The election of the South African - the only candidate for the position - at the organisation's General Meeting brings to an end a difficult period for the IeSF.

Webster had been serving as acting President following the resignation of Silviu Stroie, who had been in interim charge after Jun Byung-hun quit in June last year.

United States eSports Federation President Vlad Marinescu was elected IeSF vice-president at the meeting in Seoul.

The position was left vacant after Stroie's sudden departure earlier this year.

Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifah Al-Nahayan of the United Arab Emirates, Kim Man-young of South Korea, Israel's Ido Brosh and Boban Totovski of Macedonia were elected to the Board.

The General Meeting took place as the Global Esports Foundation (GEF), backed by Chinese technology company Tencent, was established in Singapore.

The GEF, led by Chris Chan, aims to govern players, organisations, and commercial partners, and plans to hold an annual global tournament.

Chan claimed the body was not meant to be a threat to the IeSF, although it remains unclear whether the two organisations will have any working relationship.

The GEF appears to have the same mission as the IeSF, established in South Korea in 2008.

"We don’t mean to be competitive with IeSF, they might see us as a threat but that's certainly not our idea," Chan said.

Olympic silver medallist and Canadian Olympic Committee Board member Charmaine Crooks, and honorary Olympic Council of Asia life vice-president Wei Jizhong, have been named vice-presidents of the GEF.

Membership of the new body is open to sports organisations, commercial entities, cities and non-governmental organisations.

Chan has set a lofty aim of Olympic Games inclusion, claiming the GEF can help end the "misunderstanding" of esports, which continues to grow in popularity and has started to enter the Olympic Movement.

In June, an esports tournament was held as part of a cultural programme for the European Games in Minsk.

It will also feature at next year's Olympic Games after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Intel announced a collaboration for Tokyo 2020.

Earlier this month, the Olympic Summit encouraged International Federations to consider how to govern electronic forms of their sport and explore opportunities with gaming publishers. 

The IOC has voiced its opposition to violent "killer" games being part of the Olympics, but has been more open to the possibility of electronic games simulating sports.