Recently Japan won the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup. It’s obvious Japan has a strong women’s program with the Japan women winning the overall World Cup back in 2011.
What is remarkable is the record crowd sizes attending the U-17 this past month in Costa Rica. FIFA reports “the tournament set new records, with the aggregate crowd of 268,896 & average match crowd of 8,403, both the highest in the competition’s history.” Read the article here.
“I was told I was the first Japanese female coach for a national team. I think I would like to be a role-model for other females to become coaches not because I am a woman, but because I give my heart and soul to my players to put into them all what I have and make them better players. My wish is to be only a small part towards the development of women’s football in the future.”
Asako Takemoto Takakura, Japan coach. Read a tournament recap, here.
