The South American football confederation (CONMEBOL) has no record showing it received any payment from Japan during the bid for the 2002 World Cup hosting rights as alleged by a report from Spain, Japan Football Association vice president Kozo Tashima said on Sunday.
"They said they had no records and could not confirm," the FIFA executive committee member said at Narita airport, after returning from Manama for the Asian Football Confederation's executive committee meeting.
"This doesn't change the fact that nothing like what was said ever took place. It's unthinkable."
Citing an unnamed former CONMEBOL employee, Diario AS reported last month that in 2000, the JFA paid the South Americans $1.5 million for the body's votes.
The JFA had asked CONMEBOL to look into the matter and received a reply that neither backed nor refuted the report.