Gianni Infantino was elected the new FIFA President on Friday, defeating Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa by a vote of 115-88 in the second round of balloting. Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein and Jerome Champagne advanced to the second round of voting, but did not receive any support. A fifth candidate, Tokyo Sexwale, dropped out of the election before the first round of voting began. Infantino replaces Sepp Blatter as President (THE DAILY). FS1’s Rob Stone said of Infantino five months ago "wasn’t even a candidate to be FIFA President, and now he is the ninth man to be handed that honor.” Sport Italia's Massimo Marianella said Infantino is a “guy that you can trust,” as he is “not exactly a politician, he’s not as dictator." Marianella: "He has the profile of the guy that right now FIFA needed” (“FIFA Presidential Election,” FS1, 2/26). In N.Y., Sam Borden reports the election "marked what many soccer officials hope will be a new beginning which allows FIFA to move away from what has been a tumultuous period." Infantino said after being elected, "We will restore the image of FIFA, and everyone in the world will applaud us, and all of you, for what we do in FIFA in the future” (NYTIMES.com, 2/26).
A BIT OF FORESHADOWING: Infantino won the first round of balloting with 88 votes, with Sheikh Salman finishing with 85. FS1's Rob Stone said, "This is a bit of an upset. It's only first ballot voting, but it clearly tells you that there is a heavy, heavy feel that Gianni Infantino can win this election right now" ("FIFA Presidential Election," FS1, 2/26). ESPN's Bob Ley said Sheikh Salman "has got to be back on his heels at this moment." Ley: "He was the bettor’s choice. He was the political observer’s choice of this." ESPN's Jeremy Schaap: "The fact that it is this close after the first ballot is surprising to a lot of people" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 2/26).
TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT? REUTERS' Brian Homewood notes while Infantino's election is "hoped to mark a clean break with FIFA's past, his rise to the top bears some similarities to that of his disgraced predecessor." Both Infantino and Blatter were "raised in the same Swiss valley, only 10 km (six miles) from each other, both were modest amateur footballers and both speak the same five languages." During the campaign, Infantino "often had to fend off suggestions that he is too Eurocentric" (REUTERS, 2/26).
TIME TO UPGRADE: The two rounds of voting took nearly five hours, and SI.com’s Grant Wahl said, "What I don’t totally get is that was a really important vote this morning on the reforms package. You could even argue it is more important than the presidential vote. Yet they trusted the electronic system on that and it was all taken care of in a matter of one second. Here, we’re waiting literally hours to get the results” (“FIFA Presidential Election,” FS1, 2/26). Former USWNT member Abby Wambach said, "I just think this is crazy. I think everybody who’s probably watching at home is wondering why this is so boring. It’s a vote and it’s done on paper and then they count it. It’s taking forever. It’s like, why don’t they have electric voting booths? Why don’t they use it? This is crazy to me.” ESPN’s Bob Ley: “They passed the most substantial reforms in FIFA history. … They did that electronically. Do you know how long the voting is open? Fifteen seconds" ("SportsCenter," ESPN, 2/26).
