On 3 March 2015, Confederacion Sudamericana de Futbol (CONMEBOL) bestowed special award (Gran Collar Extraordinario ) upon Mr. DAINI Kuniya, President of Japan Football Association together with Mr.OKANO Mitsuyoshi, CEO of Suruga Bank of Japan, at official dinner of the 65th CONMEBOL Congress held in Asuncion, Paraguay. This award was given in hounour of their contribution to friendly relations between Japan and CONMEBOL through football over the years.

Mr. DAINI Kuniya, President of Japan Football Association expressed his joy “I am very honoured to receive such a wonderful and special award, and I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to CONMEBOL. I must say that this award was given to the whole Japanese football family, rather than to myself. The Japanese football has developed this far because of the generous support of CONMEBOL. As we express our deepest gratitude to CONMEBOL for lasting friendship between Japan and CONMEBOL, we sincerely hope to foster our relations and work together even more.”

Japan Football Association and CONMEBOL hold “SURUGA BANK CHAMPIONSHIP” every year, contested by the champion teams of J. League YAMAZAKI NABISCO CUP and Copa Total Sudamericana. The match is held every summer and for 2015 edition, Gamba Osaka will face Club Atletico River Plate on 11 August 2015 in Osaka, Japan.