Joao Havelange hospitalised
Former FIFA president Joao Havelange was in a critical condition with a viral infection in a Rio de Janeiro hospital as speculation mounted over whether FIFA would publish a report into bribery involving FIFA’s former marketing partner ISL.
The 95-year-old Brazilian was president of the world governing body from 1974 until 1998, but stepped down from his position on the International Olympic Committee at the end of last year, two days before he was due to face an ethics investigation.
Havelange was reported to have been named as one of the FIFA officials who had taken bribes from ISL, along with his former son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira, who quit all his football positions in March.
Anti-corruption expert Mark Pieth has called for the publication of a court file which named the alleged recipients of the ISL bribes, but FIFA president Sepp Blatter refused to do so on the grounds that it would contravene Swiss law.
Blatter had promised that FIFA would publish the ISL file by last December but two anonymous objectors - reported to be Havelange and Teixeira - successfully applied to the Swiss supreme court to prevent publication.
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