After yet another tumultuous week in the football world, Japanese legend Yuki Nagasato has added her voice to the disrespect athletes face at the hands of footballing authorities.
Speaking just days after the chaos that rocked the French Football Federation which saw three high-profile players withdraw their themselves from national football duties, Nagasato took the opportunity to reveal her reasons for quitting national duties.
“I left the national team 7 years ago due to lack of respect from them. But I couldn’t talk about it at the time. But now is the time to act and speak louder!” Yuki Nagasato wrote on Twitter.
“In Japan if, as an athlete, say something critical, people often say ‘Just do your sport, bring results, don’t complain’. This is why many Japanese athletes don’t talk about things that should be better. In general, I do too. But I speak when things have to be said. This is for the people/things I want to protect,” she later tweeted.
“I don’t think if I write something on Twitter the world changes. But for me, it’s a step forward that people have the ability to know what they didn’t know. That’s why I’m tweeting in English and not Japanese. Thank you for all your support and love,” she added.
Nagasato has been detailing how, even after the victory of the World Cup in 2011, the Japanese federation (JFA) has failed to ride on the tide of winning the World Cup in order to improve the women’s national team.
The world has been witnessing turmoil unfold in recent months with Spain, Canada and France all joining the bandwagon.
