After losing to Vietnam women's team, Thai football team says goodbye to Japanese coach

Japanese coach Futoshi Ikeda has been removed from the Thai women's team after poor results at the 2025 AFF Women's Championship.

Coach Futoshi Ikeda has not met expectations

The 2025 AFF Women's Cup ended in disappointment for Thailand's women's football team. Considered a strong candidate for the championship, the team from the Golden Temple only finished in fourth place after losing to the Vietnamese women's team in the third-place match. In this tournament, Thailand lost to Vietnam twice (in the final match of the group stage and the third-place match).

This result did not meet the expectations of the Football Association of Thailand (FAT) as well as fans, as Thai women's football is the leading team in the region.

Coach Futoshi Ikeda (left) leaves the Thai women's team after failure at the 2025 AFF Women's Cup

PHOTO: MINH TU

Coach Futoshi Ikeda was born in 1970, Japanese. He started his coaching career at the youth level, most notably when he led the Japanese U.20 women's team to win the U.20 Women's World Cup in 2018. This achievement helped Mr. Ikeda affirm his reputation in the international arena and become the first choice of the Japan Football Federation for the position of head coach of the Japanese women's team (2021-2024).

Mr. Ikeda is famous for his football philosophy that emphasizes discipline, ball control and cohesive play. However, when he came to Thai women's football in early 2025, Ikeda's tactical ideas have not yet shown their effectiveness. The Thai women's team has not been able to maintain stability, especially against familiar opponents in Southeast Asia such as Vietnam or Myanmar. Despite his impressive professional background, Ikeda has had difficulty adapting to the characteristics of Thai players. In addition, the fact that the Thai women's team is in a rejuvenation phase has also caused many difficulties for the Japanese coach.

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Replacement candidate revealed

According to Thai media, the most promising name to take over the "hot seat" of the country's women's team is Ms. Nuengrutai Srathongvian. Coach Nuengrutai Srathongvian is highly regarded for her understanding of the Southeast Asian football environment, experience in leading the team at the SEA Games and especially her ability to inspire the players. If she officially returns, she will be the one to lead the Thai women's team at the 2025 SEA Games with the goal of regaining the top position in the region against fierce competition from Vietnam, Myanmar and the Philippines.

Coach Nuengrutai Srathongvian (left) led the Thai U.19 women's team to win the Southeast Asian U.19 women's championship, after defeating the Vietnamese U.19 women's team in the final in June.

PHOTO: KHA HOA

In addition to coach Nuengrutai Srathongvian, FAT is also said to be considering a number of other foreign coaching options, but the top priority is still domestic personnel to ensure stability and understanding of the players. Changing coaches at the present time is considered a necessary step for the Thai women's team to quickly regain the trust of fans. The 2025 SEA Games is very close and the goal of Thai women's football is nothing other than the gold medal.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/sau-tran-thua-doi-tuyen-nu-viet-nam-bong-da-thai-lan-chia-tay-hlv-nhat-ban-185250822223047127.htm