Kozo Tashima, honorary president of the Japan Football Association (JFA), will run for election to become president of FIFA, soccer's global governing body, next March.
Tashima, 68, will challenge incumbent Gianni Infantino, the controversial president who has led FIFA since 2016, and becomes the first serious alternative for next year's election.
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Former Switzerland national team player Ramon Vega also announced that he will stand for election, but it is unlikely he will secure enough initial support to be placed on the ballot, given that five FIFA member associations are required to back each candidate.
Tashima, a former national team player for Japan, as well as a coach, is also a member of the FIFA Council.
The deadline for candidates to come forward officially is November 18.
In unveiling his bid to the Japanese publication Sports Nippon, Tashima said: "I am grateful that I can make this announcement with the full support of the Japan Football Association.
"It’s not about winning or losing but about conveying to the world the honest, sound and upright attitude that Japanese football has built. What FIFA needs now are these values that we have protected. I have decided to run in order to make this appeal to the world.”
Infantino's leadership has been under fire in the past few months due to the FIFA Forward Enterprise (FFE), a plan revealed in July following the FIFA World Cup, through which Infantino sought to sell off stakes in the global governing body to private investors.
The international body's plans would have involved raising $4.2 billion by selling a stake in FFE – assuming a total valuation of $20 billion in the venture.
FIFA said this would go towards creating a new funding mechanism for its 211 member associations, called the FIFA Fast-Forward Programme (FFFP).
In the months that followed the plan being shelved, European soccer's governing body UEFA and its members have been at the forefront of calls for Infantino to resign, and for there to be a leadership change at the top of FIFA.
Following on from Tashima announcing his intention to run, the JFA president, Tsuneyasu Miyamoto, added: "This decision is a major challenge to contribute to the further development of world football by utilising that experience and knowledge, and at the same time, we believe it will be an opportunity to show the world the ideals and attitudes that Japanese football has cherished."
The 77th FIFA Congress, where the presidential election will be held, is set to take place in Rabat, Morocco, on March 18, and member associations from both UEFA and North and Central America's CONCACAF are expected to back an approved challenger to Infantino.
Bidding for a fourth term heading up FIFA, Infantino told the BBC Sport outlet in October that he expects to be backed by the "vast, vast majority" of world soccer.
He made these comments following a full endorsement by the Asian Football Confederation governing body.
