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João Havelange: A Businessman for World Soccer

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Global Sport Leaders

Abstract

João Havelange had such a profound impact on the governance and growth of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) that his five terms as president, from 1974 to 1998, can be considered a turning point in the federation’s history. Under Havelange’s guidance, the federation achieved substantial revenue growth, increased its head office staff from 15 to almost 100 people, expanded its membership to over 200 countries and doubled the size of the World Cup finals, its flagship competition, from 16 to 32 teams. Consequently, Havelange can be considered to personify the increased commercialisation of football, and of sport in general, that occurred during the 1980s, with the arrival of more businessmen at the top of international sports federations. This chapter focuses on Havelange's arrival at the top of FIFA and then examines why Havelange, unlike his predecessors, introduced policies specifically aimed at expanding the body.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    See, for example, articles in Le Monde (France) and The Guardian (UK) published on 16 August 2014.

  2. 2.

    See, for example: Pereira, J.M. and Vieira, S.M. (2010) João Havelange: o dirigente esportivo do século XX = João Havelange: The Great Sport’s Administrator of the twentieth century, Rio de Janeiro: Casa da Palavra: 209.

  3. 3.

    See, for example: Jennings, A. (2006) Foul! The Secret World of FIFA: Bribes, Vote Rigging and Ticket Scandals, London, New York: Routledge, 2006; Tomlinson, A. (2014) FIFA. The Men, the Myths and the Money, Oxford: Routledge.

  4. 4.

    Tomlinson, A. (2000) ‘FIFA and the men who made it’, Soccer & Society, 1(1): 55–71.

  5. 5.

    Pereira and Vieira João Havelange: o dirigente esportivo do século XX: 209.

  6. 6.

    Ibid., p. 210.

  7. 7.

    IOC (International Olympic Committee) archives, João Havelange’s CV, João Havelange’s ‘Biography’ file.

  8. 8.

    Ibid.

  9. 9.

    Davies, D.J. (2000) ‘British Football with a Brazilian Beat: The Early History of a National Pastime (1894–1933)’ English-Speaking Communities in Latin America (Ed. O. Marshall) London: Institute of Latin American Studies.

  10. 10.

    Pereira and Vieira João Havelange: o dirigente esportivo do século XX: 205.

  11. 11.

    Ibid.: 210.

  12. 12.

    Ibid.: 209.

  13. 13.

    A lot of books have been written about Brazilian football. See, in particular the special issue ‘Soccer in Brazil’ edited in 2014 by Martin Curi in Soccer & Society 15(1). For a general overview, see also Goldblatt, D. (2014) A Futebol Nation. A Footballing History of Brazil, London: Penguin.

  14. 14.

    L’Equipe, 28 May 1986.

  15. 15.

    L’Equipe, 19 November 1963.

  16. 16.

    Wahl, A. (2014) ‘La Fédération Internationale de Football-Association (1903–1930)’ Sport et relations internationales (Eds. A. Wahl and P. Arnaud) Metz: Université de Metz.

  17. 17.

    Information included in the reports by FIFA’s General Secretary for 1946–1947, 1956–1957 and 1962–1963.

  18. 18.

    FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) Archives, Minutes of the II Extraordinary Congress, held on 14 and 15 November 1953, file: 29th–30th Congress, 1953–1959 Activity Report/Financial Report Minutes.

  19. 19.

    A term suggested by I. Wallerstein.

  20. 20.

    For information about the Fair’s Cup, see Vonnard, P. (2016) “How did UEFA Govern the European Turning Point of football? UEFA, The European Champion Clubs’ Cup and the Inter-cities Fairs cup (1954–1959)” Building Europe with the Ball. Turning Points in the Europeanisation of Football, 1905–1995 (Eds. P. Vonnard, G. Quin and N. Bancel) Oxford: Peter Lang.

  21. 21.

    Tomlinson, A. and Sudgen, J. (1998) FIFA and the Contest for World Football: Who Rules the People’s Game? Cambridge: Polity Press: 33.

  22. 22.

    Darby, P. (2005) ‘Africa and the World Cup: FIFA Politics, Eurocentrism and Resistance’ The International Journal of the History of Sport, 22(5): 883–905.

  23. 23.

    For more information about South Africa’s position in football, see Bolsmann, C. and Alegi, P. (2010) South Africa and the Global Game: Football, Apartheid and Beyond, London: Routledge.

