Trailblazer | Part 14 | Freja Holm’s Japanese Challenge

After wrapping up consecutive Serie A successes, including an invincible campaign in 2036, Freja Holm resigned as manager of Fiorentina and went in search of a new challenge. Upon resigning, very few opportunities were available, but Holm applied for a vacancy in Japan. And she was quickly given the chance to move to a new continent.

Who Are Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies?

Urawa Reds Diamonds Ladies, also known as Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Urawa Reds Ladies, Urawa Reddo Daiyamonzu Redīsu and 浦和レッドダイヤモンズ・レディース, is a professional women’s football club based in the city of Saitama in the Saitama Prefecture. The club was founded in 1998 and started out in the lower tiers of Japanese football before joining the Women’s Empowerment League’s inaugural season in 2021.

Urawa Reds finished 2nd that season, won their maiden Japanese title the following campaign and defended the title in 2024. Urawa also became champions of Asia in 2023, winning the AFC Women’s Champions League. Those titles remain their only major honours, with Urawa finishing 2nd or 3rd in every season of this save. Last season, the club finished 3rd in WE League, but manager Yuki Mori, who’d been in charge since March 2025, retired in May.

Urawa play at the 21,481-capacity Urawa Komaba Stadium, which was built in 1967 and is supported by great training facilities and youth facilities, excellent youth recruitment and good academy coaching. Unsurprisingly, the club’s finances aren’t great, with just £50k in the bank, no transfer budget and only £850 spare in the £20k wage budget.

Better news was on the player front, with the star player being homegrown goalkeeper Reina Kawafune, along with midfielder Yuna Takahashi, defender Yukina Sakabe, Argentinian striker Kishi Nunez, midfielder Hina Hirakawa, Danish left back Andrea Termansen, right back Nana Kashimura and centre back Yoshino Hasuwa. They also had plenty of potential in the youth side, including striker Yuzuho Oga, winger Hazuki Teshirogi and centre back Mayu Dominic.

Having assessed the players available, Holm opted for a 4-2-4 approach that aimed to be fairly aggressive when they had the ball and dropped into a 4-3-3 out of possession.

Getting Started In Japan

The bookies have Urawa Reds as second favourites to win the 12-club SOMPO WE League with 14/1 title odds. Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza, who’ve won the last 10 Japanese titles since Urawa in 2024, are huge 1/10 favourites, with outsiders being AC Nagano Parceiro and Nojima Stella Sagamihara (33/1) and INAC Kobe Leonessa and Cerezo Osaka Yanmar (50/1).

Holm’s Japanese adventure began at home to Mynavi Sendai, and started well as they bossed the early stages and scored as Termansen teed up a curling shot for left winger Chika Dominic. Takahashi laid on a second for Nunez before the left flank duo linked up again to secure a comfortable 3-0 success. Nunez’s wonderful hat trick inspired a 3-1 win at Nagano before a pretty dire 1-1 at home to Kobe and the absolute opposite of that in a ridiculous 8-3 win at JEF United Chiba. That teed up a first clash with perennial champions Tokyo Verdy, which started well with Dominic’s sublime 25-yard volley flying in off the underside of the bar. But they did nothing after that, the visitors grew into it and scored either side of halftime to win 3-1 thanks to some appalling defending.

Urawa recovered with the impressive Dominic scoring two more in a 3-1 win at RB Omiya Ardija and Brazilian striker Stefanie Souza following suit as they beat Cerezo Osaka 3-1 at home. An injury crisis hit, including attacker Mizuki Matsuo suffering Holm’s first ACL blow of her career, but Urawa continued to impress. That included Souza scoring twice in a 4-1 away thrashing of Sanfrecce Hiroshima, which left them 5 points clear of Tokyo Verdy having played 3 more games at the halfway mark of the season.

Attempting to Keep Pace with Tokyo

The second half of the league campaign was intertwined with the League Cup group and the Japanese Cup. Urawa cruised through the six-match round-robin League Cup group with 4 wins from 6, then lost 4-2 to Tokyo Verdy in the semis. They dominated Niigata 4-0 in the Japanese Cup 5th round, then Omiya 4-1 in the quarters to face Tokyo in the semis… and they again lost to them, 2-1 this time.

