In his lifetime, he served as president of Universidad Católica and of CONMEBOL (the governing body of football in South America) and was the head of the organizing committee of the 1962 FIFA World Cup in his home country.

This was a response to Raúl Colombo, representative of Argentina—one of Chile's opponents in the bidding—who ended his own speech with "Podemos hacer el Mundial mañana mismo.

But help came from various football federations and even from FIFA[2] - with whom Dittborn personally pleaded to keep the tournament in the country[3] - and the organizing committee was able to put the event running again.

[2] 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.

Whatever the reason, it is believed[3] 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.