From the President

In June, Japan made their fourth straight appearance in the FIFA World Cup – the world’s most prestigious sporting event – demonstrating the remarkable development of Japanese football since the launch of the J. League in 1993.
We went to the 2010 finals with the strong ambition to “surprise the world.” Unfortunately, we narrowly missed out on reaching the Last Eight, but Japan’s outstanding efforts and their dynamic team performance touched the hearts of many. Through this, it is my belief that our children were able to understand the significance of never giving up when faced with a challenge.
Japanese people’s interest in football has grown considerably. Consequently, expectations are higher. This has brought home to me the necessity of returning to our beginnings so that we might realize the expectations of those whose dreams and hopes have been inspired by the positive performance of Japan’s team and to help us make a further leap forward on the world stage.
Returning to our starting point means looking at the guiding principles of our “JFA 2005 Declaration” again and reaffirming those principles through the realization of our mission and the understanding of our responsibilities as football people. We need to look at what we have to do in areas such as strengthening our national teams in each age category, producing talented coaches and referees, coaching and educating young players, developing women’s football and improving football’s environment.
In addition, we have important duties and responsibilities toward Asia and in strengthening the ties of international friendship through football. FIFA has 208 member associations, a figure that shows the enormous international and social power of the sport. Since 2007, FIFA has utilized the slogan “For the Game, For the World” as it strives to make a real contribution to establishing peace in the world.
We, the Japan Football Association, are required to act with sincere awareness and self-knowledge as a member of the FIFA family. We want to contribute to the activities of the “United Nations Global Compact” and the Japanese government’s “Challenge 25” campaign, which aims to combat global warming and climate change. At the same time, we want to expand our own activities, such as the “JFA Kokoro Project,” the “JFA Green Project” and our “Environment Project.”
As a country, Japan is facing problems that include an aging population and a declining birthrate, and we believe that the role of sport will assume greater importance in Japanese society. As an organization involved in helping to create and sustain a sports culture in our society, we would like to work closely with our 47 prefectural football associations, the various sporting federations, related organizations and cooperating institutions, as well as the nation’s football family, to contribute to the physical and spiritual well-being of Japan’s citizens and Japanese society.

Junji Ogura
JFA President