Embattled Japan manager Javier Aguirre will hold a news conference to offer an explanation regarding match-fixing charges that have been leveled at him in Spain, the Japan Football Association announced on Sunday when its board of trustees met.
Arrangements are being made so the news conference can be held before Aguirre's squad is to begin training for next month's Asian Cup on Dec. 29. The Mexican coach has not appeared in public since Spanish prosecutors named him among 41 individuals last week in a report into the alleged rigging of a Spanish League clash between Levante and his former club Zaragoza in May 2011.
Aguirre was manager of Zaragoza and the team won the match 2-1, avoiding relegation to the second tier as a result. He could be asked to appear in Spain if the complaint is accepted by a Valencia court and a full-scale investigation is opened.
The JFA on Thursday decided that Aguirre would remain in charge for the Jan. 9-31 Asian Cup despite his alleged involvement in the scandal.
"We already know what he is going to say, but we should hold it anyway," Hiromi Hara, the JFA's secretary general, said of the plan to reduce the distractions at the team's training camp.