is a Japanese

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 ...

manager and former

player.

Playing career

Ejiri was born in

Shizuoka Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,555,818 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Pref ...

on July 12, 1967. After graduating from

Meiji University is a Private university, private research university in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. Originally founded as Meiji Law School () by three lawyers in 1881, it became a university in April 1920. As of May 2023, Meiji has 32,261 undergradu ...

, 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 Furukawa Electric (later ''JEF United Ichihara'') in 1990. He played many matches as offensive midfielder from first season and the club won the 2nd place 1990 JSL Cup. 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 ...

. He played as regular player and also served a captain from 1996. The club won the 2nd place 1998 J.League Cup. He retired end of 1998 season.

Coaching career

After retirement, Ejiri became a coach for JEF United Ichihara (later ''JEF United Chiba'') in 1999. He mainly served as coach for top team. In 2005, he moved to

Albirex Niigata is a professional football club based in Niigata, Japan. Formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC, it was renamed Albireo Niigata FC in 1995, and Albirex Niigata in 1997. They currently play in J1 League after being promoted from J2 League as cha ...

and became a coach under manager Yasuharu Sorimachi (2005) and Jun Suzuki (2006). In 2007, he became a coach for Japan U-23 national team under manager Sorimachi and participated in

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

. In 2009, Ejiri returned to JEF United and became a coach under manager

Alex Miller Alex Miller (born 4 July 1949) is a Scottish football manager and former player. As a player, he had a 15-year career with Rangers, winning several trophies. As a manager, he won the 1991–92 Scottish League Cup with Hibernian. He subsequen ...

. However the club performance was bad and manager Miller was sacked in July 2009. Ejiri became a manager as Miller successor. Although Ejiri managed in 15 matches, the club won only one match and finished at bottom place in the season. The club was relegated from the division 1 first time in the club history. Although he also managed in 2010 season, the club could not return division 1 and he resigned end of 2010 season. On 18 March 2019, he was appointed manager once again, after the departure of argentine Juan Esnáider. He left his position at the end of 2019 season.

Club statistics

Managerial statistics

Update; ''November 25, 2019''J.League Data Site
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References

External links

* * * 1967 births Living people Meiji University alumni Association football people from Shizuoka Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Japan Soccer League players J1 League players JEF United Chiba players Japanese football managers J1 League managers J2 League managers JEF United Chiba managers Men's association football midfielders 20th-century Japanese sportsmen {{Japan-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub