcoming FIFA Presidential election, whereas Havelange supported FIFA General Secretary Sepp Blatter.
Corruption
In 1999, De Telegraaf reported that Havelange accepted gifts of diamonds, bicycles, sports articles, Delft blue porcelain, paintings and art books, in connection with Amsterdam's failed bid for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games. "I remember it very well because he had special wishes, wishes which were in conflict with the IOC laws," said Peter Kronenberg, who headed the press office of the Amsterdam Olympic Games 1992 Foundation.
In May 2006, British investigative reporter Andrew Jennings' book Foul! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote-Rigging and Ticket Scandals implicated Havelange in the collapse of ISL, and revealed that some football officials were urged to secretly repay the commissions they received. In 2011, Jennings told Brazil's Senate that Havelange may have amassed $50 million or more in bribes through a front company called Sicuretta.
An IOC ethics committee was announced in June 2011 to investigate claims that Havelange received a bribe of $1 million in connection with ISL. The investigation was prompted by Jennings' claims in FIFA's Shame, an episode of Panorama broadcast on BBC One in May 2011. In November 2011 Jennings accused Havelange of being one of the people who collectively paid 5.5 million CHF to close the 2008 ISL fraud trial.
In July 2012, after protracted court proceedings, Havelange and Teixeira were named as beneficiaries of bribes from ISL. A prosecutor in the canton of Zug revealed a document saying that, from 1992 to 2000, Havelange and Teixeira were paid 41m CHF by ISL. Teixeira had resigned from FIFA in March 2012. In 2012 Sepp Blatter said that at the time of this payment, commercial bribery was not a crime in Switzerland.
Health issues and death
In March and April 2012, Havelange was hospitalized for a seriously infected right ankle in Rio de Janeiro, which necessitated a period in intensive care. In April 2013 he resigned from his position as FIFA's Honorary President for "health and personal reasons". He died at 5:00 BRT on 16 August 2016 at the age of 100 in Rio de Janeiro during the 2016 Summer Olympics which were being held there.
Assessment
thumb|right|200px|Havelange in 2010
Writing in June 1998, as Havelange was leaving FIFA, and before the eruption of most of the controversies surrounding him, The New York Times commented on Havelange's leadership:
Honors
Havelange was elected honorary president of FIFA in 1998,
Awards
- : Grand Decoration of Honour in Silver with Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (2003)
- : Grand Cross of the Order of Rio Branco (2007)
- : Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur (1998)
- : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1984)
- : Grand Cross of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite
- : Grand Officer of the Order of Public Instruction (1963)
- : Knight 1st Class of the Order of Vasa On 10 February 2017, the stadium was renamed Estádio Olímpico Nilton Santos.
- The Estádio Parque do Sabiá's former name
- Trinidad's Dr. João Havelange Centre of Excellence
Publication
- O Dirigente Esportivo Do Seculo XX, Rio de Janeiro, ed. Casa Da Palavra, 2015.