  24. 24.

    Darby, P. (2008) ‘Stanley Rous’s “Own Goal”: Football Politics, South Africa and the Contest for the FIFA presidency in 1974’ Soccer & Society 9(2): 259–272.

  25. 25.

    FIFA, Minutes of the XXXIV Congress held on Thursday, 8 October 1964; file: 33rd–37th Congress, 1962–1970 Activity Report/Financial Report Minutes.

  26. 26.

    Jeune Afrique, 3 March 1973.

  27. 27.

    Dietschy, P. (2010) Histoire du football, Paris: Perrin: 288.

  28. 28.

    Footage of this can be seen in the third part of the BBC’s 1990 documentary The History of Football.

  29. 29.

    Dietschy Histoire du football: 446.

  30. 30.

    See Rowe, D. (2004) Sport, Culture and the Media, Maidenhead: Open University Press; Martelli, S. (2010), Lo sport ‘mediato’, Milano: Franco Angeli.

  31. 31.

    On Dassler, see Smit, B. (2009) Sneaker Wars. The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the Family Feud that Forever Changed the Business of Sport, New York: Harper.

  32. 32.

    Chaim, A.R.M. (2016) ‘Playing for power: João Havelange’s Path to FIFA 1958–1974’, 70th Bulletin of the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education (ICSSPE).

  33. 33.

    Maitrot, E. (1998) Sport et télé. Les liaisons secretes, Paris: Flammarion.

  34. 34.

    L’Equipe, 24 June 1971.

  35. 35.

    Pereira and Vieira João Havelange: o dirigente esportivo do século XX: 225.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., 225.

  37. 37.

    Since 1960, the Intercontinental Cup has been awarded to the winners of a two-leg match between the European club champions and the winner of South America’s Copa Libertadores.

  38. 38.

    Le Figaro, 15 November 1973.

  39. 39.

    IOC Archives, João Havelange’s CV, João Havelange’s ‘Biography’ file.

  40. 40.

    On this point, see Grégory Quin and Philippe Vonnard’s chapter on Jules Rimet in this book.

  41. 41.

    Bangerter particularly stressed business-related changes. Interview with H. Bangerter, 1 October 2012.

  42. 42.

    Eisenberg, C (2006) ‘FIFA et politique. 1945–2000’ Le football dans nos sociétés. Une culture populaire. 1914–1998 (Eds. S. Mourlane and Y. Gastaud) Paris: Autrement: 125.

  43. 43.

    Goldblatt, D. (2014) ‘Another Kind of History. Globalisation, Global History and the World Cup’ The FIFA World Cup 1930–2010: Politics, Commerce, Spectacle and Identities (Eds. S. Rinke and K. Schiller) Göttingen: Wallestein: 23.

  44. 44.

    “[João] Havelange a donné un soufflé, une force, une impulsion énorme à la FIFA et au football du même coup international, tout ce qu’il a pu créer de competitions secondaires, de jeunes, de femmes, c’est inimaginable” Interview with J. Ferran, 12 September 2012.

  45. 45.

    Homburg, H. (2007) ‘Financial Aspects of FIFA’s World Cup or the Structural Challenges of Growth’ Aspects de l’histoire de la Coupe du monde de football (Ed. A. Wahl) Metz: Université de Metz.

  46. 46.

    See the Swiss Statistics Office website: http://www.portal-stat.admin.ch/lik_rechner/f/lik_rechner.htm.

  47. 47.

    See the chapter by Jean-Loup Chappelet in this book.

  48. 48.

    L’Equipe, 29 May 1986.

  49. 49.

    Tomlinson ‘FIFA and the men who made it’: 64.

  50. 50.

    Dietschy, P., Gastaud, Y. and Mourlane, S. (2006) Histoire politique des Coupes du monde de football, Paris: Vuibert.

  51. 51.

    Lanfranchi, P., Eisenberg, C., Mason, T. and Wahl, A. (2004) 100 Years of Football: The FIFA Centennial Book, London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson

  52. 52.

    Lanfranchi, P. (2000) ‘La consommation du spectacle sportif. Une comparaison entre l’Allemagne, l’Italie et la France dans l’entre-deux-guerres’ Le Mouvement Social 206(1): 115–125.

  53. 53.

    Lanfranchi et al. 100 Years of Football: The FIFA Centennial Book: 290.

