Infantino Elected FIFA President

Fri, Feb 26, 2016
By publisher
2 MIN READ

Sports

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GIANNI Infantino, a Swiss, has succeeded compatriot Sepp Blatter as Fifa president.

Infantino, secretary general, Uefa, polled 115 votes in round two, 27 more than Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, his closets rival.

Prince Ali bin al-Hussein was third with four, while Jerome Champagne failed to get any vote. Tokyo Sexwale withdrew before voting began in Zurich.

The first round of voting had failed to determine an outright winner.

“Dear friends, I cannot express my feelings in this moment,” Infantino said after his election.

He said further: “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.”

A simple majority of more than 50 per cent – 104 votes – was sufficient for victory in the second round.

Infantino, 45, is a lawyer from Brig in the Valais region of Switzerland, less than six miles from Blatter’s hometown of Visp.

Blatter, who led world football’s governing body since 1998, stood down last year and was later banned from football for six years.

— Feb 26, 2016 @ 19:30 GMT

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