Yusuke Adachi is more than just an experienced football coach. Far from it.

The Elite Development Coach of The Football Association of Hong Kong, China (HKFA) has a vast experience in youth football development, is well-connected within the Asian football circuit and regular gives out lectures to elite AFC coaches. Yet more importantly, he is determined to use football as a tool to influence people, make people smile, enable them to achieve bigger and better things in life.  

Despite only joining the HKFA recently, the former youth coach of J-League sides Cerezo Osaka and Shonan Bellmare is not shy about offering his insights on developing a successful youth program for Hong Kong football. “We must develop a football style and youth program that suit Hong Kong, not copying Japan, Korea, England nor Spain. We are Asians and cannot play physically as per the western sides,” the Japanese coach points out. “Instead, we need to be smart, focus on techniques and play together to compete against the others. That is why it is crucial for our young players to step up their development in the “Golden Age”, which is around ten to twelve year-old.”

Besides football skills, the former head coach of J-2 side Yokohama FC also sheds light on other factors that are crucial to a winning youth football program. “We need to exert patience on the development of youth football and understand that scores are not everything. Coaches will always want to win football matches but at times, we also need to allow players to solve problems on their own,” coach Adachi reveals. “For example, lots of players understand one plus one equals two. But in truth, there are a lot of variables that can add up and become two. Players need to understand that and develop the ability to come up with solutions on their own when they are on the pitch.”

Coach Adachi demands independence and self-discipline from players and backs-up his believes through his own actions, as per his own playing career. “Back in my high school days, I was already playing semi-professionally for Yomiuri, probably the oldest football club in Japan, and was earning money from it. Then, I decided to head to Germany to study football and spent several years in German Sport University Cologne. Over there, I joined a local football club and started playing in the 3^rd division for several years. However, my fondest football memory still lies with Yomiuri. Without the club, I probably will not be where I am today,” the Japanese recalls with a deep gratitude.

Having spent time with coach Adachi through the interview, one cannot help but get a feeling that football is more than just a game for the veteran coach. When asked upon, Adachi opened up and revealed a past that influenced him greatly. “Do you remember the tsunami that hit the North-East of Japan several years ago? At the time, I was in charge of the JFA Training Centre in that area. The tsunami destroyed three of the six training centres and several of my colleagues lost their lives in the tragedy,” the former JFA instructor slowly talks about the painful past. “Homes and schools were severely damaged during the tsunami. People had no place to stay, children could not attend school and kids had no place to play and run around. The whole area was devastated.”

“So one day, I brought a football with me, went to the temporary houses and invited the children to come out and play. It was not about football coaching at all, as I just wanted the children to play football again. A few kids started scoring and next thing I knew, they had the long-missing smiles back on their faces again,” coach Adachi notes with a hinge of satisfaction. “I was inspired by that, wanted to make a meaningful change in people’s life and that was the reason why I went to Nagano and helped establish AC Nagano Parceiro. I wanted to use football to make people happy and to educate people. Hopefully, I can help Hong Kong children to use football to forge a decent career and make the locals happy as well.”

If the Elite Development Coach can help Hong Kong develop the next wave of promising football players, there is little doubt that coach Adachi will put a smile on a lot of Hong Kong supporters’ faces.