Swiss lawyer Gianni Infantino has been elected president of world football governing body, Fifa.
The Uefa secretary general had a total of 115 votes after a second round of voting, 27 more than closest rival, AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa.
Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein was third with four, while Jerome Champagne failed to get any. South African businessman Tokyo Sexwale withdrew before voting began in Zurich.
“Dear friends, I cannot express my feelings in this moment,” a delighted Infantino said afterwards. “I went through an exceptional journey, met many fantastic people who love football, who breathe football.
“I want to be the president of all of you, of all 209 nations. I want to work with all of you to work together and build a new era where we can put football at the centre of the stage.”
After a close first round of voting, a simple majority of more than 50 per cent – 104 votes – was sufficient for victory in the second round.
Infantino is a 45-year-old multilingual lawyer from Brig in the Valais region of Switzerland, less than six miles from the outgoing Blatter’s hometown of Visp.
He is expected to lead the scandal-tainted organization into a new era of transparency and probity as promised in his campaign.
Credit: BBC
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