Gianni Infantino elected FIFA president
UEFA candidate Gianni Infantino succeeds Sepp Blatter as
the most powerful man in football - beating favourite Sheikh Salman in
the process FIFA have announced Gianni Infantino as the successor to Sepp Blatter, as the new president of world football's governing body.
Infantino
saw off President of the Asian Football Confederation Sheikh Salman,
former FIFA executive Jerome Champagne of France and Prince Ali Bin Al
Hussein of Jordan.
A fifth candidate, the South African Tokyo Sexwale, dropped out of the race ahead of the first-round vote.
Infantino
polled three more votes than Sheikh Salman in the first round of
voting, with neither anywhere near the required two-thirds margin needed
for a first round victory.
But following a second round of
voting, needing 104 votes to win, Infantino polled 115 and was named
FIFA president until 2019 - the second successive Swiss president.
