Breaking: Infantino elected new FIFA president

– Gianni Infantino named new FIFA president after Friday’s elections 

– Infantino is general secretary of UEFA

– Infantino succeeds fellow Swiss Sepp Blatter

Gianni Infantino has been named the new FIFA president after voting was concluded on Friday, 26 February at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland.

207 FIFA member nations voted in Zurich on Friday and the 45 year old Swiss beat off competition from favourite Salman Bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa who finished second and Prince Ali bin Hussein who finished third.

Infantino was Uefa’s general secretary.

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Infantino succeeds the dethroned Sepp Blatter, who was suspended from all football activities for eight years – later reduced to six – along with ex-Uefa president Michel Platini for corruption.

Results of the elections for the office of FIFA President:

Ballot 1:
HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein: 27 votes
Shk. Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa: 85 votes
Jérôme Champagne: 7 votes
Gianni Infantino: 88 votes

With a simple majority of votes in 2nd ballot, Gianni Infantino of Switzerland is elected FIFA President until 2019 pic.twitter.com/PHo0kDaMSW

— FIFA.com (@FIFAcom) February 26, 2016

Ballot 2:
HRH Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein: 4 votes
Shk. Salman Bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa: 88 votes
Jérôme Champagne: 0 votes
Gianni Infantino: 115 votes

Tokyo Sexwale withdrew from the election after his address to the Congress earlier in the day.

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Infantino addressed the FIFA congress and had the following to say: “Dear friends, I cannot express my feelings in this moment,” he said in his acceptance speech.

“I told you I went through a journey, an exceptional journey, a journey which made me meet many fantastic people, many people who love, live, breathe football every day.
“We will restore the image and respect of Fifa. People will applaud us, applaud you for what we will do.

“Everyone has to be proud of what we will do at Fifa. I want to thank you all, all 209 and the other candidates. Tokyo [Sexwale] decided four can win, one cannot win. We had a great competition, a great sign of democracy in Fifa.

“I want to be president of all 209 [member federations]. I have travelled the globe and I will continue to do this. I want to work with all of you together in order to restore and rebuild a new Fifa where we can put again football at the centre of the stage,” he concluded.

Infantino would hold the position for a period of 3 years from 2016-2019 when another elections would be held.

The Swiss-Italian was UEFA secretary general October 2009 till his new appointment. The new president had already said he intends to expand the World Cup to 40 teams if elected president.

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