News / Sports

Swiss Infantino wins FIFA presidential election

Friday, 26 February 2016 6:37 PM [ Last Update: Friday, 26 February 2016 6:53 PM ]

Gianni Infantino of Switzerland delivers a speech at the FIFA electoral congress on February 26, 2016 in Zurich. (AFP photo)

Swiss Gianni Infantino has won the long-awaited presidential election of the world soccer governing body FIFA.

Infantino won 115 votes of the total 207 eligible ballots cast in the second round of the election in Zurich, Switzerland, on Friday.

Sheikh Salman of Bahrain, who was the front-runner during the four-month campaign, got 88 while Prince Ali of Jordan had four and Jerome Champagne of France got zero.

Infantino had led the first round by a surprising 88 votes, followed by 85 for Salman, 27 for Prince Ali and seven for Champagne.

The 45-year-old Swiss of the Italian origin will replace his fellow countryman, the 79-year-old Sepp Blatter, who was suspended from presidency last year after being hit by a series of probes and allegations of financial wrongdoing in the global sporting body.

Infantino has been the general secretary of European football governing body UEFA. He is from the Valais in the Swiss Alps, the same region where Blatter, who ruled FIFA body for 17 years, originated from.

Calls stepped up ahead of the Friday votes on members of FIFA to vote down Sheikh Salman, the president of the Asian football federation, with rights groups saying he has had a hand in the Bahraini government’s crackdown on dissent in the country over the past four years.

The feud between Salman and Prince Ali also played a role in Infantino’s shock victory as none of the Asian candidates were ready to pull out of the race in favor of the other.

During the election campaign, Prince Ali criticized Salman for his failure to protect members of his home country’s national team from alleged torture after they purportedly took part in protests that broke out in the Persian Gulf kingdom in 2011.

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