New FIFA President elected

UEFA Secretary General Gianni Infantino has been elected as the new president of the International Football Federation (FIFA). He won the second round of voting held at the FIFA headquarters in Zurich.

Jordanian prince Ali bin Al-Hussein, Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al-Khalifa from Bahrain and one of the former FIFA leaders Jerome Champagne also ran for president of the federation. Another candidate, South African Tokyo Sexvale, withdrew from the election ahead of the vote.

• Early elections for the FIFA president were announced in connection with the resignation of Joseph Blatter, who resigned as head of the federation amid a corruption scandal. In May 2015, senior FIFA officials were arrested on charges of extortion, taking bribes and money laundering.
• The most likely winner of the election of the new FIFA president was considered the head of UEFA, Michel Platini. However, in October 2015, Platini, along with Blatter, was suspended from football. In December, they were given an eight-year ban, which was later reduced to six years. The reason for the disqualification was an agreement under which Platini received two million Swiss francs from Blatter.