BREAKING: Ex-FIFA boss dies at 100

This file photo taken on August 06, 1997 shows then President of the Federation International Football Association (FIFA) Joao Havelange speaking during a press conference where he announced 07 August in Rio de Janeiro, the participation of the the Brazilain national soccer team in the 1998 World Cup competition in France. Joao Havelange, Brazil's corruption-tainted former FIFA president who helped bring the Olympic Games to Rio, has died at the age of 100, a hospital spokeswoman told AFP Tuesday. / AFP PHOTO / Antonio SCORZA

Former FIFA  President Joao Havelange has died at the age of 100, BBC Sport reports.

The Brazilian was predecessor to Sepp Blatter at world football’s governing body, serving from 1974 to 1998.

He resigned as FIFA’s honorary president in April 2013 following an investigation into bribery allegations and was admitted to hospital the following year with a lung infection.

He was an International Olympic Committee  member from 1963 until 2011, resigning because of ill health.

Havelange represented Brazil in swimming at the 1936 Olympics – the year he qualified as a lawyer – before his election to the IOC.

As FIFA president he led the World Cup’s expansion from 16 to 32 teams, with six competitions held under his tenure.

However, his career was also mired in controversy over bribery allegations.

In 2010, a BBC Panorama programme accused Havelange and son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira of taking millions of dollars in bribes from Swiss marketing agency International Sport and Leisure to retain the company as Fifa’s sole official marketer.

His resignation from the IOC five years ago avoided an investigation into the ISL allegations, which Havelange had denied.

In 2012, Teixeira stepped down as head of Brazil’s football federation, a position he filled for 23 years, and resigned from the 2014 World Cup organising committee after coming under pressure over corruption allegations, which he also denied.

As well as swimming at the 1936 Olympics, Havelange was part of the Brazilian water polo team at the 1952 Helsinki Games and was chef de mission for the Brazilian delegation at the 1956 Olympics in Melbourne.

And it was as a sports administrator, particularly in football, that Havelange made his mark.