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'What the hell happened there?' Infantino triumphs with American help

ZURICH, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The United States played a key role in the intense lobbying that saw Gianni Infantino elected FIFA president on Friday, beating Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, as the old political allegiances at world soccer's governing body collapsed.

The traditional voting in blocks along continental lines, characteristic of previous FIFA elections, broke down significantly giving outsiders Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan and France's Jerome Champagne 34 votes.

Neither Prince Ali nor Champagne had been promised support from any of the continental confederations.

In the second round of voting UEFA general secretary Infantino picked up 27 extra votes while Asian confederation chief Salman managed just three more, with Ali and Champagne losing a combined 30 votes.