Gianni Infantino elected FIFA president in Zurich after Blatter's fall

On 26 February 2016, delegates at an extraordinary FIFA Congress in Zurich elected Gianni Infantino, a Swiss-Italian lawyer and general secretary of UEFA (European football's governing body), as the ninth president of world football's governing body.

The vote was held because Sepp Blatter, who had led FIFA since 1998, was forced out after a corruption scandal. US and Swiss investigations into bribery at FIFA led to arrests of officials in 2015, and Blatter was suspended by FIFA's ethics committee that October. Michel Platini, the UEFA president and the favourite to succeed him, was also suspended, which opened the way for Infantino to stand as UEFA's candidate.

Infantino finished second to Sheikh Salman of Bahrain in the first round, then won the second round with 115 votes to 88. He campaigned on reform, more transparency and spreading money to national federations. He has since been re-elected, in 2019 and 2023, both times without a rival, so any challenger to him is a notable break from recent practice.