is a former

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. He played for Japan national team. His younger brother Toshimi is also a former footballer.

Club career

Kikuchi was born in

Tono Tono, Tōno or Toño may refer to: Places * Tōnō, the southeastern portion of Gifu Prefecture, Japan * Tōno, Iwate, a city in Iwate Prefecture, Japan * Tono, Washington, a ghost town in the state of Washington, United States * Tono Dam, agri ...

on April 12, 1967. After graduating from high school, he joined

Japan Soccer League ; JSL) was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL Cup, JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professi ...

club Yomiuri (later ''Verdy Kawasaki'', ''Tokyo Verdy'') in 1986. The club won league champions 3 times,

JSL Cup was the original league cup for clubs in the Japan Soccer League, the top level of Japanese football before the creation of the J. League and its cup. The cup was first played in 1973, but only become an annual tournament in 1976. The JSL Cup ...

1 time and

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formatio ...

2 times. In Asia, the club also won

1987 Asian Club Championship The 1987 Asian Club Championship was the 7th edition of the annual Asian club football competition hosted by Asian Football Confederation. Several Asian clubs started the qualifying round in Fall of 1987. Yomiuri FC (Japan) became the second Ja ...

. In 1992, Japan Soccer League was folded and founded new league

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

. The club won the league champions in

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

. The club also won

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, 1994 J.League Cup and

1996 Emperor's Cup Statistics of Emperor's Cup in the 1996 season. Overview It was contested by 80 teams, and Verdy Kawasaki won the championship. Results First round *Denso 3–1 Juntendo University *Blaze Kumamoto 2–1 Kwansei Gakuin University *World Blitz ...

. He was a central player in golden era in both clubs history. In 1999, he lost opportunity to play behind Kenji Honnami. In 2000, Kikuchi moved to

Kawasaki Frontale is a Japanese professional football club based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The club currently compete in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium i ...

on loan. In 2001, he returned to Tokyo Verdy and retired with his rival Honnami end of the season.

National team career

On September 27, 1994, Kikuchi debuted for Japan national team against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. In October, he played all matches at

1994 Asian Games The 1994 Asian Games (), also known as the XII Asiad and the 12th Asian Games () or simply Hiroshima 1994 (), were held from October 2 to 16, 1994, in Hiroshima, Japan. It was the first Asian Games in history to be hosted in a non-capital city. Th ...

. He was also selected Japan for

1995 King Fahd Cup The 1995 King Fahd Cup () was the second and last tournament held under the King Fahd Cup name before the competition was retroactively sanctioned by FIFA and recognized as FIFA Confederations Cup. Disputed as the King Fahd Cup, in honor of the th ...

. But he did not play in the match, as he was the team's reserve goalkeeper behind

Shigetatsu Matsunaga is a Japanese football goalkeeper coach and former football player. He is the goalkeeper coach for J1 League club Yokohama Marinos. Club career Matsunaga was educated at and played for Hamana High School and Aichi Gakuin University. After gr ...

. He played 7 games for Japan until 1995.Japan National Football Team Database
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Club statistics

National team statistics

Awards

J.League Best XI The J.League Best XI is an acknowledgement of the best eleven players in J.League. J1 League (1993–present) Multiple appearances Appearances by club Appearances by country * Only on two occasions there has been a full-Japanese Best X ...

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

Honours

: 1987, 1991, 1992 * J - League: 1993, 1994 *

: 1991 *

J - League Cup J, or j, is the tenth letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its usual name in English is ''jay'' (pronounced ), with a now-uncommon varia ...

: 1992, 1993, 1994 *

: 1986, 1987, 1996

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
* 1967 births Living people Association football people from Iwate Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Japan men's international footballers Japan Soccer League players J1 League players Tokyo Verdy players Kawasaki Frontale players 1995 King Fahd Cup players Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers at the 1994 Asian Games Asian Games footballers for Japan 20th-century Japanese sportsmen {{Japan-footy-goalkeeper-stub