Former Fifa president released from hospital in Brazil

International Federation of Association Football (Fifa) President João Havelange, who turned 100 years old in May, was released from Hospital Samaritano, in south Rio de Janeiro, today (Jul. 5), where he had been hospitalized since Saturday night (2) with pneumonia. In November, Havelange had been admitted to hospital with lung problems.

Daily doctor reports only say his condition had been gradually improving before he was finally discharged.

Havelange was head of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) from 1956 to 1974 and was a member of the International Olympic Committee between 1963 and 2011. He was president of Fifa from 1974 to 1998, when he was named Fifa's honorary president.

On April 2013 Havelange resigned form his post following corruption charges against him while he served as president.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira