Gianni Infantino wins election to become FIFA president

FIFA have elected their 9th president on Friday. Gianni Infantino of Switzerland was voted in on the second round of balloting defeating the assumed favorite, Sheikh Salman, 115 votes to 88.

This concludes a long and exaggerated process from the downfall of Sepp Blatter to the naming of this new president. The long and tiring day of voting began with the first round of balloting returning a close vote of Gianni Infantino 88, Sheikh Salman 85, Prince Ali 27, and Jerome Champagne 7.

The day started out with five candidates, but Tokyo Sexwale withdrew from the election after giving a rousing and humorous speech.

In the second round of balloting, it appears that the supporters of Prince Ali were swayed to support Infantino (it's safe to assume that U.S. Soccer was among them) and win the him the simple majority vote.

No question that @ussoccer played a critical role in helping whip the votes between ballots. Switched to Infantino and brought friends.

— Sam Borden (@SamBorden) February 26, 2016

While it's impossible to know how good of a president this new one will be, it's better than someone accused of torturing soccer players (Salman) winning the election.

It's a new day for FIFA with a new president elected. Hopefully this is the beginning a true reformation effort by world soccer's governing body.

UPDATE: Sunil Gulati confirms that U.S. Soccer voted for Gianni Infantino in the second round of balloting