Akira Matsunaga (footballer, born 1948)

Akira Matsunaga
松永章
Personal information
Full name	Akira Matsunaga
Date of birth	August 8, 1948
Place of birth	Shizuoka, Japan
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Youth career
1964–1966	Fujieda Higashi High School
1967–1970	Waseda University
Senior career*
National team
Hitachi
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Akira Matsunaga (松永章, Matsunaga Akira, born August 8, 1948) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.

Club career

Matsunaga was born in Shizuoka Prefecture on August 8, 1948. After graduating from Waseda University, he joined Hitachi in 1971. In 1972, the club won the champions in Japan Soccer League and Emperor's Cup. The club also won 1975 Emperor's Cup and 1976 JSL Cup. He scored many goals in early 1970s and competed with Kunishige Kamamoto for top scorer. Matsunaga retired in 1982. He played 176 games and scored 82 goals in the league and became a top scorer in 1972 and 1973. He was also selected Best Eleven for 4 years in a row (1972-1975).

In May 1973, Matsunaga was selected Japan national team for 1974 World Cup qualification. At this qualification, on May 22, he debuted against Hong Kong. He also played at 1976 Summer Olympics qualification. This qualification was his last game for Japan. He played 10 games and scored 2 goals for Japan until 1976.[1]

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