Humble Japan ready to win hearts at Women's Asian CupThis photo taken on February 17, 2026 shows Japan's Greenland-born women's women's national football team head coach Nils Nielsen speaking in an interview with AFP at the national training center operated by JFA in Chiba. Japan is the only Asian country to have won the Women's World Cup, but it has only lifted the Asian Cup twice in 20 editions of the competition. Nielsen hopes that attitude will bring Japan success in Australia, where they reached the World Cup quarter-finals in 2023. Japan won the World Cup in 2011 and went close to adding more major honors in the years that followed. But it has not gone past the Last Eight of a World Cup or Olympics since 2015.

Source: Philippine Star February 25, 2026 05:29 UTC