Japan football FA vice president quits over World Cup row

The vice president of Japan’s football association quit on Wednesday, saying the “series of responses” to controversies surrounding the World Cup did not align with his personal values.

Takeshi Okada, who coached Japan at the World Cup in 1998 and again in 2010, stepped down a week after the head of Asian football said the region supported Gianni Infantino’s bid for re-election as FIFA president.

Asian Football Confederation President Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa delivered the unequivocal backing at a meeting in Tokyo.

It came weeks after the AFC had joined football bodies in Europe and North America in condemning Infantino over his plan to open FIFA’s premium competitions such as the World Cup to private investors.

Infantino has faced calls to quit and lost the support of some associations in his bid to be re-elected to a fourth and final term.

Okada, who is one of three Japan Football Association (JFA) vice presidents, said he was stepping down “entirely of my own volition”.

“Throughout my career I have treasured the social value of sport based on my conviction that sport must be conducted with integrity,” he said.

“However, with regard to the series of responses surrounding the recent FIFA World Cup, there is a significant gap between those responses and my own beliefs, and as a sportsman I cannot accept them.”

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Infantino, who apologised for the failed private investment project, has headed FIFA since 2016 and is running for re-election in March.

Two months ago the AFC and Sheikh Salman signalled they could turn on Infantino.

A joint letter with European body UEFA and CONCACAF, representing federations in North and Central America and the Caribbean, declared football “belongs to no individual”.

Okada said his decision had been “reached after careful and repeated deliberation”.

“Taking into account our relationship with the AFC and the impact on Japanese football, I do understand that there are practical reasons for aligning our stance with that of the AFC,” he said.