Court Case and Sentencing
Masanaga Kageyama, a technical director for the JFA, was detained last week while he was on an interim between flights to the Under-20 World Cup in Chile.
French authorities have found that the airline crew observed him viewing pornographic images on the laptop computer by several other passengers in business class. Once prompted when confronted, Kageyama reportedly denied the viewing, saying that it was "art" and had been generated by AI.
On Monday, the 58-year-old was sentenced to 18 months in prison, which has been suspended, and fined €5,000 ($5,800,£4,300).
The court has also banned him from any work involving youth for ten years, while simultaneously banning him from returning to France in that time period. Kageyama admitted to the act of viewing the images, stating that he was ignorant of French law regarding such behavior.
The JFA took swift action after they forwarded the initial report. In an email sent Tuesday, they advised constituents in the email sent stating that they had revoked Kageyama’s contract with immediate effect and stating that his actions had provoked maximum inconvenience to their supporters and stakeholders, and those violations, in any form, are never tolerated.
He committed that the Association would improve their governance and compliance policies on behalf of the footballing community on behalf of the situation.
Kageyama had a career as a professional football player before the end of his career in 1996, when he transitioned to coaching and executive roles. He had multiple opportunities working with past national teams in Japan as well as coaching opportunities abroad, in places like Macau and Singapore.
The event is a rare dysfunction of governing of Japanese football, highlighting concerns about the behaviors of other formal federated sporting organizations.
