Japan football official quits: AFC backs Infantino re-election bid

Takeshi Okada, who coached Japan at the World Cups in 1998 and 2010, resigned as a vice president of the Japan Football Association on Wednesday, citing a break between the organization's recent handling of World Cup issues and his own convictions about the sport.

Okada is one of three vice presidents at the JFA. He said the decision was reached after careful and repeated deliberation, and that he stepped down entirely of his own volition. He said he had treasured the social value of sport based on his conviction that sport must be conducted with integrity. Regarding the series of responses surrounding the recent FIFA World Cup, he said there is a significant gap between those responses and his own beliefs, and as a sportsman he cannot accept them.

His resignation came a week after Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim al-Khalifa, president of the Asian Football Confederation, said at a meeting in Tokyo that the region supported Gianni Infantino's bid for re-election as FIFA president. The AFC's backing followed a period when the confederation, along with football bodies in Europe and North America, had criticized Infantino's plan to open premium competitions such as the World Cup to private investors. A joint letter with UEFA and CONCACAF, the governing body for North and Central America and the Caribbean, declared that football belongs to no individual.

Infantino, who has led FIFA since 2016, apologized for the failed private investment project. He has faced calls to quit and has lost the support of some associations in his bid to be re-elected to a fourth and final term. The election is scheduled for March. He is running for a fourth and final term.

Okada acknowledged the practical constraints on Japan's position. He said he understands there are practical reasons for aligning Japan's stance with that of the AFC, given the relationship with the confederation and the impact on Japanese football.