ZURICH (Reuters) — The United States played a key role in the intense lobbying that saw Gianni Infantino elected Fifa president yesterday, beating Sheikh Salman Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, as the old political allegiances at world football’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 Jérôme Champagne 34 votes.

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

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

In between the two voting sessions, Sunil Gulati, the US Soccer president, was seen deep in conversation with Prince Ali and they walked out of sight of the congress floor to continue for several minutes.

“We couldn’t say anything to Prince Ali’s supporters until we had spoken to Prince Ali himself and it is safe to say that in that intervening period we had a good chat with Prince Ali and also Gianni and the three of us,” Gulati said after Infantino had made his first speech as president.

The American said his plan had always been to switch to Infantino when the crunch came.

“We told Gianni last night that we would support Prince Ali but also gave him the assurance that when it mattered we would be with him.”

That was not surprising but less anticipated was the role the American and Concacaf allies, including Victor Montagliani, Canada Soccer Association president, played in turning the vote towards Infantino.

Gulati, assisted by lawyer Samir Gandhi, who has been working on Fifa and Concacaf reforms, worked the congress floor and assisted Infantino in persuading several federations to switch their votes to the eventual winner.

“It is clear that there was a strong alliance between Europe and North America and the Anglo-Saxon world,” Champagne said.

The once united Caribbean block of 25 votes, expected to go to Salman, was split in the first round among the candidates, with several switching to Infantino in the second vote.

One Caribbean official, a supporter of the Bahraini, was flabbergasted at the outcome.

“What the hell happened there?” he said as he left the congress hall in an ugly mood. “I’m shocked”.

Sources indicated that Cuba and the Dominican Republic were among those who switched to Infantino in round two, while in Asia a key number of Ali voters who had rebelled against their confederation president opted to go with the European candidate rather than Sheikh Salman.

Some federations, such as Kenya, made the switch directly from Salman to Infantino in the second round after they sensed the tide turning towards the Uefa general secretary, Kenyan official Nick Mwendwa said.

Liberian Musa Bility’s prediction on Thursday of significant defections from the African Football Confederation’s chosen candidate Salman to Ali proved accurate.

Gulati’s lobbying effort was another example of American involvement in the Fifa crisis.

The US Department of Justice has indicted 41 officials and entities, including a number from Concacaf, including Chuck Blazer, a New Yorker and former Fifa executive committee member.