  54. 54.

    Ibid.: 245.

  55. 55.

    FIFA, Minutes of the session of the Executive Committee of 10 January 1971, file: Executive Committee Meeting, Agenda Minutes, 1971.

  56. 56.

    Longines has been the official timekeeper for several editions of the Olympic Games. Many thanks to Quentin Tonnerre for this information.

  57. 57.

    Herren, A. (1994) 90 Years of FIFA. 20 Years of FIFA President João Havelange: souvenir edition, Zürich: Fédération Internationale de Football Association: 48.

  58. 58.

    For more on this new type of partnership, see Hamil, S. (2008) ‘Manchester United: the commercial development of a global football brand’ International Cases in the Business of Sport (Eds. S. Chadwick and D. Arthur) Amsterdam: Elsevier; Milward, P. (2011) The Global Football League. Transnational Networks, Social Movements and Sport in the New Media Age, Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke.

  59. 59.

    Herren 90 Years of FIFA: 87.

  60. 60.

    Chisari, F. (2006) ‘Quand le football s’est mondialisé: la retransmission télévisée de la Coupe du Monde 1966’ Histoire et sociétés 18–19: 222–237.

  61. 61.

    Goldblatt Another Kind of History: 23.

  62. 62.

    Dietschy Histoire du football: 457.

  63. 63.

    However, it was under Sepp Blatter’s presidency that this number really exploded, as in 2002 television networks paid a total of 907.8 million (€), ten times more than four years before. For a brief overview see Hoeppe, F. (2010) ‘Droits TV: l’inflation’, Jurisport 98: 29–30.

  64. 64.

    For more on this subject, see papers in Bayle, E., Chantelat, P. (Eds.) (2013) La gouvernance des organisations sportives, Paris: Ed. L’Harmattan.

  65. 65.

    For a good example of this new strategy: Pierpoint, B. (2000) ‘Heads Above Water: Business Strategies for a New Football Economy’ Soccer & Society 1(1): 29–38.

  66. 66.

    Holt, M. (2007) ‘Global Success in Sport: the effective marketing and branding of the UEFA Champions League’ International Journal of Sport Marketing & Sponsorship, 9(1): 51–61.

  67. 67.

    Eisenberg, ‘FIFA et politique. 1945–2000’: 125–128.

  68. 68.

    Lanfranchi et al. 100 Years of Football: 224.

  69. 69.

    Herren 90 Years of FIFA: 43–44.

  70. 70.

    Sudgen and Tomilson Fifa and the Contest for World Football: 36–39.

  71. 71.

    Information obtained from the 2008 FIFA Activity Report.

  72. 72.

    Pereira and Vieira João Havelange: o dirigente esportivo do século XX: 235.

  73. 73.

    More generally, the relationship between FIFA and UEFA, which had had its ups and downs since the early 1960s, became increasingly tense. See Sudgen, J., Tomlinson, A. (1997) ‘Global Power Struggles in World Football: FIFA and UEFA, 1954–1974, and their Legacy’ International Journal of the History of Sport 14 (2): 1–25.

  74. 74.

    Interview with G. Aigner, 20 August 2012.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. ISCC, Paris, France

    Philippe Vonnard

  2. University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy

    Nicola Sbetti

Authors
  1. Philippe Vonnard
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Correspondence to Philippe Vonnard .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut des Sciences du Sport, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Emmanuel Bayle

  2. Institut des Sciences du Sport, Université de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Patrick Clastres

Biography

Biography

1916: Born in Rio.

1936: Olympic Games in Berlin (as swimmer).

1938: University licence in Law.

1940: Entry in the Esperia Rowing Club.

1942: Moved to Sao Paulo where he became laywer.

1948: Founder of Viaçao Cometa.

1952: Olympic Games in Helsinki (as water-polo player).

1954: Entry to the Brasiliean Confederation of Sport.

1956: Chief of the Brasilian delegation in Olympic games of Melbourne.

1958: President the CDB.

1963: Entry in OIC.

1974: President of FIFA.

1998: End of this mandate FIFA.

2011: Resignation from IOC.

2012: Resignation from FIFA.

2014: Died in Rio (26 August).

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Vonnard, P., Sbetti, N. (2018). João Havelange: A Businessman for World Soccer. In: Bayle, E., Clastres, P. (eds) Global Sport Leaders. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76753-6_6

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