Fifa election - as it happened: Gianni Infantino elected Fifa president

Swiss-Italian wins the race to be the most powerful man in world football

The new Fifa President, Gianni Infantino (Getty)

Here are the latest updates

• Gianni Infantino wins with 115 votes 
• Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa comes second with 88 votes
• Reform vote offers chance of change, not Blatter's successor
• The one reform which might actually make a difference
• Little hope for a brave, new, transparent governing body
• Prince Ali bin al Hussein reprimanded for speaking out about rival candidate
• Governing body dismisses fears over Sheikh Salman human rights record

Follow all the latest from Zurich with our live blog below...

Please allow a moment for the live blog below.

With Fifa set to elect a new leader to herald a brave new era, it remains to be seen if any of the presidential candidates running can offer the change craved so keenly by the masses beyond the corridors of their exhibitionistic Zurich home.

Each candidate will make a 15-minute long speech before the voting process begins. The first vote is expected to take place at 1.30pm.

If no candidate earns a two-thirds majority, a second vote will be held. Further votes will be held until the congress decides upon a majority winner.

Bahrain's Sheikh Salman, Gianni Infantino, Prince Ali of Jordan and Jerome Champagne in contention. Tokyo Sexwale dropped out this afternoon with little suggestion he would recieve enough backing to challenge.

Before the election in the summer of 2015, arrests were made at the request of the United States Department of Justice. Many remain under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, in co-ordination with Swiss authorities, over corruption allegedly involving more than $150m (£98m) worth of bribes dating back 24 years.

On Wednesday, Blatter and former Uefa counterpart Michel Platini saw their appeals against eight-year bans, for a "disloyal payment" of £1.3m between the pair, rejected but their suspensions were reduced from eight to six years by Fifa's appeals committee.

[26 February 2016 17:54 · Samuel Stevens]

Gianni Infantino in proifileAge: 45

Country: Switzerland

Football experience: Uefa general secretary and master of ceremonies at its draws, such as the Champions League draw

Controversy: Announced his candidacy after Uefa president Michel Platini was banned from football-related activity. His close relationship with Platini, who is contesting a six-year ban for a £1.3million "disloyal payment" received from Sepp Blatter, has invited scrutiny.

Credentials: Infantino points to the success of Uefa, saying revenues almost tripled in the last seven years from five billion euros (£3.9billion) in a four-year period to 13 billion euros (£10.2billion) for the same timespan.

Fact: The 45-year-old lawyer is from Brig in the Valais region of Switzerland, less than six miles from Blatter's hometown of Visp.

He says: "You hide, or you stand up and do what is right to do for football, do what is right to do for Fifa. Fifa needs football, now more than ever."

They say: "We've worked together for nine years. He's a hard worker. I've got confidence in him." (Michel Platini, suspended Uefa president).

[26 February 2016 18:03 · Samuel Stevens]

More from Gianni Infantino

"I want to work with all of you together in order to restore and rebuild a new era of Fifa where we can put again 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."

[26 February 2016 18:04 · Samuel Stevens]