Joao Havelange, The Man Who Created FIFA as We Know it, Dead at 100

Havelange was gangster - urbane but still a gangster pic.twitter.com/3axHA1eQXj
— Andrew Jennings (@AAndrewJennings) August 16, 2016

You're not supposed to speak ill of the dead.

But what if the dead were so unspeakably and irredeemably corrupt that to talk of anything else would be disingenuous and revising history?

On Tuesday, former FIFA president and International Olympic Committee member Joao Havelange died at age 100.

The Brazilian was president of FIFA for 24 years—during which time he and his son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira took some $41 million in bribes, per a Swiss prosecutor—and a member of the IOC for 48 years, resigning days before an ethics hearing. He died during the midst of the Rio Olympics, which he helped land, held in the town where he was born and and where passed away.

The IOC quickly tried to paper over the many stains on Havelange's reputation so as not to overshadow the ongoing Games.

IOC says not appropriate to discuss wrongdoing & corruption of Havelange on day of his death
— Rob Harris (@RobHarris) August 16, 2016

But to ignore the kickbacks is to also overlook the man's accomplishments in sport. Yes, he was desperately depraved when it came to milking every last drop from the juggernauts he helped build. But he also got those institutions to a place where they could become cash gushers.

"When I arrived, I found an old house and $20 in the kitty," Havelange told FIFA.com in an article celebrating his 90th birthday. "On the day I departed 24 years later, I left property and contracts worth over $4 billion."

Havelange was also the subject of this classic paragraph in the FIFA ethics committee's report into ISL. pic.twitter.com/bvzH5TefCy
— Joshua Robinson (@JoshRobinson23) May 8, 2016

Havelange was born with a silver spoon to a Belgian arms dealer father based in Brazil. He became an Olympic swimmer in his own right. But as an administrator, he professionalized FIFA from 1974 through 1998, the years after he took over from Sir Stanley Rous and before he handed off to his protégé Sepp Blatter. Rous, an Apartheid sympathizer, had spent much of his energy during his 13 years in charge trying to arrange for South Africa's all-white team to be allowed to compete internationally, before finally being strong-armed by the other African federations into dropping his pet project.

Havelange was more interested in commercializing the World Cup, setting it on a course to become the world's biggest and most profitable sporting event. He signed lucrative broadcast deals and ramped up sponsorship. He also doubled the World Cup in size, from 16 teams to 32, and founded the Women's World Cup.

He created a money machine and then pocketed a cut. And he either actively created or cheerily abided a culture of secrecy and backroom deal-making.

Havelange invented the mechanisms that made soccer rich. And then he pioneered the profiteering and patronage that lined the pockets of the men who oversaw the game.

You can be sanctimonious all you want, but that's his real legacy.