Kozo Tashima announces FIFA presidential challenge to Gianni Infantino

Kozo Tashima, the honorary president of the Japan Football Association, announced on 5 November that he will run for the FIFA presidency, presenting himself as a challenger to incumbent Gianni Infantino ahead of March’s election.

Tashima, 68, was involved in Japan’s 2022 World Cup bid, which finished with only two of the final 22 votes, and has long been a prominent figure in Asian football. He served as JFA technical director from 2002 and later became federation president as Japan rose in the region, and he joined the FIFA Council in 2015. Known within the game for a low-profile approach, Tashima says he wants to move FIFA away from headlines and toward a quieter leadership style.

Officials who worked with him during previous campaigns describe Tashima as an affable operator who listens more than he talks; he impressed during the JFA’s 2010 bid, according to a European association official cited in reporting. He is not regarded as having the public charm associated with Infantino or Sepp Blatter, a contrast the article notes could play to his advantage. Since joining the FIFA Council in 2015, Tashima has rarely appeared in international headlines, a record he hopes will distinguish his candidacy.

As he launched his campaign, Tashima framed his bid in terms of Japanese values. “It’s not about winning or losing but about conveying to the world the honest, sound and upright attitude that Japanese football has built,” he said on announcing his candidacy on 5 November. “What Fifa needs now are these values that we have protected. I have decided to run in order to make this appeal to the world.”

The JFA and wider Asian football landscape provide part of the context for his challenge: reporting cites concerns in Tokyo about the Asian Football Confederation’s proximity to Saudi Arabia and Qatar and growing unease over FIFA leadership. JFA officials were reportedly dismayed at Infantino’s closeness to Donald Trump, and the article notes Trump’s favourability sank below 30% in May according to the same reporting.

The summer’s controversies — including the Folarin Balogun affair at the World Cup and the leak of Infantino’s plan to sell off the tournament’s commercial rights to private investors — are described as factors that hardened opinion inside the JFA. In October, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, who succeeded Tashima as JFA president in 2024, backed Infantino; that decision preceded the resignation of JFA vice-president Takeshi Okada. “I have always believed that sports should be noble and have cherished their social value,” Okada said. “However, the recent actions surrounding the Fifa World Cup have created a significant gap between my beliefs and the actions taken, and as a sportsman I could not accept them, which led me to this decision.”

Tashima’s domestic record is noted in the reporting: he supported Okada when the latter faced calls to be sacked during preparations for the 2010 World Cup, and Okada’s side reached the knockout stages on foreign soil for the first time. Internationally, Tashima has seven caps for Japan from the late 1970s and early 1980s and retains relationships in east and south-east Asia where the JFA has cultivated ties with associations such as Singapore and Thailand.

There is an expectation that UEFA will name a candidate soon; if Europe does not present a contender, the article suggests Tashima could become the primary challenger to Infantino, ahead of Ramon Vega who has also declared his candidacy. Vega is described as likely to attract some support from European and CONCACAF members but as lacking wider international connections. Tashima has estimated his own chances at between 20% and 30% and, according to the reporting, said the bid “isn’t really about winning but about standing up for what is right.”

If elected, the article says Tashima would seek to build consensus behind the scenes and avoid publicity, including close personal ties with world leaders beyond what he deems strictly necessary; his campaign will now proceed toward the March election.