Japan have constantly pushed the boundaries in women’s football, whether it be with regular success in Asia or their ability to beat the biggest nations in the world. Nadeshiko won the Women’s World Cup in 2011 and reached another final in 2015, while more established countries fell by the wayside. Japan have not replicated that success but did win the Women’s Asian Cup this year under the guidance of Nils Nielsen, who has since been succeeded by Michihisa Kano, and most of the biggest stars play outside the country, with 24 contracted to Women’s Super League clubs alone.
Japan are typically discreet about the secrets behind their success, particularly the easy-on-the-eye style which has become a trademark of the men’s and women’s teams, but one of those secrets lies in the Japanese Football Association (JFA) creating the JFA Academy. There are three which take girls across the country of 123 million people: Fukushima, Sakai and Imabari. A fourth, Kumamoto Uki, is a boys’ academy only.
Fukushima was the first to open, in 2006, with Sakai following in 2012 and Imabari in 2015. Shota Mishio, an analyst for the national team when they conquered the world in 2011, recently coached in the Fukushima academy, which since the nuclear disaster that preceded their World Cup success by months has moved to Susono City. He offers an insight into how they are able not only to develop world-class individuals but to mould them into a successful unit for the national team.
The girls enter the academies at 13 and, other than in Fukushima, leave at 15. At the Paris Olympics a year later, it was seven, Mishio pointing to a “progression every tournament”. One of them, Manaka Hayashi, is one of the more recent success stories.
She graduated in 2022 and, after playing domestically for INAC Kobe, earned a move to the NWSL side Chicago Stars at the start of 2025. We here specifically work only on football as coaches, but we have our own original programme for things like English, languages in general, and even football-specific language for football players.” Hayashi says: “We would go to school from morning to evening and then come back to train around 4pm to 6pm. At high school age, we would go to school only 9am to 12pm and train more, so there is much more time for football as you get older.” Hayashi left the NWSL, where there is strong Japanese representation, for Juventus last month.
The group of Japan internationals in England includes Manchester City’s Yui Hasegawa and Chelsea’s summer acquisition Manaka Matsukubo. Some others want to become professional in Japan first.” Hayashi recalls stepping into the world of the JFA Academy, and how it provided more than a football upbringing. It’s a big life experience and you definitely learned how to communicate with other people, from different backgrounds and different ages.
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