November 9, 2026
Kozo Tashima, Honorary President of the Japan Football Association, confirmed that the governance crisis is the greatest challenge facing the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), estimating his chances of ousting current President Gianni Infantino in the upcoming elections at between 20 and 30 percent.
In an interview published by the Japanese newspaper “Sports Nippon” on Sunday, Tashima reviewed his electoral program in preparation for the FIFA presidential elections scheduled for next March, stressing his intention to bring about radical changes within the football organization, in accordance with his slogan of preserving the positive aspects and changing the negative, and the principle of “altruism.” He explained that he seeks to raise the level of confidence in his person to 40 or 50 percent as the election campaign progresses.
Last Thursday, Tashima announced his intention to run for the position, thus becoming the first Japanese person to seek to assume the presidency of the world football body, as Infantino seeks to win a fourth term. To achieve the official nomination requirements, Tashima needs the support and recommendation of at least five national federations (indicating his desire to obtain the support of six federations), with nominations being submitted no later than November 18.
The Japanese official revealed that he had received letters of thanks and several calls from heads and officials of national federations representing eight countries, including countries outside the Asian continent, stressing that he had not received any official support yet, despite positive reactions.
Infantino faces another competition announced last month by former Tottenham Hotspur defender, Ramon Vega. This comes at a time when Infantino is suffering from severe criticism, which he faced last July following a failed attempt to attract private investors to a new commercial entity affiliated with FIFA that owns the rights to competitions including the World Cup.
Despite these criticisms, Infantino strengthened his position in the election race last October, after receiving public support from the President of the Asian Football Confederation, in addition to the support of several national federations out of a total of 211 FIFA member federations.
