Argentine football chief Grondona dies

BUENOS AIRES, July 31 (AFP): Julio Grondona, the veteran president of the Argentine Football Association (AFA) and FIFA vice-president, died Wednesday at the age of 82 in a Buenos Aires clinic, AFA sources reported.
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, heading its finance committee, and was appointed to the head of AFA nine years earlier by the country's military government. He had been successfully re-elected to continue governing football in the South American nation every four years since 1979, enjoying the unconditional support of the country's 22,000 clubs.