Ryoichi Maeda
前田 遼一
Maeda in 2010
Personal information
Date of birth (1981-10-09) 9 October 1981
Place of birth Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
Height 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
1997–1999 Gyosei High School
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2014 Júbilo Iwata 363 (154)
2015–2018 FC Tokyo 103 (17)
2017–2018 FC Tokyo U-23 10 (3)
2019–2020 FC Gifu 59 (6)
Total 525 (177)
International career
2000–2001 Japan U-20 12 (5)
2003–2004 Japan U-23 5 (0)
2007–2013 Japan 33 (10)
Medal record
Júbilo Iwata
WinnerJ1 League2002
Runner-upJ1 League2001
Runner-upJ1 League2003
WinnerJ.League Cup2010
Runner-upJ.League Cup2001
WinnerEmperor's Cup2003
Runner-upEmperor's Cup2004
Representing  Japan
AFC Asian Cup
Gold medal – first place2011 Qatar
Asian Games
Silver medal – second place2002 BusanTeam
AFC U-19 Championship
Silver medal – second place2000 Iran
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of end of 2020 season

Ryoichi Maeda (前田 遼一, Maeda Ryōichi, born 9 October 1981) is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a forward.[1] He currently works as an assistant coach for the Japan national team.

Club career

Maeda was born in Kobe, Japan but spent his childhood in the United States.[2] He was educated at and played for Gyosei Junior and Senior High School in Tokyo. While he was a high school student, he was chosen as one of the Designated Players for Development by J.League and JFA. Because of this status, Maeda was able to register as a Verdy Kawasaki player while he was still eligible to play for his high school club. However, he did not play any official match for Verdy.

After graduating from his high school in 2000, he joined Júbilo Iwata. His first appearance as a professional player came on 3 May 2000 in a league match against Kawasaki Frontale. His first professional goal came on 28 August 2001 in a J.League Cup game against JEF United Ichihara. Although he could not play many matches behind Masashi Nakayama and Naohiro Takahara until 2002, he played as regular player from 2003. In the season 2009 was the J.League Top Scorer with twenty goals. In the 2010 season, Maeda became the top scorer again, netting 17 times.[3] Júbilo also won the champions in 2010 J.League Cup. At 2010 J.League Cup Final, he scored two goals and was selected MVP award in the tournament. However Júbilo was relegated to J2 League end of 2013 season. In 2014, although he scored 17 goals, Júbilo finished at the 4th place and missed promotion to J1.

In 2015, Maeda moved to J1 club FC Tokyo. He played as regular player until 2016. However his opportunity to play decreased from 2017 and he could hardly score goals in the match.

In 2019, Maeda moved to J2 club FC Gifu.[4]

Curse of Maeda

Since the 2007 season, for six straight seasons, each team Maeda scores his first goal of the league campaign against has eventually been relegated to J2 League. This has given rise to the so-called "curse of (Ryoichi) Maeda".[5] It became a topic of wide public conversation in late 2012 as Gamba Osaka, the team that he scored his first goal of that season against, was in the relegation zone despite having not ranked lower than third in the previous three seasons. Consistent with the "curse", Gamba Osaka was relegated to J2 following the last game of the season in which they lost against, funnily enough, Jubilo Iwata 2–1 with Maeda scoring a goal and an assist. The curse came to an end by the end of the 2013 season, as Maeda's first goal of the 2013 season came in a loss to Urawa, who will not be relegated.

International career

Maeda played for Japan U20 at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina. He also played for Japan U23 at the 2004 Summer Olympics qualification but failed to be picked up to the squad for the finals in Greece.

After impressive performance at club, Maeda made his international debut for Japan in a friendly against Cameroon on 22 August 2007 at Oita Stadium.[6] He scored his first international goal on 17 October 2007 in a friendly against Egypt at Nagai Stadium in Osaka.[6] In 2011, Maeda participated in his first major full international tournament at 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar and started all six games in Japan's Asian Cup winning campaign. He was selected Japan for 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. He played 33 games and scored 10 goals for Japan until 2013.[6]

Career statistics

Club

As of end of 2018 season[7]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Emperor's Cup J.League Cup Asia Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Júbilo Iwata 2000 J1 League 103000–40
2001 922151–164
2002 403120–91
2003 2875195–4213
2004 2785361314113
2005 25120022303014
2006 27153271–3718
2007 22122100–2413
2008 2280000–228
2009 34202163–4224
2010 331710103–4420
2011 28140031–3115
2012 33131142–3816
2013 3392141–3911
2014 J2 League 371700––3717
Total 3631542912582061456187
FC Tokyo 2015 J1 League 3092160–3810
2016 296103083419
2017 2611071–342
2018 1810010–191
Total 10317411718313222
FC Tokyo U-23 2017 J3 League 20–––20
2018 83–––83
Total 103–––103
Career total 47617433137521144598212

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[8]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Japan 200721
200811
200920
201020
201194
201284
201390
Total3310
Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Maeda goal.
List of international goals scored by Ryoichi Maeda[6]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
117 October 2007Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan Egypt3–04–12007 Afro-Asian Cup of Nations
217 February 2008Olympic Sports Center, Chongqing, China North Korea1–11–1East Asian Football Championship 2008
317 January 2011Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar Saudi Arabia3–05–02011 AFC Asian Cup
44–0
525 January 2011Al-Gharafa Stadium, Doha, Qatar South Korea1–12–22011 AFC Asian Cup
611 November 2011Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe, Tajikistan Tajikistan3–04–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
724 February 2012Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan Iceland1–03–1Friendly
83 June 2012Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan Oman2–03–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
98 June 2012Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan Jordan1–06–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
1011 September 2012Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan Iraq1–01–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Júbilo Iwata

Japan

Individual

References

  1. ↑ Ryoichi Maeda at J.League (archive) (in Japanese)
  2. ↑ 海外で頼れる男・前田　集団食中毒騒動にもひとり平然 (in Japanese). Sponichi Annex. 8 January 2011. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
  3. ↑ Ryoichi Maeda at J.League (archive) (in Japanese)
  4. ↑ FC Gifu(in Japanese)
  5. ↑ The curse of Ryoichi Maeda Goal.com 26 September 2012 retrieved 4 December 2012
  6. 1 2 3 4 Japan National Football Team Database
  7. ↑ FC Gifu
  8. ↑ Ryoichi Maeda at National-Football-Teams.com
  9. ↑ "Asian Player of the Year". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
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