FIFA President Race: Infantino Has Narrow Lead
The race for the FIFA presidency is now too close to call between Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Khalifa and Gianni Infantino.
UEFA general secretary Mr Infantino, 45, got 88 votes in the first round of voting, with Sheikh Salman, 49, president of the Asian Football Confederation, slightly behind with 85.
Prince Ali bin al Hussein, 40, president of the Jordan Football Association, won 27 votes, and former FIFA deputy secretary general Jerome Champagne, 57, got just seven.
The candidates needed a two-thirds majority of the 207 national associations casting ballots at the FIFA congress in Zurich, Switzerland, to win outright.
Vote counting is now under way in the second round, with a straight majority of 104 needed for victory.
South African tycoon Tokyo Sexwale pulled out of the five-man contest minutes before voting began.
Sexwale, a former prisoner in an anti-apartheid jail with Nelson Mandela, was always considered an outsider in the contest.
The 62-year-old said he was prepared to work with the four remaining candidates, and wanted a president who can get FIFA out of its "morass" following years of financial scandals.
Earlier, FIFA voted overwhelmingly in favour of a series of reforms to curb its president's powers and stop corruption in world football by 179 votes to 22.
Seven delegates abstained from the vote.
The reforms include the disclosure of salaries and limiting FIFA officials - including the president - to serving a maximum of three four-year terms.
FIFA's executive committee will be replaced with a new council made up of at least six women - one from each confederation.
Its political and commercial decision-making arms will also be separated in an attempt to avoid conflicts of interest.
Acting FIFA President Issa Hayatou said the reforms would give "football a strong foundation on which to thrive".
He added: "We stand united in our determination to put things right, so that the focus can return to football once again.
"The hard work of restoring trust and improving how we work begins now."
Mr Blatter, 79, was the big absentee at the congress after suffering a spectacular fall over the last nine months.
Swiss police, acting under US warrants, arrested seven FIFA officials in Zurich two days before his re-election last May.
Mr Blatter has since been banned from football for six years for ethics breaches and could face criminal charges.
