Celtic legend lands new role for 2026 World Cup

Celtic cult hero and legend Shunsuke Nakamura has a new role as part of Japan’s coaching staff at the 2026 World Cup.

The Samurai Blue announced that the 47-year-old will be involved with training the players in North America.

Nakumura was part of Japanese TV coverage last month when Japan played Scotland and England in friendlies, with Japan winning both.

But he is going to be much more hands-on at the World Cup.

In a statement, he said: “I am pleased to announce that I will be joining the staff as a coach for the Japanese national team.

“I carefully considered the impact of my joining at such a crucial time, just before the World Cup finals, but after receiving passionate and encouraging words from Coach [Hajime] Moriyasu, I decided to accept the position.

“I will strive to share the same aspirations as the Japanese national team players competing on the world stage and contribute to achieving the goals the team has set.”

Japan are on a great run on the international stage, losing just one of their last 13 games across friendlies and qualifiers.

That one defeat came against the USA, but they have beaten England, Ghana and Brazil, and when you look at their group, they have a good chance of making it into the knockout rounds.

Japan face the Netherlands, Sweden and Tunisia, and they head to North America as one of the in-form sides.

Nakumura’s return

Since leaving Celtic and Scotland in 2009, the former Japanese international hasn’t that often with his most recent visit only the second time he’d been back to Scotland.

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But he was treated to a very warm welcome as he went to watch Scotland train and had some interactions with Celtic fans.

Nakumura made 166 appearances for the Hoops, scoring 34 goals with a lot of those being free-kicks.

That was his specialty, and he left Celtic Park with six trophies to his name and a place in the club’s history.

And during his trip to Scotland, he reunited with former teammate Neil Lennon and Kieran Tierney.

Tierney first met Nakumura as a ballboy over 20 years ago, and at that time, Nakumura gifted the Scotland international his boots.

All of that was lovely to see, but he now has a serious job on his hands with Japan very much looking like potential dark horses at the World Cup.