Monday 29 February 2016 09:35, UK
FIFA will have a new president on February 26. After 18 years, Sepp Blatter's controversial reign will come to an official end at the FIFA Congress in Zurich.
Five candidates want to replace Blatter and become the most powerful man in world football, and whoever wins will become the ninth elected president in FIFA's 112-year history.
The new president will be elected in a secret ballot of FIFA's 209 member associations, but Kuwait and Indonesia are banned, so there may be only 207 votes up for grabs.
Africa has 54 votes, Europe 53, Asia 46, North and Central America and the Caribbean 35, Oceania 11 and South America 10. A candidate needs two thirds of the votes to win in the first round. In subsequent rounds, the candidate with the lowest number of votes drops out and a simple majority is required to win.
During the past three months, Sky Sports News HQ has interviewed all five candidates - Sheikh Salman of Bahrain, Gianni Infantino, Prince Ali of Jordan, Jerome Champagne and Tokyo Sexwale.
With congress just around the corner, we conclude our look at the candidates by exploring UEFA's general secretary.
GIANNI INFANTINO...
WHY IS HE STANDING?
WHY IS HE STANDING?
Infantino is UEFA's Plan B. When Michel Platini was questioned by Swiss prosecutors in September about the £1.3 million payment he received from Sepp Blatter, UEFA knew their president's bid to become FIFA president was in serious trouble. Infantino was parachuted into the race and it was always expected that he would drop out if Platini cleared his name.
In December, Platini was banned from football for eight years by FIFA's ethics committee. His ban has been reduced by FIFA's appeal committee to six years. Last month he withdrew his FIFA candidacy when it became clear that he had run out of time to overturn the ban before the final election deadline of 26 January.
With Platini out of the race, Infantino became UEFA's man - the accidental candidate.
WHAT ARE HIS CHANCES?
Momentum is key in elections and Infantino appears to have more of it than the other candidates. Once it became clear that Platini would not re-enter the race, Infantino hit the campaign trail. He has been to more than 70 countries in two months and he expects to win votes from all of FIFA's six confederations.
As UEFA general secretary, he can count on almost all of Europe's 53 votes and he won the backing of the South American CONMEBOL confederation, although they also seem to have backed Sheikh Salman. Infantino also has the support of the Central American Football Union and he has been backed by high-profile figures from within the game such as Jose Mourinho, Luis Figo, Roberto Carlos and Fabio Capello.
After a long-drawn out process, Infantino also received the backing of the FA on 17 February. His campaign team say he has about 70 promised votes and that could rise to about 100 in the second round of voting.
Infantino's main challenge will be to win votes in parts of the world where there is an an anti-European bias. There are plenty of Blatter loyalists who blame Europe for their leader's downfall. They think UEFA is too powerful and arrogant and they will not vote to give it more power.
WHAT KIND OF PRESIDENT WILL HE BE?
Infantino would be the safest pair of hands. He has worked at UEFA for 16 years and he became general secretary in 2009. Since then, he claims to have overseen a trebling of UEFA's revenues and he calls himself "a numbers man".
He has experience of running major competitions such as the Champions League and Euro 2012.
He is fluent in English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. His law degree from the University of Fribourg in Switzerland would help him deal with all of FIFA's legal problems.
WHAT STANDS OUT IN HIS MANIFESTO?
Infantino is committed to expanding the World Cup from 32 to 40 teams and he would like to see the tournament held across confederations rather than in only one country.
He is proposing term limits of 12 years for the president and senior officials and he would also disclose his own salary and those of his executives. He says his own UEFA salary will soon be disclosed and he claims it is much less than the reported £4.5m a year.
One of the most eye-catching - and voter friendly - features of his manifesto is his pledge of riches for all. He says FIFA should aim to return 50 per cent of its revenues back to its 209 member instead of the current 18 per cent. That would mean that over a four-year cycle, each FA would receive £3.5m and the six confederations would get £28m.
Infantino's slick 50-page manifesto also contains a pledge to set up a legends team which would travel the world playing friendly matches and "promote football, social projects and charitable aims".
Infantinto has also promised to reveal a secret pledge from his manifesto on the eve of the election.
WHAT DOES HE THINK OF SEPP BLATTER?
Infantino says it would be wrong to judge Blatter until the former FIFA has had a chance to clear his name and overturn his eight year ban.
According to Infantino, Blatter should be respected for the work he did at FIFA, especially in developing the game around the world. He has not completely ruled out making Blatter honorary president if he clears his name. He says Blatter made a mistake by not retiring after the last World Cup.
WHO DOES HE BLAME FOR THE FIFA CRISIS?
Infantino is in a difficult position because he cannot criticise Blatter or his UEFA boss Platini in public as much as he may want. Like all the other candidates, he cannot risk losing votes by criticising FIFA or Blatter too strongly. Instead, he talks in couched terms about the mistakes of the past. He feels on much safer ground talking about his plans plans for the future and his three key pillars - reforms and good governance, democracy and participation and football development.
WHO DOES HE SUPPORT?
He does not want to speak about it during the campaign, but Infantino is an Inter Milan fan. His candidacy has been endorsed by former Inter manager Jose Mourinho and former Inter players Javier Zanetti, Luis Figo and Roberto Carlos.
