New FIFA president Gianni Infantino attends his first press conference following his election in Zurich, Switzerland, Feb. 26, 2016. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)
FIFA's member associations Friday elected Gianni Infantino to succeed Sepp Blatter as the new President of FIFA since 1998.
Considering Indonesia and Kuwait are currently suspended by FIFA, 207 FIFA member associations present and eligible to vote at the Extraordinary Congress in Zurich.
Candidate Tokyo Sexwale of South Africa decided to drop out before the ballot kick off.
For a president to be elected in first ballot, a candidate requires two-thirds of the valid notes cast.
UEFA General Secretary Infantino led the first round with 88 votes, followed by AFC President Sheikh Salman with 85, Jordanian Prince Ali bin al-Hussein with 27, and French former FIFA executive Jereme Champagne with 7.
However, no candidate received two-thirds of the votes to claim the victory. In the second and any other requisite ballot, a simple majority of the valid votes cast is sufficient.
Infantino secured the victory with 115 votes in the second ballot. Salman received 88 votes.
"We will restore the image of FIFA and the respect of FIFA and everyone in the world will applaud us. I want to work with all of you together in order to restore and rebuild a new era of FIFA where we can put again football at the center of the stage," Infantino said in his acceptance speech.
"FIFA has gone through sad times, moments of crisis, but those times are over. We need to implement the reform and implement good governance and transparency," the 45-year-old lawyer noted.
He will serve until the next FIFA presidential election in 2019.
