Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb (5 August 1940 – 2 February 2024) was a Paraguayan politician, businessman and the president of

Olimpia Asunción Club Olimpia is a Paraguayan professional sports club based in the city of Asunción. It promotes the practice of various sports, with most importance given to the football, rugby and basketball sides, football being the most successful. Fou ...

Career

Domínguez Dibb is mostly known for being the most successful president in the history of Paraguayan

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club Olimpia. He served as president for the terms of 1974 to 1990 and from 1995 to 2004. Under his presidency, Olimpia won a large number of national championships, but most importantly the club won most of its international titles such as three

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

, the Intercontinental Cup, the

Copa Interamericana The Copa Interamericana () was an international association football, football competition endorsed by CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean) and CONMEBOL (South America). Established in 1969, it was discontinued in 1998 after CONCACAF ...

and the

Recopa Sudamericana The CONMEBOL Recopa Sudamericana (), also known as Recopa Sudamericana or CONMEBOL Recopa, and simply as Recopa (, ; "Winners' Cup"), is an annual international club Association football, football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1988. It ...

. All the mentioned titles catapulted Olimpia as one of the most respected football clubs in South America. Domínguez Dibb also owned several companies in Paraguay including a newspaper company (''Diario La Nación''), a radio station (Radio 970 AM), a hotel (Crowne Plaza), a restaurant (Lo de Osvaldo), a real estate (karmar), two tobacco factories (tabacalera boqueron) and (tabacalera montecarlo) one of them having a worth of more than 90 million dollars, the only iron bottle cap factory in the country, owner of a luxurious private neighborhood in San Bernardino (Sunset Hills), and more. Domínguez Dibb was one of the biggest shareholders in many businesses like Cervepar, De la Sobera Group and Coca-Cola in Paraguay. He was also known for having a lot of very valuable ranches and being one of the biggest cattle sellers in the country. Domínguez had several properties around the country and also around Brazil. In 2002, he lost in the primary elections of the Colorado Party which would have put him as the party representative for the national presidential elections, had he won.

Criticism

Once linked to former dictator

Alfredo Stroessner Alfredo Stroessner Matiauda (; 3 November 1912 – 16 August 2006) was a Paraguayan politician, army general and Military dictatorship, military dictator who ruled as the 42nd president of Paraguay from 15 August 1954 until his overthrow in 19 ...

through his brother Humberto Domínguez Dibb (Stroessner's son-in-law), Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb insisted that the Paraguayan general was indeed a great president. Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb was accused by Brazilian authorities of being a major smuggler of cigarettes into Brazil.

Personal life

Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb was born on 5 August 1940. He made most of his money in times of former dictator Alfredo Stroessner. Domínguez Dibb was married to Peggy Wilson-Smith. Their son is Alejandro Domínguez, president of

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

, a vice-president of

FIFA The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

and a member of the

FIFA Executive Committee The FIFA Council (formerly the FIFA Executive Committee) is an institution of FIFA (the governing body of association football, futsal and beach football). It is the main decision-making body of the organization in the intervals of FIFA Congr ...

. Osvaldo Domínguez Dibb died on 2 February 2024, at the age of 83.El futbol paraguayo esta de luto: Fallecio Osvaldo Dominguez Dibb

References

1940 births 2024 deaths Club Olimpia presidents Colorado Party (Paraguay) politicians Paraguayan people of Lebanese descent {{Paraguay-footy-bio-stub