Ryoichi Maeda

Ryoichi Maeda (前田 遼一, Maeda Ryōichi, born 9 October 1981) is a Japanese football player who plays for FC Gifu.[1] He played for Japan national team.

Ryoichi Maeda
前田 遼一
Personal information
Full name Ryoichi Maeda
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
Club information
Current team
 FC Gifu
Number 11
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 (loan) 10 (3)
2019– FC Gifu
Total 476 (174)
National team
2000–2001 Japan U-20 12 (5)
2003–2004 Japan U-23 5 (0)
2007–2013 Japan 33 (10)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of end of 2018 season

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 2 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 6 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 3rd in the previous 3 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.

National team career

Maeda played for Japan U-20 at the 2001 World Youth Championship in Argentina. He also played for Japan U-23 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 Asian Cup in Qatar and started all six games in Japan's Asian Cup winning campaign. He was selected Japan for 2013 Confederations Cup. He played 33 games and scored 10 goals for Japan until 2013.[6]

Club statistics
As of end of 2018 season[7]
Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Japan League Emperor's Cup J.League Cup Asia Total
2000Júbilo IwataJ1 League103000-40
2001922151-164
2002403120-91
20032875195-4213
20042785361314113
200525120022303014
200627153271-3718
200722122100-2413
20082280000-228
200934202163-4224
2010331710103-4420
201128140031-3115
201233131142-3816
20133392141-3911
2014J2 League371700--3717
Total3631542912582061456187
2015FC TokyoJ1 League3092160-3810
2016296103083419
20172611071-342
20181810010-191
Total10317411718313222
2017FC Tokyo U-23J3 League20---20
201883---83
Total103---103
2019FC GifuJ2 League--
Total--
Career total 47617433137521144598212

National team statistics

[8]

Japan national team
YearAppsGoals
200721
200811
200920
201020
201194
201284
201390
Total3310

Appearances in major competitions
Team Competition Category Appearances Goals Team Record
Start Sub
 Japan2001 FIFA World Youth ChampionshipU-20300Group stage
 Japan2011 AFC Asian CupSenior603Champion

Goals for senior national team

[6]

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.17 October 2007Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan Egypt3–04–12007 Afro-Asian Cup of Nations
2.17 February 2008Olympic Sports Center, Chongqing, China PR North Korea1–11–1East Asian Football Championship 2008
3.17 January 2011Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar Saudi Arabia0–30–52011 AFC Asian Cup
4.17 January 2011Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar Saudi Arabia0–40–52011 AFC Asian Cup
5.25 January 2011Al-Gharafa Stadium, Doha, Qatar South Korea1–12–22011 AFC Asian Cup
6.11 November 2011Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe, Tajikistan Tajikistan0–30–42014 FIFA World Cup qualification
7.24 February 2012Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan Iceland1–03–1International Friendly
8.3 June 2012Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan Oman2–03–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
9.8 June 2012Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan Jordan1–06–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification
10.11 September 2012Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan Iraq1–01–02014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Japan

Club
Júbilo Iwata

Individual

References
  1. Ryoichi Maeda at J.League (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 (in Japanese)
  4. FC Gifu(in Japanese)
  5. The curse of Ryoichi Maeda Goal.com 26 September 2012 retrieved 4 December 2012
  6. Japan National Football Team Database
  7. FC Gifu
  8. "Ryoichi Maeda". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmerman.
  9. "Asian Player of the Year". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
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