JFA Hall of Fame Inductee

TASHIMA Kohzo

Special Selection: 22nd Japan Football Hall of Fame in 2026

Born in Kumamoto Prefecture on 21 November 1957

TASHIMA Kohzo's interest in football was sparked when he watched the 1964 Tokyo Olympics in his first year of school. At junior high school, he founded a football club with his friends and started playing the sport regularly. In his final year at Saitama Municipal Urawa Minami High School, he captained the team to victory in the National High School Football Championship. Aspiring to become a teacher and football coach, he went on to study at the University of Tsukuba. In his third year, he was selected for the Japanese national team, excelling as a forward and making seven appearances in international A matches.

After graduating, he joined Furukawa Electric, playing for the company's football team. Between 1980 and 1983, he made 39 appearances in the Japan Soccer League (JSL), scoring six goals and providing three assists.

After retiring from playing, he embarked on a coaching course at the University of Sport in Cologne, West Germany (as it was then known). He honed his skills under Dettmar KRAMER, who had been coaching the Japan national team since 1960, and obtained the West German Football B-Class Coaching License. In 1996, he obtained the JFA-accredited S-Class Coaching License (now the JFA Pro License).

He was appointed manager of the Japan U-16/17 national team in 1999, and in 2001 he led the Japan U-17 national team at the FIFA U-17 World Championship (now the FIFA U-17 World Cup). The following year, he managed the Japan U-19 national team.

He was appointed Chairman of the JFA Technical Committee in the same year. He played a key role in establishing the JFA Academy Fukushima, serving as its Headmaster from opening in 2006 until 2012. Subsequently, he held the posts of Executive Director and Vice-President of the JFA. In 2016, he was elected as the 14th President following the first-ever presidential election in the JFA’s history.

He worked tirelessly to support reconstruction efforts in areas affected by the Kumamoto earthquake, which occurred that same year. During the 2020–2022 pandemic, he provided relief to the wider football community, including clubs across the country. He also spearheaded reforms to the JFA’s registration system and organisational structure, devoting his efforts to rebuilding the foundations of Japanese football for a new era.
He has served on the Executive Committee of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) since 2015, which was renamed the FIFA Council in 2016. He has also held various other positions, including Executive Committee Member of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), President of the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF), and Vice-President of the Japanese Olympic Committee (JOC). He has dedicated himself to developing football at the global and Asian levels, while also contributing to the development of sport in Japan.

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  IMANISHI Kazuo