“I told you I went through an exceptional journey which made me meet many fantastic people, who live and breathe football, and many people deserve to see FIFA is highly respected”, he said after winning the election in an unprecedented second round of voting.
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The FIFA presidential election entered a second round of voting for the first time in 42 years after Infantino secured more backing than pre-vote favourite Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al Khalifa of Bahrain in the first round, when a two thirds majority was required to win. Federation Internationale de Football Association was dealt a blow in 2015 following a corruption scandal.
Sheikh Salman received 88 votes after being the front-runner during much of the four-month campaign.
Gianni Infantino of Switzerland, the general secretary of European governing body UEFA, is expected to be the Bahraini royal’s main rival.
The 79-year-old is banned from football for six years for ethics breaches and could face criminal charges.
“It is a repetition of history, that is something”, said Blatter, who previously traded barbs with Infantino as part of wider tensions between the two organizations.
Infantino plans to increase the number of nations participating in the World Cup from 32 to 42. “A lot of countries are going to be greatly attracted by the increased prospects of qualifying for the greatest football show on Earth”, said Barker.
“If Sheikh Salman had won this election, becoming president after allegations against him involving human rights abuses, the attention from the justice authorities would have been unrelenting”, he said.
The salaries of all senior figures will be disclosed.
“It’s been a corrupted organisation for a very long period of time”. Salary disclosure is another one that’s a little bit hard to pin down.
Measures such as declaring the salary of the new president to improve financial transparency were also included.
Unless, of course, the U.S. Department of Justice comes calling. At a recent news conference, he answered legal questions in French, German, Italian, Spanish and English.
FIFA’s financial problems provoked by the corruption crisis, and ailing staff morale, were detailed by acting secretary general Markus Kattner.
He ran the International Centre for Sports Studies at the University of Neuchatel before joining UEFA in 2000.
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Those include preventing presidents from serving more than three four-year terms, reducing their powers and guaranteeing more independent oversight for FIFA’s decision-making and spending.