Weirdly, both halves of the league’s fixtures are drawn at random, which meant Urawa got to play Tokyo Verdy at home twice (and none away!). That second clash was in mid-January, and Holm adopted a more cautious approach for the crucial game. That didn’t work well as the visitors dominated the early stages and deservedly took the lead, but Urawa equalised in spectacular fashion as midfielder Naomoto hit a volley from fully 30 yards into the top corner. And they should have been in front as Souza somehow hit the post from five yards. Urawa just about edged the game, although Tokyo had the better chances, and they had to settle for a point.

Tokyo’s campaign wasn’t helped by having to play in the Champions League and the FIFA Champions Cup (World Club Cup). That saw them suffer a surprise 3-2 defeat at Niigata then draw 0-0 at Kobe, while Urawa struggled to a 2-2 at Omiya to take a 2-point lead into the final 5 games of the season.

Matchday 18 – Cerezo Osaka (3rd, home): Urawa got back on track in a tight game at home to Cerezo, with Sousa’s 3rd-minute header enough for a 1-0 win. The next day, Tokyo lost 2-1 at Nojimay to drop 5 points back.

Matchday 19 – Elfen Saitama (8th, away): Urawa were impressive next time out, with Zlatanovic laying on Souza and Nunez goals to inspire a 4-2 win. Tokyo bounced back with a 3-0 win over Sanfrecce.

Matchday 20 – Nojima Stella Sagamihara (3rd, home): Urawa could claim the title if results went their way, with Tokyo at Nagano. However, both title chasers scored inside the first 7 minutes, with Souza heading home Zlatanovic’s cross at the backpost for Urawa. Holm’s former Everton loanee Madison Perry scored the visitors’ first shot, right back Kashimura scored a ridiculous 30-yarder to restore the lead and they conceded again. Urawa went into the break at 2-2, but Tokyo were surprisingly losing 3-2. Holm went all-out attack and Nunez had a goal disallowed, then hit the bar. But they finally got back in front as substitute Naomoto collected a clearance from a corner and crashed in a half volley off the underside of the bar.

That saw attention turn elsewhere, as Tokyo equalised after 88 minutes. But they couldn’t find the winner they needed to continue the title fight.

Urawa Reds Diamonds Ladies won the Japanese title for the first time in 11 years!

Urawa went on to win the title by 10 points, finishing on 57 points after 18 wins, 3 draws and just the 1 defeat, scoring a league-high 66 and conceding 27. Nunez was the top scorer with 21 goals and was the fourth-best player in the league with a 7.62 average rating, while Termansen and Dominic were tied sixth on 7 assists.

Japan Ticked Off The List

10 years into her adventure, Freja Holm added the Japanese title to the Italian league secured in Fiorentina. In truth, they got a little lucky that Tokyo’s fixture congestion caught up with them at the end of the season, but there was no doubting that Urawa had been exceptional in the league.

The front two of Nunez (28) and Souza (27) had been exceptional, combining for 55 goals and 8 assists. Naomoto was also superb with 10 goals and 4 assists, while new signing Zlatanovic topped the assists with 15 plus 8 goals and Dominic delivered 8 goals and 10 assists.

For context in the women’s game generally, there seems to be quite a big problem with club finances. Holm was constantly struggling with dwindling finances at Everton and Fiorentina and ended this campaign with just £50k in the bank, despite apparently having more income than expenditure over the season. However, she didn’t have to worry about that, as it was a case of one season and done, and Holm tendered her resignation a few days on from the title success.

Holm departs Urawa Reds after just 32 games, of which she won 24, drew 4 and lost 4 with a win ratio of 75%. Her teams scored 95 goals and conceded 44, going on to win her third major title and eighth competition in total.

Where would Freja Holm end up as she goes back on the job hunt after departing Urawa Reds? Join us on Friday to find out!