Aldo Rebelo, a congressman with a nationalistic streak, will take up the role at a crucial time as the country prepares to host the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics.
He belongs to the Communist Party of Brazil, as does his predecessor Orlando Silva, who resigned after being accused of arranging up to 40 million reais ($23 million) in government contract kickbacks to benefit himself and his party, which is a member of Rousseff's ruling coalition.
Silva was the sixth minister to step down this year and the fifth who did so over ethics breaches. His departure was an embarrassment for the government as it struggles with delays and cost overruns for the World Cup football tournament.
The string of resignations in Rousseff's first year in office has raised questions about her judgment. But her relatively swift reaction to the scandals also has bolstered her reputation as a stern manager who does not tolerate corruption, lifting her popularity among Brazil's expanding middle class.
Rebelo's appointment aims to appease a sometimes unruly governing coalition and restore international confidence by speeding up preparations for the World Cup and Olympics.
"The government is so behind schedule with World Cup preparations that it will be difficult for the new minister to reverse this mistrust that has been formed abroad," said Jose Moises, a political scientist at the University of Sao Paulo.
Rebelo, the former head of the chamber of deputies and an ally of Rousseff's popular predecessor Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, is respected among opposition legislators and known for taking on tough tasks.
Rebelo will be tasked with smoothing tense relations between the government and football authorities and ensuring that infrastructure projects, such as stadiums and transport projects, are ready in time for the global showpiece.
Rousseff has dug her heels in over some of world football body FIFA's requests for the tournament, including that half-price ticket rights for those 65 and older be overruled.
She has also cooled relations with Ricardo Teixeira, the head of Brazil's football federation and the local World Cup organizing committee. He is facing a police investigation and several allegations of corruption.
Rebelo led a congressional inquiry in 2000 into allegations of corruption against the national football body that Teixeira leads, though some reports say he now has warmer relations with the Brazilian football boss.
Rebelo said his past as a crusader against corruption in Brazilian football won't color his relations with the World Cup organizing committee.
"I will maintain a position of cooperation and independence," he told reporters in Brasilia on Thursday.
FIFA, like Brazil's sports ministry, has also been dogged by a steady drum beat of allegations of wrongdoing.
In a media-packed Senate committee meeting on Wednesday, British investigative journalist Andrew Jennings told Brazilian lawmakers the involvement of FIFA's top brass in the sporting event would be a stain on the football celebration.
"It's time the government said to FIFA, you stink, you smell, we don't want our president to be photographed with these crooks," Jennings told the committee, which had invited him to offer evidence to back up accusations of fraud at FIFA.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter, in his fourth and final term as the group's head, has promised to clean up international football's much-criticised governing body.
