Governing Bodies
WORLD’S OLDEST CITIZEN TO BE PART OF TOKYO 2020 TORCH RELAY
ATokyo 2020 Torchbearer is set to become the oldest ever to carry the Olympic Flame.Kane Tanaka from Shime Town in Fukuoka prefecture will be 118 years and 129 days old on the day she is scheduled to take the Flame.
In the detailed itinerary announced this week by Tokyo 2020, it was formally confirmed that her home town is to be part of the route.
Mrs Tanaka is now resident in a nursing home, but subject to health checks and weather conditions, she is to participate in the early evening of May 11 wearing a family birthday gift of new trainers.
“She is excited to be part of the festival”, grandson Eiji told the American television network CNN.
“I don’t remember her talking much about the past. She’s very forward thinking, she really enjoys living in the present.”
Eiji is expected to join other family members who will push her wheelchair during the Torch Relay.
They have been unable to visit her during the pandemic because of precautions against COVID-19 .
“It’s great she reached that age and she can still keep up an active lifestyle.
“We want other people to see that and feel inspired, and not to think age is a barrier,” said Eiji.
Tanaka’s great-granddaughter Junko set up a social media account on Twitter last year to honour her grandmother, but in common with other Torchbearers, there will be a ban on revealing details until shortly before Mrs Tanaka’s moment with the Flame.
Junka Tanaka said: “I might be biased because I’m related to her but I think it’s kind of amazing.
“I wanted to share that with the world and for people to feel inspired and to feel her joy.”
Mrs Tanaka was nominated as a Torchbearer by the Nippon Life Assurance Company, a Tokyo 2020 sponsor.
She is said to keep alert by playing the strategy board game Othello.
If after health checks, she is permitted to take part, she will beat the record for the oldest Torchbearer, set by Brazil’s Aida Mendes, known as “Grandma Iaiá”, who was in her 107th year when she lit the celebratory Cauldron in the northern city of Macapá during the Rio 2016 Torch Relay.
Mrs Tanaka, one of 80,000 centenarians in Japan, was born on January 2 1903 and has been certified the world’s oldest citizen by the Guinness Book of Records.
At the time of her birth, Japan had not yet taken part in the Olympic Games and did not do so until after her ninth birthday.
She lived through the Spanish flu epidemic and two World Wars and has twice survived cancer.
Married at 19, she has four children, five grandchildren and eight grand grandchildren.
She continued to work in the family rice shop until the age of 103
.– -insidethegames
World football governing body, FIFA, today clocks its 122nd anniversary, celebrating more than a century of overseeing and expanding the global game.
Founded on May 21, 1904, in Paris, France, FIFA began with just seven member associations — France, Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland.
From that modest beginning, the organisation has grown into the most influential sports governing body in the world, with 211 member associations spread across all continents.
Over the decades, FIFA has transformed football into a truly global phenomenon through competitions such as the FIFA World Cup, Women’s World Cup, Club World Cup, youth tournaments, and developmental programmes aimed at growing the game worldwide.
The organisation has also witnessed remarkable milestones, including the expansion of the men’s World Cup from 13 teams in 1930 to 48 teams beginning from the 2026 edition to be jointly hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
FIFA’s journey has equally reflected football’s growing influence beyond sport, with the game becoming a major tool for diplomacy, social inclusion, youth empowerment, and economic development across the world.
As FIFA celebrates 122 years of existence, attention is now focused on the future of the game, technological innovations, expanded competitions, women’s football growth, and the continued globalisation of football.
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UEFA has issued a lifetime ban to Petr Vlachovsky, a Czech women’s soccer coach who secretly filmed his players, the governing body announced on Tuesday.
Czech media reported that the coach was convicted in May 2025 and initially received a suspended one-year prison sentence and a five-year domestic coaching ban for filming FC Slovacko’s players in changing rooms, the youngest of whom was 17.
In a statement, UEFA’s Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body (CEDB) said it had decided to ban Vlachovsky “from exercising any football-related activity for life” following the appointment of an Ethics and Disciplinary Inspector to investigate allegations of potential misconduct.
“The CEDB further decided to request FIFA to extend the abovementioned ban on a worldwide level and to order the Football Association of the Czech Republic to revoke Mr Petr Vlachovsky’s coaching licence,” the statement added.
FC Slovacko did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Football players’ union FIFPRO welcomed the ban as well as UEFA’s request for world soccer governing body FIFA to impose an international ban on Vlachovsky.
“This outcome sends a strong and necessary message that abusive and inappropriate behaviour has no place in football and that safeguarding the well-being of players must remain a priority at every level of the game,” FIFPRO added in a statement.
Vlachovsky had also previously served as coach of the Czech women’s Under-19s team.
RELATED STORY: https://sportsvillagesquare.com/2026/04/08/outrage-as-male-coach-who-secretly-filmed-women-players-still-free-to-work-in-football/
-Reuters
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Southampton have been kicked out of the Championship playoff final after being found guilty of spying on semi-final opponents Middlesbrough, the English Football League said on Tuesday.
Middlesbrough, who lost 2-1 to Southampton on aggregate in the semi, have been reinstated and will face Hull City on Saturday in what is dubbed the world’s richest soccer match.
Promotion to the Premier League, even with an immediate relegation, is estimated to be worth in the region of 200 million pounds ($268.10 million) over three seasons.
Southampton, who admitted the charges, were also found guilty of filming training sessions involving Oxford United in December and Ipswich Town in April during the regular season.
They have also been deducted four points from the start of next season in England’s second tier.
“An Independent Disciplinary Commission has today expelled Southampton from the Championship play-offs after the club admitted multiple breaches of EFL regulations related to the unauthorised filming of other clubs’ training,” the EFL said.
“Southampton admitted breaches of Regulations requiring Clubs to act with the utmost good faith and prohibiting the observation of another Club’s training session within 72 hours of a scheduled match.
“The effect of today’s order is that Middlesbrough are reinstated into the 2026 play-offs and will proceed to the play-off final against Hull City. The final remains scheduled for Saturday 23 May, with the kick-off time to be confirmed.”
The EFL confirmed that Southampton could appeal against the decision and that “parties are working to try and resolve any appeal on Wednesday 20 May.
“Subject to the outcome, it could result in a further change to Saturday’s fixture,” the statement said.
‘BORO CALLED FOR SOUTHAMPTON EXPULSION
Middlesbrough had called for Southampton’s expulsion after having a training session at their Rockliffe Park site filmed 48 hours ahead of the first leg of their playoff semi-final with Southampton which ended 0-0.
The north-east club said they welcomed the decision.
“We believe this sends out a clear message for the future of our game regarding sporting integrity and conduct,” the north Middlesbrough said in a statement.
“As a club, we are now focused on our game against Hull City at Wembley on Saturday.”
Southampton were relegated from the Premier League last season and were struggling in the early part of this campaign until a storming finish in which they went unbeaten in 19 league games to finish fourth and enter the playoffs.
The south-coast club are the first to fall foul of the Football League’s regulation 127 — brought in after Leeds United were found guilty of spying on Derby County seven years ago, an offence for which they were fined 200,000 pounds.
-Reuters
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