Head of Japan 2022 bid set to be forced out of FA

July 24 – Japan’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup is set to be thrown into crisis with Motoaki Inukai, who is heading the campaign, set to be forced out after a row over “forceful” style of management.

The 68-year-old head of J-League club Urawa Reds is expected to be replaced as Japan Football Association (JFA) President by his deputy and longtime FIFA Executive Committee member Junji Ogura, 71, in a vote tomorrow.

Inukai, whose initial two-year term was to conclude at the end of this month, had previously sought a second stint while pushing Japan’s campaign to stage the World Cup again after co-hosting the 2002 edition with South Korea.

But only a “small number” of the JFA’s 25 executives reportedly supported him in an unsigned vote of confidence conducted before the World Cup in South Africa, where Japan unexpectedly reached the last 16 for the first time on foreign soil.

The result has prompted a 10-member panel, tasked with nominating candidates for top JFA posts, to drop Inukai despite his immense influence in the JFA and pick Ogura.

Inukai is to continue as head of the 2022 bid committee but his power will undoubtedly be undermined and raise doubts at FIFA over how unified the sport is in the country.

The upheaval comes just days after a FIFA inspection team, led by Harold Mayne-Nicholls (pictured left with Inukai) praised Japan’s World Cup bid, which includes a plan for 3-D match telecasts.

Since taking over from long-serving Saburo Kawabuchi as JFA President in 2008, Inukai has campaigned to change the J-League’s spring-autumn season to synchronise with Europe’s autumn-spring season.

But J-League chairman Kenji Onitake has opposed the change as many domestic clubs prefer not to play in midwinter in snow-bound areas.

Inukai has also pushed for footballing exchages with Spain and other powerhouses to develop young talent at home.

Ogura, who managed a football club at Furukawa Electric Co before the J-League’s launch in 1993, joined the JFA in 1991.

He was instrumental in Japan’s successful joint bid with South Korea for the 2002 World Cup.

Ogura took the post of JFA vice-president in 1998 and has been a member of the FIFA Executive Committee since 2002, a post he will leave next year.

Last month, he received the FIFA Order of Merit for his contribution to football.