The Japan Football Association has decided to induct late Morohashi Shinroku, Ozawa Michihiro and Nomura Mutsuhiko as special selections into the 11th selection of the Japan Football Hall of Fame. The selection voting did not take place this time.
With three new inductees, the total number of inductees into the Hall, located at the first basement floor of the Japan Football Museum, is now 68.

Special Selection (3 Inductees)

Late MOROHASHI Shinroku, Born on 13 July, 1922

Morohashi started playing football at Tokyo Higher Normal School Elementary and Middle School and continued his playing career after joining Mitsubishi Corporation after the WWII was over. While he was assigned as the London branch manager, he introduced Shinojima Hideo, then JFA Vice-President, to football in England. That was the moment “Mitsubishi Diamond Soccer”, the first ever football TV program in Japan, started. The program kept being broadcasted for 20 years from 1968 and started televising the FIFA World Cup since 1970, which greatly contributed to the promotion and development of football in Japan. In 1995, Morohashi was appointed to the vice-chairman of the committee to bring the 2002 FIFA World Cup to Japan. He also took the advisory role for the 2002 FIFA World Cup Japan Organisation Committee (JAWOC）and dedicated himself for the event. He passed away in 2013.

OZAWA Michihiro, Born on 25 December, 1932

After helping his Tochigi Prefectural Utsunomiya High School and Tokyo University of Education to win their respective national championship, Ozawa, a defender, was the part of golden era of Toyo Kogyo. He also played a key role on the national team in the Melbourne Olympics, the 3rd and 4th Asian Games in Tokyo and Jakarta. He was certainly one of the best players in Japan in the 1950s and early 60s as he led the national team as the team captain and won the country’s Footballer of the Year Award in 1962. Since 1984 he took the team manager position of Mazda SC and made great efforts in the establishment of Sanfrecce Hiroshima.

NOMURA Mutsuhiko, Born on 10 February, 1940

He played for Hiroshima Prefectural Funairi High School, Chuo University and Hitachi. At Chuo University, he won three ALL Japan University Championships and brought the first Kanto University League title for his school and defended in the next year. When he was a senior, the team won four championships in a year including the Emperor’s Cup. At Hitachi, he first won the scoring title in the inaugural year of the Japan League in 1965, and in 1972 he was awarded with the Footballer of the Year when his club won the Japan League title and the Emperor’s Cup. In short, he remained one of the best players in Japan throughout his career at university to the Japan League. After the retirement, he took the role of the Match Commissioner when the J League was launched. He also served the league as the chairman of the Disciplinary Committee, and contributed greatly to the development of the league for the last 20 years. 

*Listed in the order of birth

Voting Selection (No Enforcement)

Just as the last selection, the JFA Hall of Fame Committee attempted to select candidates for the voting selection among the group of former players who had either played 50 matches or more on the national team, played 150 matches or more in the JSL Division 1 or won a Footballer of the Year Award in the past. However, in accordance with the bylaw that states “it shall be a player who made long-term great contribution to Japanese football”, after the discussion, the committee decided that it could not list an appropriate candidate and that there would be no voting selection held at the Executive Committee for the 11th selection of the Japan Football Hall of Fame.