The 96-year-old Brazilian was yesterday officially named in a report published by FIFA's Ethics Committee into the scandal involving collapsed marketing partners ISL which descirbed his behaviour as "morally and ethically reproachable".

The report revealed that Havelange and his former son-in-law Ricardo Teixeira may have received up to $22 million (£14.5m/€17 million) in "commissions", which the report said were actually bribes.

He has now resigned as Honorary President of FIFA, having stood down as the longest serving member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in December 2011 on the eve of an Executive Board meeting where he faced expulsion for his involvement in the ISL scandal.

The Estadio Olimpico João Havelange, built in 2007 for the Pan American Games, is due to host athletics during Rio 2016, and possibly rugby sevens, meaning that the organisers and IOC face the embarrassment of his name being broadcast around the world on a daily basis to a television audience of hundredsof millions.

"Existing venue names are the property of the venue owners, which in this particular case is the City of Rio de Janeiro," a spokesman for Rio 2016 told insidethegames.


Senior Rio 2016 officials, however, have refused to condemn the behaviour of Havelange, who was an influential member of their successful bid team when they were awarded the Olympics by the IOC at its Session in Copenhagen four years ago.

"João Havelange has played an important role in developing football and the Olympic Movement, in Brazil and across the world," the spokesman told insidethegames.

"It is a fact that he was part of our winning bid team but it is not for us to comment on issues relative to his other activities in sport.

"The Rio 2016 project and the bid victory were a collective effort by the Brazilian society.