RIO DE JANEIRO: Joao Havelange, who as president of FIFA for two decades transformed football’s governing body into a multibillion-dollar business and a hotbed for subsequent corruption that damaged its reputation, has died at 100.

Havelange, who was suffering from a respiratory infection, died early on Tuesday while Rio de Janeiro was hosting the Olympic Games, according to the Samaritano Hospital.

As head of FIFA for 24 years and with half a century on the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Havelange thought and acted big, becoming a central figure in the evolution of today’s sporting mega-events.

Among his last achievements was to use his clout to help Rio win its bid to host this year’s Olympic Games — the first held in South America.

In 2009, Havelange led off Rio’s bid presentation to the International Olympic Committee in Copenhagen by inviting the members to vote to “join me in celebrating my 100th birthday “‘ at the 2016 Games in Brazil.

The former Olympic swimmer and water polo player for Brazil had been in and out of the hospital in recent months.

Havelange was the first non-European to head FIFA, helping to transform the group and its flagship event, the World Cup, into a multibillion-dollar enterprise.

He expanded the World Cup from 16 to 32 teams, organising 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 honorary presidency of FIFA in 2013.

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

The Engenhao stadium in Rio de Janeiro, where many of the Rio Olympic events are currently underway, was named in his honour.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2016