Gianni Infantino – the Swiss-Italian general secretary of UEFA – has been elected as FIFA president after two rounds of voting.
Infantino won 115 votes, while his nearest rival Sheikh Salman of Bahrain received 88 votes. Prince Ali al-Hussein came third with four, while Jerome Champagne received zero during the second round of voting.
The South African businessman and former anti-apartheid activist Tokyo Sexwale conceded his bid for presidency during the first voting session this morning.
Talking in Zurich after his win, Infantino said: “I cannot express my feeling in this moment. I told you I went through an exceptional journey, which made me meet many fantastic people, who live and breathe football, and many people deserve to see Fifa highly respected. Everyone in the world will applaud us for what we will do. Everyone will be proud of what we will do.
“I want to work with you to establish a new era in which we can put football at the centre stage.”
He added: “We need to implement the reforms, but we also need to have respect, the respect that the entire world owes to football. And make sure that finally, once again, we can focus on this wonderful world that is football. I am too moved - let us work together for this.”
Infantino takes over from Sepp Blatter, the former president of FIFA, who was banned from football for six years amid the corruption crisis engulfing the organisation.
