Moving the Goalposts | The Greenlander aiming to turn Japan’s women’s team back into winners
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Nils Nielsen, the former Manchester City director of football, believes he can help country’s huge talent flourish as their first foreign manager. Flashback to July 2011 and the jubilant celebrations by Japan’s World Cup heroes as they hoist the trophy high into the Frankfurt night sky and you could easily have thought the Japanese women’s game was going to enjoy a period of sustained prosperity. However, despite history being made that summer evening, replicating that same degree of success has proved impossible for the Japanese FA.
![[Nils Nielsen (left) with the former Japan women’s national team manager Norio Sasaki in December.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/f4a6b60836cb556199cb6b1a5b8aa5804b2cf627/0_0_4000_2676/master/4000.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Now, though, there is hope of a new dawn. Enter Nils Nielsen, the former Manchester City women’s director of football and Denmark women’s coach, who has been charged with guiding the Nadeshiko back to the heights of 2011. The appointment serves as a landmark moment with the Greenlander becoming Japan’s first foreign manager.
![[Japan pose with their 2024 Under-20 women’s World Cup runner-up medals after losing the final to North Korea.]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6524666d692309b22cafd3dc1dcdfce14092b53f/0_0_5091_3408/master/5091.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
“It was some time after the summer when I first heard that the JFA might be open to hiring a foreign head coach,” says the 53-year-old. “At Manchester City we were done with the transfer market a little early and everything was ready to be pushed through so there was no need for me to stick around. I didn’t start looking for my next step until after the summer and I asked a Japanese agent if the rumours about the Japan position were true and it turns out they were.
“When I received the offer there was no doubt in my mind that this is what I wanted to do. During my time with Denmark we played Japan a lot in the Algarve Cup. That’s where I first met [the 2011 World Cup winning manager] Norio Sasaki. In women’s football he is a legend and the chance to work alongside an icon like that doesn’t come around every day.”.
