GENEVA (AP) — FIFA President Gianni Infantino now has a serious challenger in his fight for re-election amid the biggest crisis of his 11-year leadership of world soccer.
FIFA council member Kohzo Tashima — a colleague of Infantino for nearly 11 years — intends to run for president against the incumbent, Japanese media reported on Thursday after a meeting of the national soccer federation.
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Tashima is the first serious rival to emerge against Infantino ahead of a Nov. 18 deadline since the FIFA leader provoked a furor in global soccer in July with a plan to sell stakes in future World Cup profits to private investors.
“The worst thing that can happen is he (Infantino) is re-elected to the post without an election,” Tashima said on Thursday, quoted by business newspaper Nikkei.
Infantino's multibillion dollar investor project was dropped within days after a backlash by soccer leaders in Europe, Asia and North America plus FIFA staffers.
He and FIFA also faced scrutiny over the integrity of disciplinary decisions affecting World Cup games, in cases involving Portugal superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, United States forward Folarin Balogun and Congo goalkeeper Lionel Mpasi.
Japanese newspaper Asahi reported Tashima announced his intention to run in the election next March, and that board members of the Japan Football Association unanimously agreed to back him. Sports newspaper Nikkan Sports also reported the news.
“It’s not win or lose, but we must show the rest of the world the sincere, sound, and noble approach of the Japanese soccer,” Tashima said, according to sports newspaper Sponichi Annex.
The JFA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment by The Associated Press.
Japanese soccer and Tashima have kept a seat at the high table of Asian and FIFA politics in the past 15 years as the Asian Football Confederation came more under the influence of Gulf states like Qatar and Saudi Arabia.
Still, a rift developed last month when the AFC, having criticized Infantino in August, switched position to give him support.
Last week, the JFA announced its vice president Takeshi Okada quit because of the politics around Infantino shoring up his support. Okada coached Japan at the World Cups in 1998 and 2010.
After that AFC meeting in Tokyo two weeks ago, Sponichi Annex reported Thursday, Tashima told the Asian body's president Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa that he could not support Infantino.
The 68-year-old Tashima is a former Japan midfielder and FA president who has been on FIFA’s ruling committee since 2015 when Sepp Blatter was president.
Tashima is seen as a respected, diplomatic and low-profile official in the often murky world of soccer politics.
Candidates need formal support from five of FIFA’s 211 member federations who will vote on March 18 in Rabat, Morocco. They must also pass an eligibility check by a three-member panel appointed by FIFA, whose ruling can later by challenged at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Infantino is expected to face scrutiny for seeking a fourth term in office until 2031, which would be 15 years in office, when FIFA statutes limit presidents to three full terms and 12 years. FIFA legal advice in 2022 was that Infantino's initial term — from 2016-19 completing Blatter's unfinished mandate — should not count against the 12-year limit.
European soccer body UEFA has been leading efforts to find a candidate to challenge Infantino ahead of the Nov. 18 deadline to enter the contest.
It was unclear on Thursday if Tashima is formally endorsed by UEFA which was approached for comment.
In the FIFA presidential election of 2015 won by Blatter, UEFA had a strategy of backing three candidates in the early stages of the campaign before two withdrew — Portugal great Luis Figo and Dutch official Michael van Praag — leaving Prince Ali bin Al Hussain to advance alone on the ballot.
Figo is now a senior advisor to UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, who in September likened Infantino to the fairytale of the emperor with no clothes, adding: “Football has no need for emperors.”
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Associated Press writer Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed.
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See AP’s full soccer coverage here
