Norio Sasaki

Norio Sasaki

Personal information
Date of birth	24 May 1958 (1958-05-24) (age 53)
Place of birth	Yamagata Prefecture, Japan
Club information
Current club	Japan Women
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1989–1990	NTT Kanto	26	(2)
Teams managed
1997–1998	Omiya Ardija
2006–2007	Japan Women U20
2008–	Japan Women
Honours Gold 2010 Asian Games Football
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14 July 2011. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 14 July 2011

Norio Sasaki (佐々木 則夫, Sasaki Norio^?, born 24 May 1958 in Obanazawa, Yamagata) is the head coach of the Japan women's national football team and a former association football player. He served as coach of the women's U-20 team starting in 2006, and was named coach of the national team in 2008. He coached the team in the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, which upset host nation Germany and then Sweden to reach the tournament final, where they defeated the United States on penalty kicks to win their first FIFA Women's World Cup. ^[1]

Career

Sasaki studied at and played for Teikyo High School and Meiji University. At Teikyo, he won the national inter-high school competition as team captain. His high school club also advanced to the semi-final at the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament.

After graduating from Meiji, Sasaki started to work for Nippon Telegraph and Telephone and joined company club NTT Kanto Soccer Club. He was a midfielder/defender. He contributed to the club's promotion to Japan Soccer League Division 2 in 1986.

Sasaki retired from the game at the age of 33. He served as the head coach of Japan Football League side Omiya Ardija in 1998. Then, he took various positions at Omiya including the youth team head-coach and the head of development.

In 2006, Sasaki became the assistant coach of Japan women's national football team as well as the head coach of its U-22 team. In 2007, he was promoted to the head coach of Japan women's national football team, succeeding Koji Ohasi.

Under Sasaki's reign, Nadeshiko won the 2008 East Asian Football Championship and became the semi-finalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Sasaki and his team won the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup hosted by Germany, beating the U.S.A on penalty shoot-outs in the final. Nadeshiko became the 19th recipients of Japan's People's Honour Award for winning the World Cup.

References

1. ^ "なでしこジャパン（日本女子代表チーム）新監督に佐々木 則夫氏が就任！" (in Japanese). Japan Football Association (jfa.or.jp). 2007-12-07. http://www.jfa.or.jp/archive/women/daihyo/news/071207_03.html. Retrieved 13 July 2011.