wf086: Nadeshiko Manager Renewal

Mr. Nils Nielsen. Courtesy from this site.

It’s true that under Manager Nils Nielsen, clear improvements have been achieved by the Nadeshiko in various aspects compared to the previous Manager’s tenure.

However, I believe the team should aim to be able to beat the top four national teams in women’s football (Spain, USA, Germany, England) on equal terms or better, and to consistently beat the top ten teams like France, Sweden, Brazil, Canada, and DPR Korea. The deadline should be the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2027.

Working backward from this objective, there were clearly serious shortcomings under the manager previous to Mr. Nielsen. Maybe JFA (and I) had hoped Mr. Nielsen would address these shortcomings fully, but it seems that wasn’t the case. I agree with the JFA assessment from this point of view.

Let’s take a look back at Mr. Nielsen’s record with the Nadeshiko. He defeated the USA in last year’s She Believes Cup. This is fine. However, he failed to win any of the four subsequent international friendly matches (defeated by Brazil twice in series and by Spain with no excuse). Furthermore, his failure to win the E1 Championship, and his subsequent failure to win two more international friendly matches (against Italy and Norway), raises serious questions about the team’s strength and its development pace.

I initially thought the team was being carefully nurtured under Mr. Nielsen, but in retrospect, the player selections were too much fixed despite that stated strategy.

Looking back, Mr. Nielsen was a person with some questionable qualities. He had the achievement of leading Denmark to the Euro 2017 final with P. Harder and others, which was superb, but his subsequent tenure as Switzerland’s national team manager was not so shining. After that, he became Manchester City’s Sporting Director, but his insufficient reinforcements caused City to run out of steam towards the end of the 2024-2025 season. In fact, under the new Sporting Director, City has been successful in making appropriate acquisitions of players as well as a manger.

Furthermore, one should consider that there was something behind Mr. Nielsen’s transition from a team manager to a sporting director besides his own wishes.

In addition, the unusual arrangement of having the Japanese national team manager far-remotely staying in Europe, rather than being permanently based in Japan, was concerning. It’s clear that remote coaching would hinder domestic player scouting and lead to a lack of understanding of the mentality of Japanese female players. Only a few WE League players were selected for the recent Asian Cup, indicating his lack of skill in developing WE League talent. The WE League players and American league players selected for friendly matches clearly struggled to integrate into the team’s tactics. Usually, integrating new players into the team is the manager’s responsibility.

As well known, the world of women’s football is constantly and rapidly evolving. It’s clear that past achievements alone are insufficient for coaching at the world’s top level. Unless, of course, there’s a constant willingness and passion to study and innovate own tactics and coaching methods.

From now on, the JFA should hire individuals who have continuously managed women’s football; someone like Andrée Jeglertz of Manchester City who has a successive carrier of 15 years, or those around 40 years old who have built up their experience as assistant coaches after retiring as female players, such as Sonia Bompastor and Renée Slegers. If a Japanese person is to be hired, he/she should at least be someone with a proven track record as a J-League/WE-League manager.

At the same time, the JFA should seriously reflect on its lack of foresight in selecting Mr. Nielsen ( and his interpreter). On the other hand, while there are various negative opinions regarding Mr. Norio Sasaki’s appointment as Sporting Director, I would like to view it positively. This is because the person definitely responsible for strengthening the Nadeshiko team has been clearly defined (possibly), and a separate person (Mr. Morimasa Imaizumi, Chairman of the Women’s Committee, who has an international carrier) has been designated to evaluate Mr. Sasaki (hopefully rigorously).

The contents of the related JFA Press Conference can be found here in Japanese.