Uefa secretary general Gianni Infantino has been elected as the president of World’s football governing body, the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA).
Infantino was chosen as the successor to disgraced Sepp Blatter after 2 rounds of voting at the FIFA congress at the Hallenstadion in Fifa’s base city of Zurich, Switzerland, on Friday 26 February.
Securing 115 votes in the second round of polls, the 45 year old Swiss beat off favourite Salman Bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa into second while Prince Ali bin Hussein finished third.
“I cannot express my feelings in this moment,” Infantino said after hearing the result.
“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 is 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.
“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.”
This is the first time voting for the presidential election has reached a second round since 1974, when Joao Havelange of Brazil became the first non-European president.
This is also the first time FIFA is getting a new man at the helm of affairs in 18 years after Blatter (who was banned recently for 6 years away from football activities) was elected president in 1998.
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