Ex-House of Rep member says Infantino's emergence is good news for football

Gaiya told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja that Infantino, also the UEFA General-Secretary, was passionate about football and had good agenda for the sport.

NAN reports that the 45-year-old Infantino is a Swiss football administrator of Italian origin, and a national of the two countries.

He won the election on the second ballot, gaining 115 votes and beating Bahrain’s Sheikh Salman Al-Khalifa who got 88 votes.

Prince Ali bin al-Hussein from Jordan was next with 27 votes, followed by France Jerome Champagne who scored seven votes, while South Africa’s Tokyo Sexwale withdrew earlier.

`` It is a welcome development and I am very happy about it. For me, he is the best candidate with great and new agenda.

``He is the first Italian to occupy that position and came into the race without hitches.

``He is passionate about the game and there is going to be an improvement in the allocation of slots for Africa and Asia, which will help develop the continents,’’ Gaiya said.

The reforms are that FIFA President and other council officials will have their salaries made public annually.

The reforms also said that the president and other council members would be elected for four years of three terms.

According to the reform, a female from each confederation will be elected as a council member to encourage female participation in football.

`` It is a good thing because the world over, we know that corruption is a menace that must be fought in its root cause.

``FIFA is about fair play and when there is corruption, fair play is removed.

``The first thing Infantino must do is to make sure that he reduces corruption from the politics of football to the barest minimum.

``It is wrong for Europe to have so many teams in the FIFA World Cup while continents like Africa that have more countries affiliated to FIFA are limited to only five slots.

``For equity and balance, Africa should be looked into and more slots should be given to us, at least 10 out of the expected 32 teams.

``In terms of number of affiliates, we are more and in terms of financial contributions to FIFA, we are even more committed.

``So, infantino must make sure that Africa as well as Asia are looked into,’’ Gaiya said.

NAN reports that Infantino emerged winner in an extraordinary FIFA Congress held in Zurich, Switzerland on Friday