Name of Coach : OKADA Takeshi
Born in 1956. Former national team defender. Was promoted from a team coach to head coach in 1997 during qualification for the following year’s World Cup in France and led the team to qualification. In the end, they had 3 losses at that tournament. Following that, in 1999, he was appointed as the 2nd division Consadore Sapporo head coach. In 2000 they won the J-2 league and were promoted to the J-League’s top division. Then in 2003 he helped Yokohama F Marinos to win back to back titles. From December 2007 he replaced Ivica Osim to return to being the Japanese national team head coach.
As of January,2008

With Kunishige Kamamoto, a world-class FW with a sharp instinct for goals, leading the team, Japan won the bronze medal in the 1968 Mexico Olympics, but they also felt the limitations of amateur football. When a professional league kicked off in 1993, Japanese football took a sudden and positive turn. Under the direction of Dutchman, Hans Ooft, the first national team head coach from abroad, Japan became champion of the 1992 Asia Cup held in Hiroshima. Japan's efforts to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup™ was crushed in the final round of the Asian preliminaries - an incident referred to as the "tragedy in Doha" - when Iraq tied the match during extra time, but four years later, they were standing on the pitch in France in the FIFA World Cup finals. Young players in their early 20s, such as Junichi Inamoto, Shinji Ono and Koji Nakata, became the force of the team that played in the 2002 competition, hosted on home ground, and Japan made their way through to the second round with a 2-win, 1-tie record against Belgium, Russia and Tunisia. With a line-up of high level players including Europe-based, Hidetoshi Nakata and Shunsuke Nakamura, it is only a matter of fact that they have qualified for their third straight FIFA World Cup and have consecutively won the Asia Cup title.
As of 2006




Name of Coach : SASAKI Norio
Born in 1958. Has experience with J-League team, Omiya Ardeja’s NTT Kantou Football division coach and as Omiya Ardeja’s coach. He worked as an agent then as Omiya’s head coach. Following that he worked in the promotions division and as a coach for their lower division teams. In January 2006 he became the women’s team coach and in 2007 added the role of U-19 coach. In October this team came second at the AFC U-19 championship. He was promoted to head coach of the national women’s team in December 2007.
As of January,2008

JFA President Saburo Kawabuchi declared, "Without the development of women's football, there is no development for Japanese football." The active development program of women's football is already paying off in specific terms. Japan shut out one of the favorites, DPR Korea, 3-0 in the Asian preliminaries and qualified for the Athens Olympics. In the final competition, they defeated top-class Sweden 1-0 to advance to the quarter-finals. Although they lost 1-2 to USA, they came so close to knocking out the would-be gold medalists. What was also impressive was that Japan had no yellow or red cards throughout the competition and was naturally presented with the FIFA Fair Play Award. Their performance moved the entire nation, and the squad is now widely known as "Nadeshiko Japan," a nickname selected July 7, 2004, from over 2700 possibilities sent in by supporters. Head coach Koji O-hashi, who has been directing the team since after the Athens Olympics, was once manager for Singapore and has extensive international experience. He has introduced a monthly development program and his expectations from the team are getting higher by the day. All the hard work is aimed at obtaining good results at the 20007 FIFA Women's World Cup™ and the 2008 Beijing Olympics and securing a place among the world's best.
As of 2006



