A coach for the Tokyo Youth Select “U16” team was arrested and detained on a road trip for “viewing child pornography”!

Another “Sexual Offense” Has Come to Light

Holding a reporter’s business card and wearing a tense expression is Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (49), Chairman of the Japan Football Association (JFA).

On September 11, a press conference regarding the “WE League (Japan Women’s Professional Soccer League)” was held at the Tokyo Dome. We approached Chairman Miyamoto as he emerged from the conference room. The subject of our questioning concerned yet another “sexual offense” scandal that had rocked the Japanese soccer world—

The incident occurred during the “Tokyo FA Youth Select U16 (hereinafter Tokyo Youth) Overseas Tour Project,” organized by the Tokyo Metropolitan Football Association (hereinafter the Tokyo FA) in March of this year.

“From March 20 to 28, 20 players from the Tokyo Youth team traveled to Germany for a tour and played friendly matches against local youth teams… but on the 24th, Coach A, in his 20s, was arrested by German police.According to sources, he was arrested on suspicion of non-consensual indecent acts against German youth players, and it was discovered during the investigation that he had been viewing child pornography… With conflicting reports circulating, the situation on the ground descended into chaos, and Coach A remained detained there for over three months,” said a source from the Tokyo FA.

A had served as a coach for Machida Zelvia’s Junior Youth team since 2025. He had also been serving as a coach for Tokyo Youth since last December.In response to this shocking scandal, the Tokyo Football Association announced on its website on April 1 that “inappropriate conduct was confirmed, and the individual in question was relieved of his duties on March 24” (the post has since been deleted). Meanwhile, Machida, the club to which A belongs, had not issued any public statement or disciplinary action.

It is still fresh in our memory that last October, Masanaga Kageyama (59), former chairman of the JFA Technical Committee, was arrested by local police in France after being witnessed viewing “child pornography” on a flight during an overseas business trip.Mr. Kageyama was tried in a summary proceeding at a court near Paris and received a guilty verdict of 18 months’ imprisonment (suspended for three years), a fine of 5,000 euros (approximately 900,000 yen), and a 10-year ban on entering France.

The JFA imposed a sanction on Mr. Kageyama consisting of a “permanent ban on soccer-related activities involving minors,” and Chairman Miyamoto stated,

“This is unacceptable to the soccer community. We are determined to thoroughly review, strengthen, and improve the governance and compliance systems within the soccer community.”

To ask Chairman Miyamoto why this scandal had been kept “undisclosed,” I confronted him directly—as shown in the opening scene.

“Ah, yes, I had been briefed on that. Make it public? Not making it public—well, that’s just our way of doing things, isn’t it?”

He insisted that it was up to the JFA to decide what to do. But has the JFA truly been able to “thoroughly strengthen and improve its governance and compliance systems”?——

The “FRIDAY October 2 & 9 Combined Issue,” on sale September 18, and the paid version “FRIDAY GOLD” feature detailed coverage of the “sexual” scandal. The magazine also provides a detailed report on the responses received from three organizations—Machida Zelvia, the Tokyo Football Association, and the JFA—in response to our questions.

Click here to view the full details and multiple photos↓

From the “FRIDAY” October 2 & 9, 2026 Combined Issue