Carlos Dittborn Pinto (1924–1962) was a

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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

(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 ...

of football in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

) and was the head of the organizing committee of the

1962 FIFA World Cup The 1962 FIFA World Cup was the 7th 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 between ...

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 thro ...

general of Chile in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

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

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

in 1921,(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 and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

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

national league National League often refers to: *National League (baseball), one of the two baseball leagues constituting Major League Baseball in the United States and Canada *National League (division), the fifth division of the English football (soccer) system ...

once, in 1954.

1962 FIFA World Cup

In 1954, the

Chilean Football Federation Chilean may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Chile, a country in South America * Chilean people * Chilean Spanish * Chilean culture * Chilean cuisine * Chilean Americans See also *List of Chileans This is a list of Chileans who ar ...

launched Chile's bid to host the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

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

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Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

, 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, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

—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 was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

, 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 called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

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

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

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 Richter in collaboration with Beno Gutenberg, and pr ...

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

Talca Talca () is a city and commune in Chile located about south of Santiago, and is the capital of both Talca Province and Maule Region (7th Region of Chile). As of the 2012 census, the city had a population of 201,142. The city is an important ...

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 ...

. 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. Once claimed by Bolivia follo ...

and

Viña del Mar Viña del Mar (; meaning "Vineyard of the Sea") is a List of cities in Chile, city and Communes of Chile, commune on Zona Central, Chile, central Chile's Pacific coast. Often referred to as ("The Garden City"), Viña del Mar is located withi ...

, 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 26th 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 A ...

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 hormone A hormone (from the Ancient Greek, Greek participle , "se ...

. 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 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 city is the ca ...

, 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 Chilean people of German descent Chilean expatriates in Brazil Sportspeople from Rio de Janeiro (city) Sportspeople of Chilean descent