It is a sad day for the football world as João Havelange, the 7th President of FIFA who served from 1974 to 1998 died on Tuesday.

João Havelange was born on May 8, 1916, in Rio de Janeiro and he died at the age of 100. here are some othere things you don’t know about the man whose tenure was the second longest as FIFA president.

His achivements

1. Apart from being president of Fifa, Havelange served as a member of the International Olympics Committee(IOC) from 1963 to 2011.

2. He was a two time Olympian in the colours of Brazil. The late Fifa president went to Berlin for the 1936 Olympic Games. He participated in the 400m and 1500m freestyle events.

3. In 1998, Havelange was nominated as a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

4. In 1996, he was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame and was awarded the International Swimming Hall of Fame’s Gold Medallion.

5. He was re-elected as Fifa president six times, capitalizing on his contact-building across world football. FIFA’s membership expanded by nearly one-third, to more than 200 nations and territories, under Havelange. China was readmitted in 1980 having left the organization in 1958.

6. He launched a World Cup for Women in 1991, giving women a grand international stage to compete on.

7. The FIFA Youth Championships for Under-17 and Under-20 players are his brainchild and he took the project through to conclusion, giving young talent an opportunity to showcase their skills before scouts from some of the biggest clubs around the world.

Down side

Despite all the good the veteran did while at the helms of Fifa’s affairs, he was also accused of corruption while in office.

8. According to BBC Panorama episode titled FIFA’s Dirty Secrets, Ricardo Teixeira, João Havelange’s son-in-law, was one of the three men accused of having taken bribes to the tune of one hundred million dollars for awarding contracts.

9. In 2002, investigative journalist, Andrew Jennings published several stories accusing Havelange of buying votes in the 1998 FIFA Presidential elections to ensure that he would be succeeded by his own man Sepp Blatter rather than Lennart Johansson.

10. In December 2011 the late former International Olympic Committee member resigned his membership of the committee just days before its leadership was expected to suspend him and rule on claims that he took a $1 million kickback.

Though not a perfect man with huge failings of his own, his positive achievement in the world of soccer would remain indelible in the sands of history.