The vice president of Japan’s football association has quit, 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 (AFC) president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim 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”.
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”.
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