news | Pieter Huistra

This article was published in the Japan Times on January 15th.
Dome Corporation president Shuichi Yasuda has the vision, Satoshi Okura the know-how and former Dutch international and Rangers player Pieter Huistra the experience. The goal now is to combine their respective talents as they embark on the task of building a professional soccer club from scratch.

Yasuda announced the creation of the new team, Iwaki FC, earlier this week at the Dome Kickoff party at Ariake Coliseum, and he has grand ambitions. He wants the club to become a pillar in Iwaki, Fukushima Prefecture (among the areas devastated by the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011), and ultimately, years, maybe decades down the line, help change Japan’s sporting landscape.

“We would like to energize Japan through sports,” Yasuda said Wednesday. “Well, actually, reform it. When you look at America and European countries such as Germany and Britain, they lead their societies with sports. We’ve looked closely at what they do and we’ve always wanted our society to do the same. We must do it. We’ve talked about this project over the past year and it has materialized.” Continue reading →

I am happy to announce that I have joined Iwaki FC as head coach.
It is a once in a lifetime possibility to be part of such an ambitious project. Since I left Japan as a player 19 years ago it has been a dream to come back to this country to coach.
When I was approached to join the project I did not hesitate to commit. Iwaki FC is a new club supported by Dome Corp, the distributor of the Under Armour label.
It wants to establish itself as a role model club in Japan. Emphasis will be on development of young players. Iwaki FC will take international benchmark as its guide in this development.

At the moment the club has just started to recruit players for the first team and will start at amateur level in the Tohoku region.

The club has a 10 year plan to reach JLeague and build an academy at international level that delivers top level players.

I feel very fortunate to be part of this project that also gives joy to the people of Iwaki who are still in the redevelopment of their city after the tsunami disaster. It gives extra energy to build this club together for a great future.