The Stadium
Name: National Stadium
Address: 10-2 Kasumigaokacho, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 160-0013, Japan
Opened: 1958
Last renovation: 1991
Capacity: 50339
Covered: 10%
Home teams: Japenese national teams, important club matches
Internet: http://www.naash.go.jp/kokuritu/index.html

National Stadium – a “Field of Dreams”
The 60,000-seat National Stadium arose from the ashes of the old Meiji Jingu Gaien Stadium in 1958 as part of a bid by Japan to realise its dream of hosting the Summer Olympic Games. The stadium, located in the heart of Tokyo, hosted the Asian Games in 1958 during the campaign to persuade the International Olympic Committee to award the Games to the Japanese capital. Thanks to the success of the Asian Games, Japan was awarded the 1964 Olympic Games.
The Olympics made a big impression on the world of Japanese sport, and football was no exception. The Japanese Olympic football team did well to reach the quarter-final in 1964 and went on to clinch the bronze medal four years later in Mexico.
The achievement of winning an Olympic medal at football did a lot to boost the domestic game, and the stadium served as the venue for the final of the Emperor’s Cup (the Japanese FA Cup), the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship and the FIFA U-17 World Cup 1993. From 1980-2004, the former version of the FIFA Club World Cup was held there annually, showcasing spectacular dramas and world-class performances by the champions of Europe and South America.
“WHERE IS THE VENUE?”
One of the more memorable contests was the 1985 Toyota Cup between Juventus and Argentinos Juniors. Juventus midfielder Michel Platini came close to scoring one of the game’s most beautiful goals ever in the 68th minute when he outwitted a defender by skilfully controlling the ball with his chest and his right foot before firing into the net. But the referee spotted an offside and the goal was disallowed.
The French star lay on the pitch, resting his head in his hands in disgust. Juventus went on to win 4-2 on penalties after a 2-2 draw and Platini was named “Man of the Match”. The picture of Platini looking forlorn not only highlighted his disappointment, but also drew attention to the state of the pitch at the National Stadium, which was worn and brown when it should have been lush and green.
Another year, a club official from one of the Toyota Cup finalists asked the organisers after training at the stadium: “So, where is the venue for tomorrow’s final?” Criticism from the Toyota Cup teams prompted the stadium officials to look into ways of keeping the grass green during the dry winter months.
“The Toyota Cup was a key turning point for us,” says Shigeru Watanabe, head of the National Stadium’s Sports Turf department, which is part of the National Agency for the Advancement of Sports and Health. The 49-year-old has put a lot of work into pitch improvements at the National Stadium. He and his senior colleagues eventually found a way of keeping the pitch in shape and, following the World Athletic Championships in 1991, they introduced a winter overseeding method using two types of grass seeds. The improvements in the condition of the pitch could be seen when the inaugural J.League match was played on 15 May 1993.
When Japan announced its venues for the co-hosted 2002 FIFA World Cup™, one of the most frequently asked questions was why the National Stadium was not on the list. Limited parking space and the noise that would affect neighbouring residential areas were cited as potential problems and Tokyo was not included as a venue for the FIFA World Cup™.
MANY DREAMS LEFT
Since 2005, however, the National Stadium — now ‘with a reduced capacity of 50,339 — has served as one of the venues for the FIFA Club World Cup and is preparing for that role again in December. “These matches are when our work is evaluated,” Watanabe said. “Since our work appears on television to viewers across the country and the world, it encourages us in our efforts.”
As several stadiums were built around the country ahead of the 2002 FIFA World Cup™, the National Stadium no longer has to worry about overuse as it did before. Last year, the stadium hosted 45 football matches — a sharp decline from a decade earlier — and 37 track-and-field events, in addition to three rugby union matches. A limited number of music concerts are also staged at the stadium, which features a museum, library and gym within its walls. “Because we host a lot fewer matches these days, we cannot make any excuses for the condition of the pitch,” noted Watanabe. “We have to offer the best conditions at all times.” The National Stadium enjoys a high profile in Japan and beyond and continues to be regarded as the “Field of Dreams” for many footballers. Even at 50, it still has many dreams left to fulfil.

