, 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, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

manager and former player who currently coaches for Shanghai Shengli. 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. Coaching career Takemoto was born in Aichi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshū ...

Club career

Takakura was born in Fukushima on 19 April 1968. In 1981, she joined FC Jinnan. In 1985, she moved to Yomiuri Beleza. The club won L.League title for 4 years in a row (

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

–

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

). She was selected MVP awards in

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

1993 season The General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its calendar advanced 24 hours to th ...

. She was also selected Best Eleven 7 times (

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

). In 1999, her husband

moved to

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional association football, 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 home stadium is Panasonic Stadium Suita. They form a ...

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

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. 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. History The WPSL is the longest-running active women's soccer league as it enters its 25th season in 2023. The WPSL is also the largest women ...

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 L.League.

International career

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

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. 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 en ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, 1999 AFC Championship,

and

1994 Asian Games The 1994 Asian Games (), also known as the XII Asiad and the 12th Asian Games () or simply Hiroshima 1994 (), were held from October 2 to 16, 1994, in Hiroshima, Japan. It was the first Asian Games in history to be hosted in a non-capital city. Th ...

. 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
/ref>

Managerial career

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

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

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 borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

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

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

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.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Takakura goal.''

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 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 for 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 20th-century Japanese sportswomen Asian Games silver medalists in football