Kozo Tashima

Kozo Tashima (田嶋幸三, Tashima Kōzō, born November 21, 1957) is a former Japanese football player. He played for the Japan national team. He is also the president of the Japan Football Association and the East Asian Football Federation.

Club career

Tashima was born in Amakusa District, Kumamoto on November 21, 1957. In 1976, he won the Japanese high school championship with his team from Urawa-South high school. After which he then studies sports science at the University of Tsukuba. After graduating from University of Tsukuba, he joined Furukawa Electric in 1980. The club won the 2nd place in 1982 JSL Cup. Although he played as a regular player, he retired in 1982. He played 39 games and scored 6 goals in the league.

International career

On June 27, 1979, when Tashima was a University of Tsukuba student, he debuted for Japan national team against Malaysia. He also played in 1980. He played 7 games and scored 1 goal for Japan until 1980.

After retirement

Afterwards, he studied from 1983 to 1986 at the German Sport University Cologne and received a B coaching license. As he returned, he was a technical coach for the football club of his alma mater, and taught for several years at Rikkyo University. In 2001, he coached the Japan U-17 national team, to which he led for the first time since 1995 in the first round of the 2001 U-17 World Championship.

In July 2010, Tashima served as vice-president of Japan Football Association (JFA). Since January 2011, he has been a member of the Asian Football Confederation Executive Committee. He has been a FIFA Council member since April 2015. In March 2016, he became president of JFA. In April 2016, he also became president of East Asian Football Federation and served until March 2018.

Tashima was diagnosed with COVID-19 on 17 March 2020.