The 9th Football conference was held at the Tokyo Sight for three days from 10 January to 12 January. In this biennial conference, JFA’s licensed coaches gather together to learn trends in the world football and each country’s new approach. The coaches also share information on JFA’s activities, so that they can discuss the development of players. The 9th conference was held under the theme of ‘making real changes to our daily lives’ and the lecture based on the ‘2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Technical Study' was given to approximately 1000 licensed coaches.

On the first day, Gèrard Houllier, the head of the FIFA Technical Study Group (TSG), and TSG Kimura Kokichi from the Japan Football Association made a presentation about the analysis of the Brazil Cup. Then the participants watched an hour-long interview video of Alberto Zaccheroni, the former head coach of the Japan National Team, under the theme of ‘the preparation and game of the Japan National Team’. After the video session, Zaccheroni gave a message directly to the Japanese coaches via an international call.

The schedule was packed from 9:00 to 19:00 on the second day. In the morning, Miguel Herrera, the head coach of the Mexico national football team, and Lars Isecke from German Football Association gave presentations to share the each national team’s preparations and tactics for the World Cup. In the afternoon, Miyamoto Tsuneyasu, who was the first Japanese to join the FIFA TSG, along with guests from FIFA and abroad, participated in a forum about ‘supporting the national team’s activity’

Then both Hasegawa Kenta, the head coach of Gamba Osaka, and Sorimachi Yasuharu, the head coach of Matsumoto Yamaga Football Club, from the J. League, as well as Kamikawa Toru, the Chairman of Referee's Committee of JFA, and Nishimura Yuichi, who refereed the match in the World Cup Brazil join the session. They discussed about how to sustain high quality in everyday practice or in the matches, bearing the cooperation with the referees in mind. After the discussion, the participants held section meetings in smaller group about the development, the medical, the goalkeeping, or the futsal.

On the last day of the course, Andy Roxburgh gave a presentation ‘Coaching for success – post-World Cup 2014’ with some interview videos of the world’s top players.

The head coaches of the generations from U-12 to U-18, including Suzuki Masakazu, the former head coach of the U-19 Japan National Team, and Yoshitake Hirofumi, the former head coach of the U-16 Japan National Team, took the rostrum in turn and hosted a forum about how to close the gap between Japan and the world.

In the end, Yamaguchi Takafumi, JFA Technical Director, told the participants: ‘I’ve been saying that we need to ‘bring our everyday activities up to the world standard’, so let’s ‘make real changes to our daily lives’ to distil the three-day programme.

Participants’ comment

Participant (female), C class coach
‘The cooperation with the referees’ on the second day was one of the most beneficial sessions for me. The world standard is to sacrifice yourself in order to get the ball quicker than the opponent, but not to play expecting the referee’s whistle. The head coach Sorimachi said: ‘if you try not to stop the play in everyday practices or games, one tends to be able to keep playing even falling over in the actual matches’ I’d like bear that in mind in my coaching, so that the players can consciously play in that way from childhood. I’d also like to know the activity for women’s football in other countries. It was a very fulfilling course.

Participant (male), B class coach
I found ‘the preparation and game of Germany’, about the World Cup-winning German national team, was interesting. Their long-term preparation was very impressive. What the winner pursued was a standard that was unforgettable. I learned again that improving the developing generation is vital. I think the presentations were easy to understand.

Participant (male), A class coach
The coach forum ‘supporting the national team’s activities’ was really interesting. I learned how the world thinks of Japan and what we’re supposed to improve in the comments from Herrera, the head coach of Mexico national team, Lars ISECKE from German Football Association, and Miyamoto Tsuneyasu, not to mention Andy Roxburgh. It was very productive. I’d like to participate in this course again.