Defeated candidates react to Infantino's FIFA win

After a close first round of voting which put Infantino slightly ahead of Sheikh Salman – 88 to 85, support for Prince Ali switched to Infantino, landing him the required 50 per cent plus one majority.

Eventually he won with 115 votes to 88 for Sheikh Salman.

“No, no, no, no,” Sheikh Salman said when asked if he was disappointed with the final result.

“It was between two friends and Gianni won. I congratulate him and he will have all our support for the future. What matters is in the future we stick together and this is all.

“There are no hard feelings or anything, this is sports, this is fair play and we have to show it inside and outside. All the best for him” he said.

Infantino himself had very little to say in a tweet.

Truly humbled by today's decision. Let's bring FIFA forward together.

— Gianni Infantino (@Gianni_2016) February 26, 2016

Prince Ali was equally supportive: “This is a democracy and it’s what the Congress wants and we wish all the best for the new president.”

Jerome Champagne, whose support dropped from seven votes to zero in the second round added: “As far as I am concerned, I knew there would be a very strong continental discipline, I knew I wouldn’t get a lot of votes. I spoke about football. I think I was the only one speaking about football.”

“I am not disappointed I was expecting that. You know, it is about marking the moment, and saying look, we have some issues in football, and we will see what will happen now” Champagne added.