Mahjoub: “The history does not belong to me alone.”
Your archive of African football must be the only one of its kind worldwide. What prompted you to put this collection together?
Faouzi Mahjoub: I love football and I’m passionate about the history of the sport. In the early 1960s, I realised that, through my work as an African football correspondent, it was my duty not only to report on African football but also to document it. Who else was as well placed to do so as me?
Why did you hand over your archive to FIFA ?
Mahjoub: The history does not belong to me alone, and it is extremely important to me that my collection is available to all those with an interest in African football. FIFA’s documentation centre undoubtedly has the necessary expertise and resources to look after the archive.
So what are you personally expecting of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™?
Mahjoub: I hope that South Africa will show its best side and stage an exceptional tournament on behalf of the entire African continent. On which note, it is essential to bear in mind that the 2010 World Cup belongs to a whole continent. It would be a grave mistake to view it solely as a black African tournament.
Will the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ lend fresh impetus to football in Africa?
Mahjoub: Africa has long been producing great players, but seldom great national teams. Hopefully, the World Cup will lead to a strengthening of the national leagues and also provide a wider platform that will help African teams to flourish. It is vital to invest in infrastructure, but it is also key to invest in the training of coaches, training staff and technical directors. We still have a lot to do in this respect.

By acquiring the world’s most comprehensive archive on the history of African football, FIFA’s documentation centre is making a valuable contribution to the understanding and promotion of African football.
There was great joy when the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ was awarded to South Africa in May 2004. Despite the fact that all the matches are being held in South Africa, 2010 will be viewed as a tournament for the entire African continent, as reflected in the official slogan “KE NAKO. Celebrate Africa’s Humanity.”
But little is known of the history of football in Africa. Of course, great African players like Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o and Michael Essien play for major European clubs and attract attention because they play in leading tournaments such as the FIFA World Cup™, the Africa Cup of Nations or the UEFA Champions League. But where do these exceptionally talented players come from? Where did they learn their footballing ABC? For which clubs and in which leagues in their homelands did they play when they were younger?
It is extremely difficult to track down answers to these questions. The shortage and neglected state of archives in many African countries and the failure to fully realise the importance of chronicling the game mean that African football is not nearly as well documented as it deserves to be. South Africa’s successful bid for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™ therefore provided the stimulus to fill this information gap. But how?
MAHJOUB’S ARCHIVE
Faouzi Mahjoub is a long-time observer and aficionado of African football. In the 1960s, the Tunisian journalist, based in Paris, worked for several publications such as the renowned French publication Miroir du Football and the magazines JeuneAfrique and Ajrique Asie. As a media affairs adviser to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) from 1988 to 2004 and a member of FIFA’s Media Committee from 1990 to 2006, the 66-year-old has always enjoyed a close relationship with football’s leading institutions.
Mahjoub was not only one of the first journalists to report on football in Africa, but also one of the few to have recognised the need to keep records for posterity. Over the years in his Paris apartment, Mahjoub has put together a painstakingly detailed and comprehensive archive of the history of African football that is surely unparalleled in the world of sports documentation.
This archive is a stroke of luck for FIFA, especially as Mahjoub announced in 2006 that he was prepared to hand over his archive, which comprises some 7,000 documents and more than 2,000 photos, to FIFA’s documentation centre. “The history does not belong to me, and FIFA is undoubtedly the best institution in the world of football to give my collection for safekeeping,” says Mahjoub. For two years, Mahjoub has been helping FIFA compile the archive, integrate it into FIFA’s documentation centre, and make it accessible to interested parties.
Mahjoub’s archives consist mainly of documents from national and continental sports institutions as well as the leading print publications that began appearing in France and Africa in the 1960s. These provide a treasure trove of information on national and continental competitions, tournaments, teams and leading lights of African football. Another integral part of the collection, invaluable from a historical point of view, is the photogtaphs Mahjoub took himself on his many journeys throughout Africa as a correspondent for various publications. These photos have filled a major gap in FIFA’s picture archive.
DVD FOR CAF’S ANNIVERSARY
The investment of transporting Mahjoub’s archive from Paris to Zurich paid offsoon after its arrival when FIFA chose to present CAF, on the occasion of its 50th anniversary (the confederation was established in Khartoum on 7 February 1957), with a DVD providing a compact and clearly structured chronicle of the entire history of African football. For this, a large part of Mahjoub’s archives had to be indexed, selected, classified, scanned and compiled into an attractive whole.
There was such an abundance of information that the final product was burned onto five DVDs. The result of the efforts is impressive. The DVDs feature dossiers on all 53 CAF associations and their correspondence with FIFA, an in-depth presentation of CAF since its foundation, containing written, audio and visual accounts, portraits of the greatest players that Africa has produced, from Larbi Ben Barek to Samuel Eto’o, and finally archives recounting Pele’s visits to Africa. They also feature all the African articles from France Football (1970-1977) Miroir du Football (1962-1976), and a complete set of statistics from the FIFA database containing information on all the international matches contested by African national teams since their affiliation to FIFA. What is more, there is also a detailed history of the Africa Cup of Nations (1957-2008) and African participation in the FIFA World Cup™ (1934-2006), with the DVD showing all the goals scored by African teams since the 1970 FIFA World Cup™.