Bye bye to rada rada! Gianni Infantino is named as new FIFA president

This evening, FIFA showed Baddo Blatter that there is no such thing as a job for life when it voted in Gianni Infantino as the new FIFA president.

Sepp Blatter has done a lot to malign the position of presidency – and indeed the role of FIFA as a whole in the world of football. The hope, though, is that Infantino will turn this around.

Certainly his pre-acceptance speech seemed to hit right at the heart of the matter when he said ” “The money of Fifa is your money – its not the money of the Fifa president.”

So what do we know about this young buck that has been chosen to shake things up a little? Well, according to the BBC, Infantino is 45 years old, with 15 years invested in the Beautiful Game. He previously joined UEFA in 2000 as a lawyer and secretary general of the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES) at the University of Neuchatel. He was latterly UEFA general secretary.

Gianni Infantino joins the elite group, becoming the 9th FIFA president. This president is seen as the figurehead for world football, often seen in public alongside presidents, prime ministers and royalty.

There have been eight of them so far, presiding over the organisation’s executive committee, which is where the real decision-making power lies.

The president also “legally represents” the organisation, “maintains relations between Fifa and the confederations, members, political bodies and international organisations”, and “implements the decisions passed by the congress and the executive committee”.