Zurich, February 26, 2016 – Gianni Infantino(46) was today elected as the 9th President of the Federation of International Football (FIFA) for the remainder of the current term of office (until 2019).
He was elected by the Extraordinary FIFA Congress held in Zurich. He was elected after the second ballot with 115 of 207 total votes.
“In line with the FIFA Statutes, the mandate of the new FIFA President started after the conclusion of the Congress” , FIFA said on its website.
At the beginning of the proceedings, it was confirmed to the Congress that 207 FIFA member associations were entitled to vote.
However, FIFA said the member associations of Indonesia and Kuwait could not vote due to their respective suspensions, adding that candidate Tokyo Sexwale withdrew from the election after his address to the Congress.
Earlier in the day, the Extraordinary FIFA Congress approved a set of landmark reforms to FIFA’s governance structure, including improvements to the governance of global football, a clear separation of commercial and political decision-making, greater scrutiny of senior officials, and commitments to women in football and human rights.
Gianni Infantino, an Italian was born 23 March 1970. He was general secretary of UEFA since 2009. He also holds Swiss, Greek and Italian nationality.
On 26 October 2015, Infantino received the full backing of the UEFA Executive Committee to stand for the position of FIFA presiden.
