Why can’t he say, ‘I’m going to suspend him’?”-Former Japan Football Association Executive Issues Harsh Order to Junya Ito, the Reported Sexual Assault Victim

Former French national team member also charged with sexual assault…

Junya Ito, 30, who left the Japan national soccer team midway through the Asian Cup due to criminal charges of sexual assault, has started two consecutive games for his club, Stade Reims, in the French first division. He made a fine assist against RC Reims on January 18.

Ito received a pass on the right side of the field, and while facing his opponent, he made an excellent low, controlled cross to assist in the first goal. Junya Ito responded to the team’s first chance with a great result,” said the club’s official X.

S. Reims decided to unite and support Ito in the “Ito problem” by immediately issuing a statement saying, “While we have taken note of what has been reported in the Japanese media and the defamation complaint filed by Ito, the human qualities and actions of Ito to date have not been called into question by the club. The match ended 1-1, but when Ito was substituted in the 43rd minute of the second half, “there was loud applause from the stands and calls for Ito,” according to a soccer reporter.

It is not just his club. On January 23, Brigitte Macron (70), wife of the French president, and Didier Deschamps (50), coach of the French national team, attended an event at the University Hospital of Reims, where Ito is a member. There, Mrs. Macron said, “Junya Ito is a very good player. Didier, why don’t you pick Itou? It was reported in France that she directly asked him, “Why don’t you invite him to the French national team?

The French national soccer team has a “tradition” of having naturalized foreign players as its mainstay players. It’s not a joke about the president’s wife. （He has been on the front page of L’Equipe, the French sports newspaper, along with Paris Saint-Germain’s Mbappe, the ace of the French national team. She is the most famous Japanese soccer player in France,” said a soccer writer.

In France and other European countries, the general rule is “presumption of innocence” when it comes to scandals involving soccer players. In France, Ben Yedder, 33, a former French national team player and captain of Monaco’s first division team, was charged with sexual assault last August. The Nice Public Prosecutor’s Office, which conducted the investigation, demanded bail of 900,000 euros for Yedel. In April of last year, Yedder was convicted by a Spanish court of tax evasion during his tenure in the Spanish League (Sevilla, from 2004 to 2007).

Still, he made no comment at Monaco, where Yedder continued to play, even reaching 500 official appearances this month, including a match against Le Havre on April 4. Yedder’s presence has undoubtedly been a “tailwind” for Ito, who has been under suspicion.

In contrast, the Japan Football Association (JFA) decided to withdraw Ito from the team during the Asian Cup in February, and his future call-ups to the national team are uncertain. Although there has been no finding of fact as to whether or not Ito sexually assaulted the woman, the view is that it is not a good idea for him to be acting in such a way as to arouse suspicion.

The JFA held its regular board meeting on March 15, and although the Ito case was not on the “agenda,” President Kozo Tajima (66) reportedly gave an explanation at the beginning of the meeting. One of the attendees said , “Chairman Tajima talked about it, but after that, there were no opinions expressed by others. A former JFA executive expressed his anger that the meeting ended without any discussion.

The Ito affair is the biggest scandal in the history of Japanese soccer. The fact that no opinion was expressed shows the weakness of the JFA. What would they do if there were allegations of sexual assault by a man against a woman, at least in a general Japanese company? I am sure they would not be able to stay in the same workplace. As for Ito, why can’t the JFA tell Ito that he will be “suspended” for a certain period of time and that he will not be invited to play for the national team for a certain period of time? ……

After the news of Ito’s sexual assault came out, the JFA decided to suspend him from the team at one point, but then reversed course and announced a change in policy to allow him to stay with the team. The decision to withdraw again was reversed. One JFA official was so exhausted that he said, “I only found out about the Ito problem when it was reported in the press. He is not good at crisis management, and when he is in a pinch, he is in a constant state of slapstick. The JFA’s performance resembles that of the Moriyasu Japan team that was eliminated from the Asian Cup.