Nils Herbert Kromann Nielsen (born 3 November 1971) is a Greenlandic-Danish

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 Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

he is the currently head coach of the Japan women's national team. He has served as director of football for

Manchester City W.F.C. Manchester City Women's Football Club (formerly ''Manchester City Ladies F.C.'') is an English Women's association football, women's football club based in Manchester who play in the Women's Super League. It is affiliated with Manchester City F ...

since 4 May 2023. He is the first person appointed to the role. Nielsen is best known for his tenure with the

Denmark women's national football team The Denmark women's national football team () represents Denmark and Greenland in international Women's association football, women's football. The team is governed by the Danish Football Association (DBU) and competes as a member of UEFA in var ...

from 2013 to 2017. He led the Danes to a runners-up finish at the

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 The 2017 UEFA European Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2017, was the 12th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football championship organised by UEFA for the ...

. Despite departing the team shortly after, Nielsen received acclaim for his work and finished runner-up in the 2017 The Best FIFA Women's Coach award. He spent most of 2018 as the assistant manager of the China women's national under-20 football team, taking them to the

2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its i ...

. He was also manager of the

Switzerland women's national football team The Switzerland women's national football team represents Switzerland in international Women's association football, women's football. Playing their first match in 1972, Switzerland did not enter their first major tournament until 2015 FIFA Wom ...

from 2018 to 2022. On 12 December 2024, Nielsen was appointed as the new coach of the

Japan women's national football team The , commonly known as Yamato nadeshiko, Nadeshiko Japan (なでしこジャパン), represents Japan in women's association football and is run by the Japan Football Association (JFA). One of the two countries to win every FIFA competition an ...

Biography

Both of Nielsen's parents were teachers, and as it was his father's wish to live and work in

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

, Nielsen was born there. During his first years, he lived in a village of 25 inhabitants. When he was five, his parents separated, and with his mother he moved back to Denmark while his father and his brother stayed in

Maniitsoq Maniitsoq () or Sukkertoppen is a town on Maniitsoq Island, western Greenland located in the Qeqqata municipality. With 2,534 inhabitants , it is the sixth-largest town in Greenland. History Archaeological finds indicate that the area ha ...

. Born with a serious back problem, his doctor forbade him to play soccer. To compensate for his weakness, he chose large amounts of muscular strength exercises, and played soccer anyway. During a game, he fell onto the side fence, and broke a vertebra. With great luck, he avoided a

paraplegia Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neura ...

. After that accident, he stopped playing, and later chose a career as a trainer and studied

sports psychology Sport psychology is defined as the study of the psychological basis, processes, and effects of sport. One definition of sport sees it as "any physical activity for the purposes of competition, recreation, education or health". Sport psychology i ...

References

External links

Dansk Boldspil Union (DBU)
1971 births Living people Danish football managers Danish expatriate football managers Denmark women's national football team managers Switzerland women's national football team managers Football people in Greenland 20th-century Greenlandic people 21st-century Greenlandic people UEFA Women's Euro 2022 managers Expatriate football managers in Switzerland People from Nuuk Greenlandic sports coaches Danish expatriate sportspeople in China Danish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland People from Ærø Municipality Sportspeople from the Region of Southern Denmark Manchester City W.F.C. non-playing staff {{Denmark-footy-bio-stub