BY KUNLE SOLAJA.

There have been nine presidents since the world football governing body; FIFA was founded 115 years ago.

But on this date, 11 June 1974, Brazilian, Dr.João Havelange became the first non-European FIFA president as he was elected President by the narrowest of margins in an election that went into the second ballot.

He won 68-52 votes on a second ballot to become president. Sir Stanley Rous, the then President, vacated the position to become Honorary Lifetime President of FIFA.

To achieve his goal, Havelange, a lawyer and businessman, lobbied in 86 different countries for the presidency, often accompanied by Pele and British sports marketer, Patrick Nally.

He depended largely on Africa’s numerical strength. Havelange’s pledge was to develop the role of FIFA and extend its global reach with the aid of commercial sponsorship.

The man, who passed away four years ago at age 100, is generally credited with leading football into the modern era. During his 24 years in charge, FIFA’s seventh President transformed the body into a dynamic enterprise of considerable international standing.

But the latter end of his lifetime before he passed on at Hospital Samaritano, Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, was dogged with allegations of corruption despite creating a huge financial empire for FIFA.

Despite all allegations he remained a towering figure of the 20th century sport.  He was a global phenomenon while at the helm of the global football ruling body.

He was the only FIFA President to have reached the milestone age of 100 and also had the second longest tenure after that of Jules Rimet who ruled for 33 years and 112 days.

Havelange was president for 24 years 31 days. He had expected a glamourous 100^th birthday. It was not to be.

The low attendance of high profile guests was contrary to the open invitation he offered in 2011 just before the award of the 2016 Olympics to his birthplace, Rio.

Then, Havelange enthusiastically remarked: “I invite you to come celebrate my 100 years in Rio in 2016”.

No thanks to his indictments following the bribery allegation that trailed his exit from office.

Even his associates in FIFA were reluctant to openly associate with him even when Brazil, his homeland hosted the FIFA Confederation Cup and World Cup in 2013 and 2014.

Despite all that, Havelange’s contributions to not just football and FIFA, but to sports generally cannot be ignored.

Most people choose to remember only the bribery allegation and forget all he did for the development of football worldwide. 

When all is said and done, the late Havelange remains one of the towering figures of 20th Century sport.

Havelange’s six terms in office, spanning 24 years, witnessed the transformation of football into a global, lucrative sport. He encouraged the development of football in new markets such as Africa, Asia and the US.

As a sports journalist, I had opportunities of meeting him in Canada in 1987, Italy in 1990, Portugal in 1991, China in 1991 and France in 1998.

He never failed to impress me. A good listener whose gait may give deceptive impression of admission of your points, he would suddenly drop his views, which threw one off balance.

On my first occasion of meeting him at a press conference at Holiday Inn at St. John’s, New Found land in Canada in 1987, I marveled as he switched from English to French then to Portuguese and back to English while answering questions. Charles Ojugbana (then of NTA) and myself later took photographs with him.

In the FIFA magazine edition of April 1998, he remarked that in spite of his busy schedule as FIFA president, he personally answered all mails directed to him.

I can attest to this as he answered all my questionnaires mailed to him as a reporter at African Concord magazine in the 1980s. 

 At the time he took the reins in 1974, FIFA had just two competitions – the World Cup and football in the Olympics.

He expanded the competitions to eight. It was part of his development programme for the Third World countries, especially in Africa and Asia.

The FIFA U-20, U-17, Confederation Cup, Fustal and Women’s World Cup were all introduced under his tenure.

 Africa’s slot in the World Cup progressively increased from one to five. He attempted to bridge the gulf in football development of Europe and South America and that of Africa and Asia.

 Fifty new associations joined FIFA and he expanded the World Cup from 16 to 32 teams thus improving African countries chances of qualifying. With 207 members, FIFA grew into the world’s largest single sport federation. By way of comparison, the UN had 191 members.

He was able to get China to return to FIFA after 25 years of politically motivated absence.

In conflict resolutions among nations, he was able to bring the two Koreas – the North and South – together to play as a team in the 1991 U-20 World Cup (then called World Youth Championship) in Portugal. 

 “My biggest disappointment was the inability to find a peaceful, sports-based solution to the Israel and Palestine conflict,” he admitted.

He had a dream of an international match between Israel and Palestine at the UN headquarters in New York.

 Under Havelange, FIFA experienced its golden age. “When I arrived (FIFA), I found an old house and $20 in the kitty,” recalled Havelange. 

The General Secretary and his family were living in the house, which had just seven staff members. By 1998, FIFA had over 70 workers and a new building.

“On the day I departed 24 years later, I left property and contracts worth over $4 billion.” Under his tutelage, football became a global commodity. 

 Before Havelange’s tenure, teams had to pay their ways to FIFA competitions, just as delegates to congresses had to do. Under Havelange, teams participating in the World Cup had their expenses underwritten and also got paid for participating.

 A commentary ran on him by New York Times in its June 9, 1998 edition described him as a strong willed person who ran FIFA with a combination of autocratic rigidity and progressive reform.  

For 24 years, he built FIFA in his image to the point where world leaders had audiences with him, virtually begging for his attention. He met virtually all heads of governments during his tenure.

Such was his influence that he could swing votes to his favoured candidates. A recent example was the award of 2016 Olympic Games to his native Rio, beating former IOC, Juan Samaranch-backed Madrid and a Chicago bid backed by the then US President Barack Obama. An American president is arguably the most powerful man on Planet Earth.

Before becoming the FIFA head, he led Brazilian football in its most successful period. Havelange witnessed his first World Cup as a fan in 1950.

Following Brazil’s 2-1 loss to Uruguay, he reportedly made a firm promise: “If I become president, the trophy will come home to my country.”

Under his presidency of the CBF, Brazil won the World Cup three times in 1958, 1962 and 1970.