SAO PAULO – Former FIFA President Joao Havelange has left the intensive care unit at the Brazilian hospital where he has been for more than three weeks because of an infection.
Samaritano Hospital said in a statement Wednesday the 95-year-old Brazilian was transferred to a semi-intensive unit after his condition improved for the second straight day. It had deteriorated Monday because of heart and breathing problems.
Dr. Joan Mansur Filho said Havelange is breathing without a ventilator. He has an infected right ankle and is still getting antibiotics for septic arthritis, a serious bacterial infection that affects joints.
Havelange ran soccer's governing body from 1974-98. He resigned from the IOC late last year.
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