Early years After retirement, in 1990, Nishino became a coach for
Hitachi (later
Kashiwa Reysol). From 1991, he managed the
Japan U-20 national team and
Japan U-23 national team. At U-23 Japan in
1996 Summer Olympics Qualifiers, Japan qualified to
1996 Summer Olympics for the first time in 28 years since
1968 Summer Olympics, where Japan won the bronze medal. At 1996 Olympics, although Japan won 2 matches, Japan lost in the First round. At this time, Japan beat
Brazil in first game. It was known as the "Miracle of Miami" (
マイアミの奇跡) in Japan. In 2000, the club won the 3rd place in
J.League Division 1 for 2 years in a row and he received Best Managers award. However, he was sacked in July 2001.
Gamba Osaka In 2002, Nishino signed with
Gamba Osaka. In 2005, the club won
J.League Division 1 for the first time in club history and he was elected for the Best Manager award. In 2008, the club won
AFC Champions League and the 3rd place at
2008 FIFA Club World Cup. He was also elected AFC 'Coach of the Year' awards. The club also won the
2007 J.League Cup, the
2008 and the
2009 Emperor's Cup. He resigned in 2011. In May 2012, he signed with
Vissel Kobe as
Masahiro Wada's successor. However, he was sacked in November.
Nagoya Grampus In 2014, Nishino signed with
Nagoya Grampus and managed the club until 2015.
Japan national team In March 2016, Nishino returned to the
Japan Football Association as a technical director. In April 2018,
Japan national team manager
Vahid Halilhodžić was sacked and Nishino was named as the new manager. A big challenge for Nishino was lack of time for preparation, while also being doubted because of his lack of coaching experience. Nonetheless, in the
2018 World Cup, he registered history by helping Japan to beat
Colombia 2–1, the first ever defeat of a
CONMEBOL team to an Asian side. His brilliant tactics continued to be demonstrated when Japan held
Senegal in a 2–2 draw. His Japan lost 0–1 to
Poland in the final group match, but as Japan received lesser yellow cards than Senegal, Japan controversially qualified to the knockout stage, becoming the only Asian team to do so in the 2018 World Cup. However, his Japan lost 2–3 to
Belgium despite having led 2–0, thus were eliminated from the tournament.
Thailand national team Nishino consented to take charge of the Thailand's
senior and
under-23 national sides on 17 July 2019, became the first Japanese to coach Thailand, and on 24 January 2020, this contract has been extended until 2022. On 29 July 2021,
Football Association of Thailand announced that it had parted ways with Nishino, which was later explained due to poor performance in
2022 FIFA World Cup qualification. ==Career statistics==