Arthur Papas laid out his “attacking” vision for Cerezo Osaka after the Australian fronted the media for the first time since his appointment as head coach of the J1 League team.
The talented Aussie and former Newcastle Jets boss – who has an unrelenting belief in his philosophy – arrives in Osaka to replace Akio Kogiku for the 2025 season, and he is set to be supported by some familiar faces.
Huss Skenderovic has been appointed senior assistant after the pair worked together at the Jets, while former Melbourne City assistant Ralph Napoli is reportedly part of Papas’ coaching staff.
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Cerezo, who have never won Japan’s top flight, boast former Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund star Shinji Kagawa as they look to better their 10th-placed finish in 2024.
“It’s a huge honour to be given the responsibility of leading really one of the most famous clubs in Japanese football,” Papas told reporters at the club’s ‘Kick Off Day’.
“11 years ago I completed my pro license and as part of that pro license I had to come to Japan and the only team I got to watch was Cerezo Osaka in the Champions League.
“So maybe some fate of sort I end up becoming the head coach of Cerezo Osaka. I always had a special feeling for this club because it was my first team I ever watched in Japan.”
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Papas is set to be the only Australian head coach in Japan’s top flight next season after Peter Cklamovski left FC Tokyo and was appointed by the Malaysia national team, while former Yokohama F.Marinos interim boss John Hutchinson has taken over Jubilo Iwata following their relegation.
The 44-year-old Papas is no stranger to Japanese football after returning to the country for the first time since 2021, while it is his first head coaching role since leaving Thai giants Buriram United earlier this year.
He was Ange Postecoglou’s assistant when F.Marinos won the 2019 J1 League title and spent another year at the club alongside fellow Aussie Cklamovski.
With vast experience in Asia across India and Saudi Arabia, Papas also spent a spell in charge of J3 League outfit Kagoshima United in 2021 before two seasons coaching the Jets in the Isuzu UTE A-League.
At Thai juggernaut Buriram, Papas ended the club’s five-year wait for a win in the AFC Champions League Elite group phase thanks to a win over Melbourne City in November 2023.
As for Cerezo – the former home of Perth Glory captain and Socceroo Adam Taggart, ex-A-Leagues midfielder Mitch Nichols and Pierce Waring, they have never finished higher than third in the J1 League (2010).
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“Over that time, a lot has changed,” Papas continued. “But there’s two things that are still the same for me and were part of the discussions I held with the club.
“The first one is the club expressed a desire to become and go back to being a very attacking-minded club with an attacking identity. If you know my history, it’s the one big thing I believe in – the football that needs to be played, needs to be attacking, needs to excite supporters and needs to score goals.
“The second point was, the deep desire to develop more players within the academy system. Again, my background been that I’ve worked with three different national teams at U20 level, U17 level and all about developing players.
“Having my done my homework well, Cerezo Osaka’s academy is one of the best in Japan and is one of the one’s now we want to help to produce and take more players into the first team.
“In saying that, success is important. If we can develop players, produce a great brand of football and also make sure we have this club competing for championships, everyone will be happy.
“That’s not going to be easy. That requires a lot of hard work but it’s clear the three gentlemen sitting here have laid the foundations for that to begin moving forward.”
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During the press conference, Papas was asked about Cerezo’s chances of winning the title.
“To be champions, you need many things to go right,” he replied. “We are working very hard to make sure recruiting a squad that can give us a chance to win a championship first of all.
“We already feel we have a talented group of players, some really top young players that we need to expose a little bit more as well.
“We are aligned in the way we want to go about developing out football to be a very aggressive, attacking-minded team.
“It’s not a guarantee that team automatically wins a championship but there’s some pretty good examples of teams that have been very aggressive and attacking… when you do get that right, you can become champions as well.”
