Kazuo Saito

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Kazuo Saito
Personal information
Full nameKazuo Saito
Date of birth (1951-07-27) July 27, 1951 (age 72)
Place of birthSaitama, Saitama, Japan
Height1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing positionDefender
Youth career
1967–1969Saitama Urawa Minami High School
1970–1973Hosei University
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps(Gls)
1974–1989Mitsubishi Motors248(3)
Total248(3)
National team
1976–1984Japan32(0)
Teams managed
1989–1992Mitsubishi Motors
1997Kawasaki Frontale
2000Urawa Reds
2014JEF United Chiba
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Biography

Saito was born in Saitama on July 27, 1951. After graduating from Hosei University, he joined his local club Mitsubishi Motors in 1974. The club won the 2nd place in Japan Soccer League for 4 years in a row (1974-1977). In 1978, the club won all three major title in Japan; Japan Soccer League, JSL Cup and Emperor's Cup. The club also won 1980 Emperor's Cup, 1981 JSL Cup and 1982 Japan Soccer League. However, the club finished at the bottom place in 1988/89 season and was relegated Division 2. He retired end of 1988/89 season. He played 248 games and scored 3 goals in the league. He was selected Best Eleven in 1975, 1977 and 1978.

On January 28, 1976, Saito debuted for the Japan national team against Bulgaria. He played as regular player at 1976 Summer Olympics qualification and 1978 World Cup qualification. He was also selected for Japan for 1978 Asian Games. In 1984, he played for Japan for the first time in 6 years. 1984 Summer Olympics qualification was his last game for Japan. He played 32 games for Japan until 1984.

Saito retired from playing career in 1989, he became a manager for Mitsubishi Motors (later Urawa Reds) as Kuniya Daini successor. In 1989/90 season, he led the club to won the champions in Division 2 and promoted to Division 1. He resigned in 1992. Through an assistant coach for Urawa Reds and JEF United Ichihara (later JEF United Chiba), he signed with Kawasaki Frontale in 1997. In 2000, he returned to Urawa Reds and managed the club. From 2010, he signed with JEF United Chiba and became an assistant coach. In 2014, he managed JEF United Chiba as caretaker as Jun Suzuki successor.

Statistics

[1]

Club performance League
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals
JapanLeague
1974 Mitsubishi Motors JSL Division 1 15 0
1975 18 0
1976 17 1
1977 18 1
1978 13 0
1979 14 0
1980 18 1
1981 18 0
1982 18 0
1983 12 0
1984 15 0
1985/86 21 0
1986/87 19 0
1987/88 20 0
1988/89 12 0
Country Japan 248 3
Total 248 3

[2]

Japan national team
YearAppsGoals
1976 14 0
1977 5 0
1978 9 0
1979 0 0
1980 0 0
1981 0 0
1982 0 0
1983 0 0
1984 4 0
Total 32 0

References

Other websites

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