On July 12, Motoaki Inukai became president of the Japan Football Association, bypassing four JFA vice presidents and one general secretary to land the most powerful job in Japanese soccer.
Inukai's career began with a brief playing stint with the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries club in the all-amateur national league in the 1960s, before rising through the ranks of Mitsubishi Motors to spend his final four years with the company as head of its European operations.
By this time Japanese soccer had been transformed beyond recognition by the formation of the J. League, a new era of professionalism that demanded clubs identify with their local communities rather than the companies that gave birth to them.