RIO DE JANEIRO: Concern has been revived over the condition of Joao Havelange after the former FIFA president and IOC member was readmitted to the coronary unit of the Samaritano hospital in Rio de Janeiro.

Specialist Joao Mansur Filho described the condition of the 95-year-old “serious” after the latest tests “showed cardiac and respiratory failure.”

Last week Filho said that Havelange had shown “a slight improvement” and was “breathing without the help of apparatus” after treatment for complications following a diagnosis of septic arthritis in his right ankle.

Filho added: “Currently, the patient requires (respiratory and cardiac) ventilation as well as medication to control his blood pressure. The intravenous antibiotic treatment continues and there is no plan for him to be discharged.”

Havelange was president of the world football federation from 1974 until 1998. He was a member of the International Olympic Committee from 1963 until last December when he resigned ahead of an inquiry into allegations of illicit payments from ISL – the now-bankrupt former marketing partner of both FIFA and the IOC.

He is also the former father-in-law of scandal-hit Ricardo Teixeira, who resigned recently as president of both the Brazilian football federation and the local organising committee for the 2014 World Cup.

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