, also known as Asako Takakura-Takemoto or Asako Takemoto due to her marriage, is a Japanese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former player. She played for Japan national team. She is a former manager of the Japan national team. Her husband is former footballer

Kazuhiko Takemoto is a former Japanese football player and manager. His wife is former footballer Asako Takakura. He is the current manager of WE League club of Tokyo Verdy Beleza. Coaching career Takemoto was born in Aichi Prefecture on November 22, 1955. He s ...

Club career

Takakura was born in

Fukushima may refer to: Japan * Fukushima Prefecture, Japanese prefecture ** Fukushima, Fukushima, capital city of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan ***Fukushima University, national university in Japan *** Fukushima Station (Fukushima) in Fukushima, Fukushim ...

on 19 April 1968. In 1981, she joined FC Jinnan. In 1985, she moved to Yomiuri Beleza. The club won

L.League The , commonly known as the , is a semi-professional women's association football league in Japan. The Nadeshiko League consists of two divisions that correspond to the second and third levels of the Japanese women's football pyramid respective ...

title for 4 years in a row (

1990 File:1990 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1990 FIFA World Cup is played in Italy; The Human Genome Project is launched; Voyager I takes the famous Pale Blue Dot image- speaking on the fragility of Humankind, humanity on Earth, Astroph ...

–

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

). She was selected MVP awards in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

and

1993 season File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

. She was also selected Best Eleven 7 times ( 1989,

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

and

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

). In 1999, her husband

moved to

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Gamba'' comes from the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to st ...

. So, she moved to Matsushita Electric Panasonic Bambina (later ''Speranza FC Takatsuki'') based in

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of 2. ...

. In 2000, she moved to

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). T ...

club Silicon Valley Red Devils. In 2001, she returned to Speranza FC Takatsuki. End of 2004 season, she retired from playing career. She played 226 games in

International career

On 17 October 1984, when Takakura was 16 years old, she debuted for Japan national team against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. She played at

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. **Spain and Portugal ente ...

, 1989,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, 1999 AFC Championship,

and 1994 Asian Games. She was also a member of Japan for

, 1995 World Cup and

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

. She played 79 games and scored 29 goals for Japan until 1999.Japan Football Association
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Managerial career

Takakura started her coaching career as an assistant coach of the Japan U-17 national team at the

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and 2011 AFC U-16 Championships. As manager of the Japan U-17 team, she led the youth team to the title of the 2013 AFC U-16 Championship by winning over

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

in the final. Next year, she led to the title of the 2014 U-17 World Cup by winning over

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in the final. She repeated the achievement by mentoring the Japan U-20 national team to help them win the title of the 2015 AFC U-19 Championship, again by defeating

in the final. On 27 April 2016, Takakura was appointed as the manager of the Japan senior national team becoming the first female to hold the post. She was also appointed as manager of the Japan U-20 team and won 3rd place at 2016 U-20 World Cup. In 2018, she led to the title of 2018 Asian Cup. Takakura has been given the AFC Women's Coach Of The Year Award Six times; in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017 and 2018.

International statistics

International goals

References

External links

* * * * * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Takakura, Asako 1968 births Living people Wako University alumni Association football people from Fukushima Prefecture Japanese women's footballers Japan women's international footballers Nadeshiko League players Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza players Speranza Osaka-Takatsuki players Japanese women's football managers Japan women's national football team managers Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 1990 Asian Games Footballers at the 1994 Asian Games 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup players 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players Olympic footballers of Japan Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Women's association football midfielders Asian Games silver medalists for Japan Medalists at the 1990 Asian Games Medalists at the 1994 Asian Games 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup managers Female association football managers Nadeshiko League MVPs