Keisuke Honda

Keisuke Honda is a retired Japanese professional footballer who represented Japan at three FIFA World Cups (2010, 2014, 2018), earning 98 international caps. After retiring from club football, he became general manager of the Cambodian national football team and later founded his own football club in Cambodia, establishing himself as one of Asia's most influential football executives.

Honda has been a vocal presence during the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification cycle. When he publicly stated on X that he personally wanted Iran to participate in the tournament, a US advertising deal he had secured was immediately put on hold, with the unnamed company offering no public explanation. Honda confirmed the link between his post and the decision himself .

The episode crystallises a tension facing athletes who cross into executive and media roles: geopolitical speech carries commercial consequences that playing careers rarely did. Honda's willingness to voice support for Iranian participation, at a moment when the Safe Passage to the World Cup Act was reshaping access debates, demonstrates the scrutiny that now follows prominent football figures into their post-playing public lives.