The FIFA futsal coaching sessions were held from Tuesday 26 August to Saturday 30 August at Lake Arena Hakone and Hotel Hakone Powell in Kanagawa. Miguel Rodrigo, the head coach of the Futsal Japan National Team, attended as a FIFA instructor and the 24 participants, who were chosen from F.LEAGUE club instructors or JFA futsal instructors, attended the lectures and practice lessons.

There were many coaches from the F.LEAGUE’s top teams and JFA futsal instructors with qualifications higher than Class B. So even though the sessions were very technical and high-level, the participants had a detailed understanding and held enthusiastic discussions everyday.
During the breaks or meals, they also shared the situations at their respective clubs and naturally started to discuss about future vision of Japanese futsal. They were literally ‘up to their neck in futsal’ for five days.

Instructor Comment

Miguel RODRIGO, FIFA instructor (Head coach of the Futsal Japan National Team)
I believe that we shared a great experience among the top-level instructors in Japan. In particular, exchanging opinions about futsal training methods and sharing our vision for the future of Japanese futsal were the most significant outcomes.
The participants have built strong bonds during these five days by living under the same roof. After finishing these sessions, I felt strongly that we needed to host similar sessions for them annually. Having meaningful experiences as an individual or as a member of a group will help to improve Japanese futsal in the future.

Comments From Participants

ITO Masanori（Vasagey Oita）
I’m grateful that I got an opportunity to learn futsal deeply. I’ve been involved in F.LEAGUE since its very first year. It’s the eighth year this year and both F.LEAGUE and Japanese futsal have improved a lot. Through these sessions I realised that we have some serious work to do in order to improve F.LEAGUE and Japanese futsal even more. I’d like to perform to the best of my ability to motivate the league and the industry, which many people have supported until now.

YONEKAWA Masao (Bardral Urayasu)
I’m honoured to have participated in the very first futsal coaching sessions in Japan. I took over as head coach of a F.LEAGUE club team this year. As someone in a position to improve Japanese futsal, at this training session I was able to establish my personal standards. I’ll not only bring what I learned back to my team, but also pass it on to as many instructors and players as possible.

ONODERA Takahiko（Espolada Hokkaido）
It was a really great opportunity that the coaching staff of F.LEAGUE gathered altogether discussing the future vision for Japanese futsal and communicated with the JFA futsal instructors, not to mention learning more about futsal. I’d like to apply what I learned in practical coaching and spread it in my region. I’m very honoured to attend such a valuable session. I appreciate that.

WAKAYAMA Shintaro（Nagoya Oceans）
I’m really grateful that I had the opportunity to participate in these sessions.
Through these five days I learned a lot with other F.LEAGUE coaches and realised again that I must make a strong contribution to improving Japanese futsal. I also feel a great responsibility. I’d like to share what I leaned with others who are involved in futsal.