Gianni Infantino at the age of 45 became the ninth president in FIFA’s 111-year history.
The notorious FIFA executive committee who spent most of those 111 years happily indulging in skullduggery,scandals, bribery and political intrigue — will be replaced by a 36-member FIFA council which will perforce include at least six women.
“A new era has been started as we speak,” Mr Infantino said. “You will be proud of FIFA. You will be proud of what FIFA will do for football.”
Infantino won the presidency in the second round of the voting and his victory has been partly attributed to significant support from the US delegation of voters.
More on that story.
And more quotes from the new president…..
“Dear friends, I cannot express my feelings in this moment. I told you I went through a journey, an exceptional journey, a journey which made me meet many fantastic people. Many people who love football, who live football, who breath football every day, and many people who deserve that FIFA is highly respected. We will restore the image of FIFA and the respect of FIFA.”
“I want to work with all of you together in order to restore and rebuild a new era of FIFA, where we can again put football at the centre of the stage.
“FIFA has gone through sad times, moments of crisis, but those times are over. We need to implement the reform and implement good governance and transparency. We also need to have respect.
“We’re going to win back this respect through hard work, commitment and we’re going to make sure we can finally focus on this wonderful game that is football.”