Carlo Tavecchio has been re-elected as president of the Italian Football Federation (FIGC).

Tavecchio defeated challenger Andrea Abodi, the Serie B president, in the third round of voting.

The incumbent’s 56.49 per cent of the first-round vote and 53.7 per cent in the second were not enough to meet the requirements to be elected – three quarters of the vote in the first ballot, or two thirds in the second round.

But in the third ballot, a simple majority was sufficient and Tavecchio won 54.03 per cent of the vote.

Tavecchio said after the vote: “I acknowledge my challenger for his fairness, and now I say that with the strength with which we divide, we must regain the same strength to unite.”

The 73-year-old’s first term in office has not been without controversy.

He was initially elected in 2014 despite a campaign marred by six-month bans from both FIFA and UEFA for allegedly making racist comments about a hypothetical African player “who previously ate bananas and then suddenly becomes a first-team player with Lazio”.

Once in charge, he was forced to deny being homophobic or anti-Semitic after comments which appeared in an audio recording on the website of Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in late 2015.

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