Julio Grondona, the veteran president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and FIFA vice-president, has died at the age of 82 in a Buenos Aires clinic.
The all-powerful figure, who had been in charge of Argentine football since 1979, had been taken to hospital suffering from heart problems and died while undergoing emergency surgery.
Earlier this week he had held meetings with Alejandro Sabella, who decided not to continue as Argentina coach after leading the team to the World Cup final in Brazil recently.
Grondona had been a FIFA Executive member since 1988 and was appointed to the head of AFA nine years earlier by the country's military government.
He had been successfully re-elected by clubs to continue governing football in the South American nation every four years since 1979.
His time in charge saw Argentina win the World Cup in Mexico in 1986, the Copa America in 1991 and 1993 and Olympic gold in 2004 and 2008.
