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

3, 2, 1... We're off!Try and contain your enthusiasm but the ballot (the first of many, we presume) is underway with Afghanistan being the first nation to place their vote. In the first round, there will only be a winner if one candidate secures more than two-thirds of the votes. Nations will vote in alphabetical order. 

Brace yourself for a long afternoon.

Tokyo Sexwale has withdrawn prematurely from the FIFA elections. Rather surprising given his name.

How will it work?

Fifa’s 207 eligable member states (Kuwait and Indonesia are excluded) will be invited to vote in alphabetical order in a secret ballot from midday. Prince Ali has called for the governing body to use transparent voting booths after claims some candidates photographed their ballots in the 2015 election - which saw outgoing Swiss president Blatter defeat the Jordanian - to inform interested parties of who they were supporting.

In the first round, there will only be a winner if one candidate secures more than two-thirds of the votes. This appears unlikely, however, owing to the voting habits of various regions, meaning just a straight majority would be enough in the second round of voting.

If there remains a need for a third round to be held, the candidate with the lowest amount of votes in the previous round will be eliminated.

Today's timeline so far

12.45. Having begun his speech by promising to "die with my boots on", Sexwale ends it by withdrawing from the race,

"I have got a surprise for you. My campaign ends today and I suspend my participation. With only four people it is your problem now."

Markus Kattner, Fifa general secretary then reminds delegates of the voting procedure, reminding them not to photograph their ballot papers.

The first delegates begin to vote.

12.40: Sexwale then surprises the room by announcing he has suspended his participation and is out of the election.

12.35: Sexwale calls for Fifa's Task Force on Anti Racism to become a permanent committee because "racism is going to be with us for a long, long time.

12.30. Tokyo Sexwale, the last of the five candidates, takes to the podium and says he had not considered withdrawing from the race despite appearing to be an outsider. "I am a soldier and I die with my boots on," says the South African.

"I'm sorry about what happened to our friends Mr Blatter and others, he is our family, I hope they are able to solve their problems and one day we can see them as different people."

"Nelson Mandela taught us never to rejoice in the pain and misery of others."

12.20. Infantino: "Destiny, which brought me to start the journey, an exciting journey, a fantastic journey. Five months ago I was not thinking of being a candidate but many things have happened."

"When I speak about figures I know what I am talking about. I've been managing UEFA for the last seven years -- during which time the revenues went up by three times.

"If Fifa generates five billion, is it normal that 1.2 billion cannot be distributed for investment in football? The money of Fifa is your money" This raises a round of applause from the delegates.

12.15. Gianni Infantino takes to the stage, saying he wants to speak from the heart, so needs to speak Italian, before rattling through French, Spanish, Portuguese and German before settling on English for the bulk of his main speech.

12.10. Champagne: "You can vote according to your conscience but vote for the candidate who is truly independent, for the candidate who has an unblemished record."

12.05: Champagne: "Inequalities exist between our continents - it is a legacy of our history."

He warns against the "NBA-ization" of the game. "Do you want a football that will become like basketball, concentrated in a very limited number of countries or leagues? Or do you want to football to continue in a universal way."

12.00: Jerome Champagne takes to the stage and bemoans the fact that no debate took place between the candidates - something he asked for.

11:57: Sheikh Salman: "Trying to close the gap between the smaller countries and bigger ones is vital and its a priority for us to help the smaller nations." He completes his speech in 10 minutes of his allocated 15.

11:52 Sheikh Salman: "Everyone knows me around Fifa as a president of a confederation, a vice-president of Fifa. My track record speaks for itself"

11:50 Prince Ali: "I am the only candidate who has consistently demonstrated a real commitment to a new style of leadership"

11:44 Prince Ali: "Football has thrived but Fifa has floundered - the game has carried its governing body"

11:40 Prince Ali first of the five candidates to speak

11:39 "The congress will now proceed to the election" says Hayatou

11:35 Congress re-starts

10:57 Victor Montagliani, president of the Canadian Soccer Association and a member of the Fifa Reform Committee, tells Reuters: "This is not the end, it is a start, let's not wait another 100 years, we should be reviewing this on a consistent basis to stay modern and on the sharp edge."

10:55 "I think it is a successful beginning it is a start, a foundation, I am very happy that it was passed with a very strong majority," Francois Carrard, Chairman of the Reform Committee, tells Reuters.

10:30 Congress breaks for one hour lunch

10:26 Fifa now vote on the expulsion of Canover Watson (Cayman Islands) from the audit and compliance committee -- accepted, 196 votes in favour; 2 against

10:25 Fifa votes in reforms with 89 percent in favour.

10:24 Fifa DELEGATES VOTE IN SWEEPING REFORMS TO CLEAN UP WORLD SOCCER'S GOVERNING BODY

10:20 Palestine becomes first association to challenge the reforms, saying: "This reform in our opinion, seriously threatens the future of Fifa."

10:14 "We understand the need for profound change and we will set up this change," Hayatou tells delegates. "We need time but we are on the right rack and can no longer step back.

"I am convinced about our unity. We have to seize this opportunity because it's our shared responsibility; the difficulty task of repairing and restoring our organization rests on our shoulders."

10:12 Acting Fifa president Issa Hayatou says the corruption crisis was a result of "the smallest of minorities in our organization and only a few actions over the past year".

10:00 Acting Fifa president Issa Hayatou welcomes delegates to the congress. "The future of Fifa is at stake after a year of crisis and ups and downs; we can shape the future together, it should not fill us with fear," he says in his opening address.

Courtesy of Reuters.

If you can handle the your-call-is-important-to-us music on the Fifa stream, you can watch each individual nation step up and vote for their preferred candidate. The countries who had intended to support Tokyo Sexwale, albeit not many, now have a choice to make. Who do they switch to? Could the South African's decision to pull out at the last minute throw a spanner in the works?All voters are being asked to surrender their mobile phones on arrival at the booths to prevent accusations of photographs being sent to interested parties. 

Who would you vote for in the Fifa presidential election?

Situation update: This is happening. It does represent progress, however, as votes are now being counted and we'll have a verdict to reveal shortly. Unfortunately, we're in no position to hazard a guess when that will be. In the meantime we heartily recommend you head over to Fifa's official stream, while checking back here obviously, to get a sample of the jazz twangs currently providing the soundtrack to their live coverage.

BREAKING NEWS

FIRST ROUND VOTES

Gianni Infantino 88Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa 85

Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein 27

Jerome Champagne 7

Two-thirds majority not reached, second round of voting required.

While this is not a surprise, it does offer some intrigue as favourite Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa finishes second behind Uefa general secretary Gianni Infantini. 

It seems possible that Jerome Champagne, with just seven votes, will pull out of the race while the thought may be crossing Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein's mind also. Those 34 votes, once redistributed, could decide today's presidential winner. With just an outright majority required in the second round, Infantino has the upper hand for now. For now we remain at four candidates

Could this be the picture slapped across our front pages tomorrow morning? Could the Uefa general secretary's days of explaining Champions League draw procedure be over?