Japan football association official resigns after AFC aligns with Infantino

What the report says

Takeshi Okada, a vice president of the Japan Football Association and a former Japan national team coach, has resigned, saying the way football authorities handled a recent run of World Cup-related controversies did not match his personal beliefs. Al Jazeera, citing AFP, reported that Okada said he stepped down entirely on his own and after repeated consideration.

The resignation came about a week after Asian football leaders publicly backed Gianni Infantino’s bid for another FIFA presidential term. According to the report, Asian Football Confederation president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa delivered that support at a meeting in Tokyo. The article also notes that this position followed earlier criticism from the AFC and other regional bodies over Infantino’s proposal to allow private investors into premium FIFA competitions such as the World Cup.

Okada said he believed sport should be governed with integrity and that there was a significant gap between his values and the responses to the controversies. He also acknowledged that there were practical reasons for Japan to stay aligned with the AFC, given the impact on Japanese football.

Infantino has led FIFA since 2016 and is seeking re-election in March. The broader context, as reported by Al Jazeera, is a growing split among football organizations over FIFA leadership and the direction of the sport’s governance.