“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.

Infantino will serve the remaining term of office for which Blatter was elected last May, meaning there will be a further election in 2019.

The day began with officials voting in favour of reforms designed to repair the image of the organisation.

The reforms address issues of governance, accountability, transparency and diversity and were devised after the worst crisis in Fifa’s 112-year history with officials past and present caught up in corruption inquiries being conducted in the United States and Switzerland.

The most progressive to be introduced will be the disbanding of Fifa’s executive committee, to be replaced by an expanded 36-seat council, with each of the six confederations required to reserve at least one of their places on the council for a woman.

The other was the introduction of term limits for Fifa presidents and council members. No individual will be allowed to serve for longer than 12 years — equivalent to three four-year terms.

As the congress settled for the voting proportion of the day, presidential candidate Tokyo Sexwale pulled out, leaving just four men battling it out to lead football’s world governing body.

The first round saw Infantino gain 88 votes, Khalifa 85, Prince Ali bin al-Hussein 25 and Jerome Champagne seven.

It meant that the presidential election entered a second round of voting for the first time in 42 years and that a clear majority was needed to cast a winner.

Infantino secured the votes needed, picking up 115 votes to Khalifa’s 88.

“Dear friends, I cannot express my feelings in this moment,” said Infantino after his victory. “I told you I went through a journey, an exceptional journey, a journey which made me meet a lot of fantastic people, who love football and breathe football and live football every day.

“We will restore the image of Fifa and the respect of Fifa and everyone in the world will applaud us.

“I want to work with all of you together in order to restore and rebuild a new era of Fifa where we can [again] put football at the centre of the stage.”