The World Cup is a festival that brings the whole world together. It is a worldwide festival (Photo: Afro)  In the past, the World Cup year has been a time of excitement, but this time is different. In addition, in the group league of this tournament, Japan was paired with Germany (ranked 12th in the world) and Spain (ranked 7th in the world). Moriyasu Japan (ranked 23rd in the world) has pledged to make the top eight at the World Cup, but it will be a thorny task.   Nomura, the executive officer of the Japan National Football Team, is in charge of the team on the field. I think Japan’s national soccer team is still very attractive as content. If you don’t know the names of the players or don’t recognize their faces, it only means that there are fewer opportunities to watch and learn about them. We were not able to get this content when the station first opened, but we have made a lot of trial and error up to this point, and I think we have earned the right to take on the challenge of handling such great content as the World Cup. We want to unite and energize Japan by having people watch the World Cup. As a media outlet, we are determined to make this happen. The “Uma Musume” mega-hit has led to free live broadcasts of all 64 matches in Qatar, and it will be interesting to see how this chemical reaction will play out. The World Cup will be held in November for the first time in history, and NHK, TV Asahi, and Fuji Television will broadcast live coverage of Japan’s matches. We are sure to see a different scene here and there. Will it lead to a recovery in the popularity of soccer in Japan, a country that has been pushed to the edge of the ring? The answer to all these questions will come at the end of the year.