TOKYO — Kozo Tashima first started playing football after watching the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, and since then he has dedicated his life to developing the sport’s growth in Japan.
The 68-year-old is set to become the first person from Japan to run for the FIFA presidency after announcing he would stand against Gianni Infantino in football’s governing body’s election in March.
Tashima has served as a football player, coach and bureaucrat and has a reputation for being a safe pair of hands. He rarely makes headlines, and one of the few times he appeared outside the sport pages was when he became one of the first public figures in Japan to contract coronavirus in March 2020.
He spent time studying at the German Sport University Cologne and said the experience changed the way he saw sport’s purpose in society.
Tashima explained that his decision to run for the FIFA presidency was based on a belief that “in this age of business and money, sport must firmly uphold its integrity”.
“The worst thing would be if he (Infantino) were to continue without an election,” he told reporters after announcing his candidacy.
“I feel this is a test of whether FIFA has the ability to cleanse itself,” he added according to AFP.
Tashima was born in southern Kumamoto and captained his team to the title in Japan’s prestigious national high school championship. With no professional football in the country at the time, he had ambitions of becoming a PE teacher and enrolled at a university, where he was called up to play for Japan’s full national team.
He joined a club in Japan’s amateur league after graduating but soon retired as a player and went to Germany to study to become a coach.
He described his “profound shock” at the players’ superior skills and the way football was viewed there.
“Even back in 1980, the training in Germany was hugely scientific and systematic,” he said.
“Everything seemed like a different world from Japan, and it was a big culture shock for me.”
Tashima returned home determined to use what he had learned in Germany and help develop Japanese football.
He coached a university team before joining the Japan Football Association (JFA), where he worked on development programmes and coached the country’s national teams at various youth levels.
He rose through the JFA ranks and was elected president in 2016, while also serving on the Asian Football Confederation executive committee and the FIFA Council.
His reign as JFA chief saw him fire Japan coach Vahid Halilhodzic two months before the 2018 World Cup in Russia.
Halilhodzic, who was unpopular with the players, was replaced by Akira Nishino, and Japan reached the last 16, where they were eliminated by Belgium.
“Some people told me that I wasn’t the one who hired Halilhodzic so it wouldn’t be my fault if the team lost,” Tashima said.
“But as president, all the responsibility lay with me.”
Tashima stepped down as JFA chief in 2024 and was named honorary president.
He said he had decided to run for the FIFA presidency to “contribute to the further development of world football”.
Tashima, who has the JFA’s backing, said his presidency bid was “not about winning or losing”.
“What matters is sharing with the world the integrity that Japan’s football has built over the years,” he said.
