FIFA row sparks shock exit of Japan football great Okada

TOKYO - Japan's football association vice president Takeshi Okada resigned on Wednesday, expressing his disapproval of the responses to controversies surrounding the World Cup. Okada, who coached Japan at the World Cups in 1998 and 2010, stepped down a week after the head of Asian football, Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al-Khalifa, endorsed Gianni Infantino's bid for re-election as FIFA president.

This decision came weeks after the AFC aligned with football bodies in Europe and North America in condemning Infantino's plan to allow private investors into FIFA's premium competitions like the World Cup. Infantino has faced calls to resign and lost the backing of some associations in his re-election bid for a fourth and final term.

Okada stated that he was stepping down purely out of his own volition. Throughout his career, he had cherished the social value of sport based on his conviction that it must be conducted with integrity. However, he found a significant disconnect between the responses to the FIFA World Cup controversies and his personal beliefs, which he could not accept.

Infantino, who apologized for the failed private investment project, has been FIFA president since 2016 and is running for re-election in March. Two months ago, the AFC, along with European body UEFA and CONCACAF, signaled their potential defection from Infantino. Okada explained that his decision to resign was the result of careful and repeated deliberation, taking into account their relationship with the AFC and the impact on Japanese football.