Azusa Iwashimizu, a member of Japan's 2011 Women's World Cup-winning team, has returned to the pitch after giving birth to her first child in March 2020.
Iwashimizu is preparing to make her comeback with Nippon TV Beleza, one of the 11 clubs that will compete in the inaugural season of the WE League starting in September. The circuit will be Japan's first women's professional soccer league.
The new-look competition, whose name is an acronym for "Women's Empowerment," will be positioned in the soccer hierarchy above the previously top-flight Nadeshiko League.