“His training style was a little too relaxed”
National coach has to leave twelve days after winning the title
April 2, 2026 – 10:23 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Nils Nielsen wins the continental championship with the Japanese women’s national team. A few days later he lost his job. The reason for the separation seems strange.
Just a few days after winning the title, Japan’s association surprisingly pulled the ripcord – and separated from national coach Nils Nielsen.
The 54-year-old only led the selection to triumph at the Asian Cup on March 21st. Japan beat hosts Australia 1-0 in the final in Sydney to claim their third title in the last four tournaments. Nevertheless, the association decided not to extend the Greenland native’s contract.
Association president Tsuneyasu Miyamoto said: “After thinking about winning major international tournaments and weighing various factors, we came to this decision.”
Nielsen has been in office since December 2024 and is the first foreign-born coach of the Japanese women. At the Asian Cup, the team impressed with 29 goals and only one goal conceded. The coach himself praised his team after the success. She is “inspiring” and he is also “very happy to be able to work with such good players.”
There was initially no indication that there would be a separation shortly afterwards. But there were doubts within the association. Team director Norio Sasaki explained that with Nielsen, winning the title at next year’s World Cup in Brazil was not realistic.
“His training style was a little too relaxed, a little too lenient. A stricter approach and rigorous training is needed,” said Sasaki, who led Japan to the 2011 World Cup title. In addition, Nielsen is not tough enough for big titles. After discussions it became apparent “that he lacked passion”.
Japan has three away games in the USA in April. Michihisa Kano will take over on an interim basis. According to Sasaki, the next head coach is expected to come from Japan. Nielsen previously coached the national teams of Denmark and Switzerland and was also technical director of Manchester City’s women’s team.
