Danish coach blamed for lacking passion nominated for prestigious award at Ballon d'Or

[p]The nomination follows his major success with the Japanese women's national team, whom he led to victory at the Asian Cup in the spring of 2026, before stepping down upon the expiration of his contract and taking up the role of technical director for the newly promoted Italian club [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/como-1907/CYpZwTUp/"]Como 1907[/a].[/p][embed guid="9c3b4d92-f54d-41af-b235-6a5f51e861ac" url="https://x.com/ballondor/status/2097267622626697614" social-type="twitter" /][p]The Japan Football Association (JFA) chose not to renew his contract after it expired following the end of the Asian Cup. National team director Norio Sasaki stated that Nielsen's coaching style was "a little too relaxed" and that he lacked the fierce passion needed to win the upcoming FIFA Women's World Cup next year.[/p][p]He has led the women’s national teams of Denmark, Switzerland and Japan, and has also held the role of Director of Football for Manchester City Women, where he worked across player recruitment and development for the women’s first team and academy pathway.[/p][p] [/p]