Gianni Infantino elected as the new president of Fifa

Gianni Infantino has been elected as the new president of Fifa, having been voted in to replace the disgraced Sepp Blatter at Friday's election in Zurich.

The Uefa general secretary beat Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein of Jordan and the former Fifa deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne. The South African Tokyo Sexwale withdrew moments before the first vote.

Sheikh Salman had been favourite to succeed Blatter because of support from the Asia and Africa, while Infantino had the backing of Uefa members.

Voting went to a second round after none of the candidates received the required two-thirds majority in the first round at the extraordinary congress. Infantino led the first round, with 88 of the 207 votes cast, ahead of Sheikh Salman‘s 85 votes, Prince Ali‘s 27 and Champagne‘s seven.

It was the first time voting for the Fifa presidential election had reached a second round since 1974, when Joao Havelange of Brazil became the first non-European president ahead of England‘s Sir Stanley Rous.

A two-thirds majority (138 votes) was required to win in the first round, but a simple majority of more than 50 per cent (104 votes) is sufficient for victory in the second round.

Sexwale‘s chances of success were slim, ever since his home confederation, the Confederation of African Football, announced its intention to back Sheikh Salman. Sexwale said: “My campaign ends today and I suspend my participation. I leave only four people.”

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