The Japan Football Association announced that Hiroshi Nanami and Ryoichi Maeda, who were active in the national team, will be appointed as new coaches to support Hajime Moriyasu.
This was announced by Koji Sorimachi, chairman of the technical committee, after the technical committee of the Japan Football Association held on the 17th.
According to that, it was agreed to contract Mr. Nanami and Mr. Maeda as new coaches to support the Japanese national team coach Moriyasu, who has decided to continue.
Mr. Nanami is 50 years old.
During his active career, he was a midfielder and belonged to Jubilo Iwata and Venice of the Italian first division league, and was mainly active as a game maker with a variety of kicks with his left foot.
He has played 67 games for the Japanese national team, including the 1998 World Cup in France, Japan's first appearance.
After his retirement, he coached Jubilo Iwata and Matsumoto Yamaga.
Maeda is 41 years old.
He has played for Jubilo Iwata, FC Tokyo and others, and has been the top scorer in J1 twice as a decisive striker.
He has scored 154 goals in J1 and 10 goals in 33 matches for the Japanese national team.
Regarding the appointment of the two coaches, Technical Committee Chairman Sorimachi said, "Mr. Nanami leads a J-League club and has a wealth of experience in the field. He will definitely have a positive impact. Mr. Maeda has done a very good job as an attacker. So, I want you to return it," he said with a sense of expectation.
Mr. Nanami and Mr. Maeda will be involved in coaching the team for the first warm-up game after the Qatar tournament to be held in Tokyo and Osaka in March this year.