RIO DE JANEIRO: Former FIFA president Joao Havelange is still seriously ill, according to the latest statement from Rio’s Samaritano hospital in which he is being treated for septic arthritis.

A statement said: “The medical condition of the FIFA president of honour is still serious and inspires care. The treatment with antibiotics is continuing to combat the infection which has been diagnosed in his right ankle.”

Havelange, 95, a former Olympic swimmer and water polo player, was FIFA president for 24 years until 1998 when he was succeeded by Sepp Blatter.

He resigned only last December from the International Olympic Committee rather than face an ethics hearing into allegations that he accepted illicit payments from the former IOC and FIFA marketing partner ISL.

Havelange and his former son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira, who has just quit as Brazil’s football supremo, have been widely reported as being the two anonymous entities seeking to prevent FIFA opening up a court file on ISL’s bankruptcy a decade ago.

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