Carlos Dittborn Pinto (1921–1962) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

administrator. In his lifetime, he served as president of Universidad Católica and of

CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

(the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

of football in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

) and was the head of the organizing committee of the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the seventh edition of the FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football championship for senior men's national teams. It was held from 30 May to 17 June 1962 in Chile. The qualification rounds took place bet ...

in his home country.

Biography

Early life

Son of Eugenio Dittborn,

Consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throug ...

general of Chile in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the mid-1920s, Carlos Dittborn was born in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

in 1924,(In Spanish). Pablo Aro Geraldes. 2010-03-08. Retrieved 2011-08-06 but returned to Chile when he was 4 years old.RIBAS, Lycio Vellozo, ''O mundo das Copas'', p. 112 He became involved with football from a young age. Between 1953 and 1954, he was president of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile, is the capital and largest city of Chile as well as one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is the center of Chile's most densely populated region, the Santiago Metropolitan Region, whose ...

multi-sports club Universidad Católica, most famous for its football branch. During Dittborn's two-years term, ''La Católica'' won the

national league The National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the National League (NL), is the older of two leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada, and the world's oldest extant professional team s ...

once, in 1954.

1962 FIFA World Cup

In 1954, the

Chilean Football Federation The Football Federation of Chile ( es, Federación de Fútbol de Chile or ) is the governing body of association football, football in Chile. It was founded 19 June 1895, making it the second oldest South American association football federation, ...

launched Chile's bid to host the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

in 1962. Dittborn travelled to many nations presenting the country as a good host for the tournament. The following year, Dittborn was elected president of CONMEBOL, succeeding fellow countryman Luis Hermosilla. In this post, he attended the 30th

FIFA Congress The FIFA Congress is the supreme legislative body of the International Association Football Federation (French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), commonly known by the acronym FIFA . FIFA is the international governing body of ...

, in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, where he made a passionate speech to convince the delegates to vote for Chile. At the end, he famously pronounced the phrase ''"Porque nada tenemos, lo haremos todo"'' ("Because we have nothing, we will do everything"). This was a response to Raúl Colombo, representative of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

—one of Chile's opponents in the bidding—who ended his own speech with ''"Podemos hacer el Mundial mañana mismo. Lo tenemos todo"'' ("We can start the World Cup tomorrow. We have it all"). Chile won the bid 32 votes to 11 against Argentina (another contestant,

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

, withdrew before the voting could take place), and Dittborn was selected head of the World Cup organizing committee. With full support from the

federal government A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governin ...

, work was started in Chile. However, on May 21, 1960, a massive

earthquake An earthquake (also known as a quake, tremor or temblor) is the shaking of the surface of the Earth resulting from a sudden release of energy in the Earth's lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from ...

struck the country, followed by an even bigger one the next day. The second one was the most powerful earthquake ever recorded on Earth, peaking at 9.5 on the

Richter scale The Richter scale —also called the Richter magnitude scale, Richter's magnitude scale, and the Gutenberg–Richter scale—is a measure of the strength of earthquakes, developed by Charles Francis Richter and presented in his landmark 1935 ...

. The earthquakes destroyed many cities that were supposed to host World Cup matches, such as Concepción,

Talca Talca () is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, Chile, Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile). As of the 2012 census, the ...

and

Valdivia Valdivia (; Mapuche: Ainil) is a city and commune in southern Chile, administered by the Municipality of Valdivia. The city is named after its founder Pedro de Valdivia and is located at the confluence of the Calle-Calle, Valdivia, and Cau-Cau R ...

. Other options, like

Antofagasta Antofagasta () is a port city in northern Chile, about north of Santiago. It is the capital of Antofagasta Province and Antofagasta Region. According to the 2015 census, the city has a population of 402,669. After the Spanish American wars ...

and

Viña del Mar Viña del Mar (; meaning "Vineyard of the Sea") is a city and commune on central Chile's Pacific coast. Often referred to as ("The Garden City"), Viña del Mar is located within the Valparaíso Region, and it is Chile's fourth largest city w ...

, could not handle the expenses involved in being a host city. Dittborn even had a meeting with president

Jorge Alessandri Jorge Eduardo Alessandri Rodríguez (; 19 May 1896 – 31 August 1986) was the 27th President of Chile from 1958 to 1964, and was the candidate of the Chilean right in the crucial presidential election of 1970, which he lost to Salvador All ...

to return the money lent by the government. But help came from various football federations and even from FIFA - with whom Dittborn personally pleaded to keep the tournament in the country - and the organizing committee was able to put the event running again. In face of the situation, Dittborn's words at the FIFA Congress became somewhat of a slogan for Chile's recovery, as well as for the tournament.

Death

Dittborn would not live to see his biggest accomplishment come to life. On April 28, 1962 (one month and two days before the start of the World Cup), at age 38, he suffered a fatal heart attack. A different source, the 2010 book ''1962: El mito del Mundial chileno'', written by Chilean journalist Daniel Matamala, states that Dittborn's death was actually caused by severe

pancreatitis Pancreatitis is a condition characterized by inflammation of the pancreas. The pancreas is a large organ behind the stomach that produces digestive enzymes and a number of hormones. There are two main types: acute pancreatitis, and chronic pancr ...

. Whatever the reason, it is believed that the excessive amount of effort he put in making the World Cup ended up causing his untimely death. In Dittborn's honor, each player of the Chile national team played the World Cup with a black stripe taped under his uniform's badge. One of the stadiums used in the competition, in

Arica Arica ( ; ) is a Communes of Chile, commune and a port city with a population of 222,619 in the Arica Province of northern Chile's Arica y Parinacota Region. It is Chile's northernmost city, being located only south of the border with Peru. The ...

, was posthumously named after him. In addition, a friendly tournament between

and Chile was established in 1962, and it was named Copa Carlos Dittborn Pinto.

Personal life

He was the great-uncle of the Chilean professional footballer Santiago Dittborn, since he was the cousin of the grandfather of Santiago.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dittborn, Carlos Football in Chile 1962 FIFA World Cup Presidents of CONMEBOL Association football executives 1921 births 1962 deaths People from Rio de Janeiro (city) Naturalized citizens of Chile Chilean people of German descent Chilean expatriates in Brazil Sportspeople from Rio de Janeiro (city) Citizens of Chile through descent