“Fifa has gone through sad times, times of crisis. Those times are over. We will restore the image of Fifa.” Those were the words of the newly elected Fifa president Gianni Infantino yesterday, after two rounds of voting were needed to find a successor to Sepp Blatter.

The favourite heading into yesterday’s vote, Sheik Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa of Bahrain, who was protested against after allegedly dobbing in athletes who took part in the demonstrations and were later tortured, finished second.

Infantino, who grew up six miles away from his predecessor, is the first new president since 1998, when Blatter was first appointed the head of Fifa.