2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup: Who are the coaches of the 12 participating teams?

The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup is ready to rumble from January 20, 2022. This will be the 20th edition of the quadrennial international football tournament in Asia. The competition has been expanded to 12 teams this time which would see more teams competing for the Asian title.

The championship will also act as the final stage of Asian qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Five teams will qualify for the main event directly while two of them will progress to the inter-confederation play-offs. 

Japan are the defending champions of the Women's Asian Cup, having won it in 2018. However, China and Australia will be looking to dethrone the Nadeshiko. India have qualified by virtue of being the host nation. Mumbai's Football Arena, Navi Mumbai's D.Y.Patil Stadium and Pune's Balewadi Stadium would host all the games of the competition.

Let us take a look at the head coaches of each of the 12 participating teams.

India

Thomas Dennerby

The Swedish manager took over the reins of the Indian women's national team in August 2021. He has previously managed the Swedish and the Nigerian national team.

China

Shui Qingxia

The 54-year-old former Olympic silver medallist was roped in as the head coach of the Chinese women's national team in November 2021. She had previously coached the national women's football youth team and Shanghai women's football team. In 2015 she was voted best coach of the Women's Super League in China and in 2017, she won the best coach of the women's football championship.

*She is yet to make her debut with the Chinese national team in an official match.

Chinese Taipei

Kazuo Echigo

The Japanese coach has been with the Chinese Taipei team since January 2019. He had previously managed Japan’s Vegalta Sendai club.

Iran

Maryam Irandoost

The former Iran international took charge of the women's national team in May 2021. This is her second coming as she had previously managed the team in 2010-12.

Australia

Tony Gustavsson

The Swedish manager joined the Australian national team in September 2020. She guided the Matildas to their best-ever finish in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics by finishing fourth. She had previously worked as an assistant coach with the United States' team.

Indonesia

Rudy Eka Priyambada

The 39-year-old manager was brought in at the helm of affairs in January 2021. He has a wealth of experience as he has managed various clubs in Australia, Bahrain, and Bali.

Philippines

Alen Stajcic

The Australian was appointed as the manager of the Philippines women's team in October 2021. He had managed Sydney FC for six years from 2008-2014. During this tenure, he won twice the Women's League Coach of the Year (2010-11, 2013-14) and was even inducted into Sydney FC's Hall of Fame in 2015. Stajcic then went on to lead the Australian women's team with whom he won the Tournament of Nations 2017 and also guided the Matildas to rank four in FIFA, their best to date.

*He is yet to make his debut with the Philippines team in an official match.

Thailand

Miyo Okamoto

Okamoto became the head coach of the Thailand women's national team in January 2021. She aims to qualify for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup by putting up a strong show in the Asian Cup.

Japan

Futoshi Ikeda

Ikeda was appointed as the manager of the Japan women's national team in October 2021 after Asako Takakura put down his papers following a quarterfinal exit at the Tokyo Olympics. Ikeda had previously managed the U-17 and the U-20 national teams respectively.

Myanmar

Tin Myint Aung

Aung was named as the head coach of the Myanmar team in May 2020. However, he was acting as the interim manager before that and even led the team in the pre-Olympic qualifiers. This will be his second stint as the manager of the national team as he had previously worked with the senior team in 2008.

South Korea

Colin Bell

The British manager has been working with the South Korea team since October 2019. The 60-year-old is vastly experienced and has managed a host of clubs and the Irish women's national team. In his very first tournament with the Korea Republic, he guided them to a runners-up finish in the EAFF E-1 Women's Football Championship.

Vietnam

Mai Duc Chung

Mai Duc Chung has been with the team since August 2017. He is one of the longest-serving managers of the Vietnam national team. Under his guidance, the Golden Star Girls have won a couple of international honours like the South East Asian Games and the AFF Women's Championship.

More news about the WAC22 on the-afc.com