Leah Blayney named Assistant Coach of Japan WNT

Pro-Licensed coaches Nils Nielsen (left) and Leah Blayney (right) are the first-ever foreign coaches of the Japanese WNT.

The Japan Football Association has today announced the appointment of former international player and coach Leah Blayney as their Assistant Coach.

The Australian joins Nadeshiko Japan after five years as Head coach of the Young Matildas (U20) National Team, as well as serving as Technical Director of the Future Matildas programme, which was responsible for providing enhanced support to Australia’s most-talented prospects. Leah led the Young Matildas to qualify for back-to-back FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cups, a feat which saw the Pro-License coach named a finalist for the Asian Football Confederation AFC 2024 Women’s Coach of the Year award. Most recently, she acted as the Assistant coach for the Matildas Senior Women’s National Team in the final camps of 2024, which saw the team achieve a landmark victory over Germany.

During her playing career, the former midfielder earned 16 caps for the Matildas and played professionally in the USA, Australia and Europe.

At Japan, Leah will join the staff of Nils Nielsen, contributing to preparations for the Australia-hosted 2026 Asian Cup. The two are the first foreign coaches in the history of Nadeshiko Japan and will work with a group of players that reached the quarter-finals at both the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup and 2024 Olympics.

Leah will firstly spend time meeting key figures in Japan, before spending time in Europe observing the players with their Club teams, before travelling to the USA for the first fixtures with Japan at the SheBelieves Cup.