New coach Tillie includes Nishida in Japan’s 2025 squad

The presence of star opposite Yuji Nishida was the most important piece of news in the first call-up of Japan’s new men’s national team head coach Laurent Tillie, who selected 43 players to be part of the program in the 2025 international season.

One of the top men’s national teams in the world, the Japanese are in sixth place in the FIVB World Rankings and will compete at both the Volleyball Nations League and the FIVB World Championship over the next months.

• Watch the 2025 Volleybal Nations League live on VBTV

One of the stars of the Asian side, the 25-year-old Nishida indicated he could take a break from the Japanese national team in interviews after the Paris Olympics last year. Something similar happened with 30-year-old middle blocker Kentaro Takahashi, who announced his international retirement after Paris 2024, but was also included in Tillie’s first selection.

With the two confirmed in the squad, Japan maintains the core of the team that finished seventh in Paris and took silver in the VNL 2024, with 37-year-old setter Akihiro Fukatsu standing as the only absence from that team that competed in France. Star outside hitter Yuki Ishikawa will continue to captain the team, which will feature the likes of setter Masahiro Sekita, outside hitter Ran Takahashi, middle blocker Taishi Onodera and libero Tomohiro Yamamoto as some of its other stars.

Tillie, who replaced compatriot Philippe Blain after three years in charge, indicated the 43 players called up could be split into two groups when the roster starts training in May. The list includes 11 players who will be part of the national team for the first time.

“This is our first step towards the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics,” Tillie said. “This season is the only one in which we can rest our experienced players and discover new talent, so we will form an A team that will compete in the tournaments and a B team for development purposes. We have two goals for 2025. The first is to get to know each other well in this transition period, and the second is to get good results at the VNL and the World Championship. We are aware of the difficulties, but we aim to be on the podium in each tournament we play going forward.”

First VNL matches in China

Tillie’s story as the head coach of the Japanese men’s national team will officially start in Xi’an, China, where they will play their first matches in the VNL 2025, facing the host country, Poland, Serbia and the Netherlands from June 11-15.

Set to take place in the Philippines from September 12-18, the World Championship will see the Japanese compete in Pool G alongside Canada, Türkiye and Libya.

Japan men’s national team roster (subject to eligibility check to be conducted by the FIVB):

Setters: Hideomi Fukatsu, Kaisyu Takematsu, Masahiro Sekita, Masaki Oya, Motoki Eiro, Ryo Shimokawa, Yuki Imahashi
Opposites: Daiki Yamada, Hiroaki Maki, Hiroto Nishiyama, Keihan Takahashi, Kento Miyaura, Yuji Nishida
Outside hitters: Akito Yamazaki, Kosuke Yasui, Masato Kai, Ran Takahashi, Rikuto Goto, Shoma Tomita, Taito Mizumachi, Takuma Kawano, Tatsunori Otsuka, Yudai Arai, Yuga Tarumi, Yuji Kudo, Yuki Ishikawa
Middle blockers: Akihiro Yamauchi, Go Murayama, Hiromasa Miwa, Keigo Nishimoto, Keitaro Nishikawa, Kentaro Takahashi, Kento Asano, Larry Evdabe-Dan, Riku Ito, Shunichiro Sato, Taishi Onodera
Liberos: Aiki Mori, Kazuyuki Takahashi, Keishiro Takaki, Soshi Fujinaka, Tomohiro Ogawa, Tomohiro Yamamoto

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