“contender”って何？

本日の単語はcontender

ニュースを流し聞きしていて、なでしこジャパンに初の外国人監督が就任というニュースで、その監督であるニールセン氏が英語でコメントされていました。その中にあったのがこの単語。

実際の使用例はこちら

検索すると、同じセリフを文字にした記事が見つかりました。以下はThe Japan Timesからの抜粋です。単語を赤字にしています。前後の文脈から、単語の意味を推測してみましょう！

New Nadeshiko Japan coach Nils Nielsen targets World Cup glory

New coach Nils Nielsen declared Wednesday that Japan can win the Women’s World Cup for a second time and vowed to restore the 2011 champion to its former glory.

The 53-year-old Dane becomes Japan’s first foreign-born women’s coach and succeeds Futoshi Ikeda, who left at the end of his contract in August.

Nielsen led Denmark to the 2017 European Championship final and takes over a Japan team that has not reached a World Cup or Olympic semifinal since 2015.

He said he was inspired by Japan’s 2011 World Cup win and sees no reason why Nadeshiko cannot repeat the achievement under his leadership.

“We want to get Japan back on top and there are many teams that want to go there, but the talent pool in Japan actually makes it possible,” he told reporters in Tokyo.

“We will do the hard work and dedication, all of us will do everything we can to get it done.”

The Greenland-born Nielsen previously served as Manchester City’s women’s team technical director after spells in charge of the Denmark and Switzerland national teams.

He said Japan will “always be contenders for titles” and pledged to help the team become more than just dangerous dark horses.

Japan lost in the quarterfinals of both last year’s World Cup and this summer’s Paris Olympics.

“In order to actually get there and lift the trophies — and make no mistake about it, that is why I’m here — we will do everything we can to be successful,” he said.

“It needs to be a team effort. It’s not about one person, it’s not about me, but I will lead the process.”

Nielsen joked that there were more reporters at his first news conference in Tokyo than the entire population of his tiny home village in frozen Greenland.

He said he jumped at the chance to coach the team after watching Japan become the first Asian nation to lift the Women’s World Cup in 2011.

“I think managing to create a playing style and a culture around the team that actually fits perfectly with the personalities of the Japanese women, it must have been very difficult to do, but that was what happened,” he said.

“It was not only me, but all across the world it was something everybody noticed and got inspired from.”