Sepp Blatter says Gianni Infantino is a worthy successor as FIFA president amid many congratulatory messages on his election.
Blatter, 79, now banned from football for six years, praised fellow Swiss Infantino for his "experience, expertise, strategic and diplomatic skills".
Infantino "has all the qualities to continue my work and to stabilise FIFA again", he said in a statement following the UEFA general secretary's election on Friday.
Blatter, who was president of FIFA since 1998 and last May re-elected for a fifth term before announcing he would be stepping down, has been banned by the FIFA ethics committee for six years along with UEFA president Michel Platini.
Infantino, who was Platini's right-hand man at UEFA, only entered the race for the FIFA presidency in late October as a result of Platini's provisional suspension last year following a Swiss criminal investigation.
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Blatter and Platini have since been banned in a ruling by the adjudicatory chamber of FIFA's ethics committee over ethics breaches concerning a "disloyal payment" of two million Swiss francs ($A2.8 million) made to Platini in 2011.
In other reaction, International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach said he was looking forward to working with Infantino as the new FIFA president.
Bach said that "at this difficult period for football I wish him all the best for the implementation of the reforms approved by the FIFA extraordinary congress".
European federations including the English Football Association and German football federation, who both backed Infantino in the election, made welcoming statements.
Former England international striker Gary Lineker, who had been outspoken in his criticism of Blatter, said on Twitter: "He's got one hell of a job on his hands but seems a decent chap. Needs a sizeable new broom."
Now a television pundit, Lineker also quipped: "Have this weird feeling that Gianni Infantino will pull off his mask to reveal Sepp Blatter."
Portuguese playing great Luis Figo, who was at one time a candidate for the FIFA presidency, tweeted: "Finally the change arrived. It's time for a new era in FIFA."
