Japan axes coach 12 days after profitable Girls’s Asian Cup

Japan ladies’s nationwide soccer staff head coach Nils Nielsen walks previous the trophy at the start of the press convention following Japan’s victory within the AFC Girls’s Asian Cup Australia 2026 soccer event, in Tokyo on March 23, 2026. (Picture by Kazuhiro NOGI / AFP)

Japan abruptly axed Nils Nielsen as coach on Thursday simply 12 days after taking them to Girls’s Asian Cup glory, with soccer chiefs accusing him of being “lax” and “missing ardour”.

Greenlander Nielsen led a rampant Japan to their third Asian title in 4 tournaments, beating hosts Australia 1-0 within the ultimate in Sydney on March 21.

READ: Japan assured of taking down Filipinas at Girls’s Asian Cup

The 54-year-old had been within the job since December 2024 and was the primary foreign-born coach of the Japan ladies’s staff.

The Japan Soccer Affiliation (JFA) stated Nielsen’s contract expired after the Asian Cup and the board of administrators had determined to not supply him a brand new one.

“Serious about profitable main worldwide tournaments and weighing up numerous components, we got here to this conclusion,” stated JFA president Tsuneyasu Miyamoto.

Japan gained plaudits for its performances on the Asian Cup, the place it scored 29 objectives and conceded only one.

READ: Filipinas fall massive to Japan at Asian Cup, face Uzbeks in play-in

Nielsen described his staff as “inspirational” and stated he was “very fortunate to be working with gamers which can be that good”.

There was no indication on the time that he would quickly depart.

Girls’s nationwide staff director Norio Sasaki stated Japan couldn’t win subsequent yr’s World Cup in Brazil if Nielsen remained in cost.

“His teaching was a bit of too lax, a bit of too comfortable. A extra rigorous method and rigorous coaching is important,” stated Sasaki, who coached Japan to the World Cup crown in 2011.

Sasaki stated Nielsen had “a delicate character” and was not robust sufficient to win main international titles.

“From chatting with him about what he might do to take the staff to the subsequent stage, there was a way that he lacked ardour,” he stated.

Japan is scheduled to play three away friendlies towards the USA in April.

Michihisa Kano will take over as interim coach for the tour.

Sasaki stated that the subsequent full-time coach would possible be Japanese.

Nielsen beforehand coached Denmark and Switzerland’s ladies’s groups and served as technical director of Manchester Metropolis’s ladies’s aspect.