Prosecutors are likely to drop a sexual assault case against soccer midfielder Junya Ito, who had been accused of having sex with two women who were too drunk to give consent in June 2023 at an Osaka hotel.
Osaka police, who turned over the case to prosecutors on Tuesday, have raised suspicions that the two women who filed a criminal complaint against Ito had done so based on false or incorrect accounts, sources said.
In January, the two women filed the complaint with the police alleging that Ito, 31, who plays for the French club Stade de Reims, sexually assaulted them after getting them drunk and that they were unable to resist. Ito, meanwhile, filed a separate criminal complaint stressing the sexual acts were consensual and that he had evidence to prove the accusations were false.
Ito, who married in 2021, rose to fame during the 2022 FIFA World Cup. He left Japan's national team in February after Daily Shincho reported on the sexual assault allegations in January.