A senior official of the Japan Football Association (JFA) has been handed an 18-month suspended jail sentence in France after being caught viewing child sex abuse images on a plane.
Masanaga Kageyama, the JFA’s technical director, was detained during a stopover at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris last week. French newspaper Le Parisien reported that the 58-year-old admitted to viewing the material but claimed he did not know it was illegal in France.
The incident occurred aboard an Air France flight, where crew members reportedly saw Kageyama viewing the explicit content on his laptop in business class and alerted authorities.
When confronted, Kageyama allegedly argued that the images were “art” and “AI-generated.” However, a French court found him guilty on Monday, issuing the suspended sentence, a €5,000 fine, and a 10-year ban from working with minors or re-entering France.
The JFA terminated his contract immediately, calling the conduct “unacceptable to the football world.”
“This incident is unacceptable,” JFA President Tsuneyasu Miyamoto said in a statement.
“We will use this as an opportunity to strengthen governance and compliance within Japanese football.”
Kageyama, a former professional footballer, retired in 1996 before joining Japan’s coaching ranks. He previously managed teams in Macau and Singapore and was reportedly en route to the Under-20 World Cup in Chile when the incident occurred.
