(former name; Nelson Yoshimura, ネルソン吉村) was 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 ...

player and manager. He played for Japan national team, having naturalized in 1970.

Club career

Yoshimura was born in

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

on August 16, 1947. He moved to Japan and joined

Yanmar Diesel is a Japanese diesel engine, heavy machinery and agricultural machinery manufacturer founded in Osaka, Japan, in 1912. Yanmar manufactures and sells engines used in a wide range of applications, including seagoing vessels, pleasure boats, const ...

in 1967. He played with

Kunishige Kamamoto is a former Japanese football player, manager, and politician. He won the bronze medal with the Japan national team at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, finishing as the tournament's top scorer with seven goals, and is the all-time leadi ...

and so on and leads the team to the greatest era in Yanmar Diesel history. The club won

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 ...

champions 4 times 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 ...

3 times. He retired in 1980. He played 189 games and scored 30 goals in the league. He was selected Best Eleven 4 times.

National team career

On August 2, 1970, Yoshimura debuted for Japan national team against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. He was selected Japan for

1974 Asian Games The 7th Asian Games (), also known as Tehran 1974 (), were held from 1 to 16 September 1974 in Tehran, Iran. The Aryamehr Sports Complex was built for the Games. This marked the first time the Asian Games were hosted in the Middle East. Tehran, t ...

. He also played at 1972 Summer Olympics qualification,

1974 World Cup qualification Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom ...

and 1976 Summer Olympics qualification. He played 46 games and scored 7 goals for Japan until 1976.Japan National Football Team Database
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Coaching career

After retirement, Yoshimura became a coach for

in 1981. In 1990, he was promoted to a manager. He managed until 1993. On November 1, 2003, Yoshimura died of

intracranial hemorrhage Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) refers to any form of Hemorrhage, bleeding Internal bleeding, within the Human skull, skull. It can result from trauma, vascular abnormalities, hypertension, or other medical conditions. ICH is broadly categorized ...

Amagasaki 270px, Amagasaki Castle 270px, Aerial view of Amagasaki city center 270px, Amagasaki Station is an industrial city located in Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 455,555 in 223,812 households, and a population de ...

at the age of 56. In 2010, he was selected to the Japan Football Hall of Fame.

Club statistics

National team statistics

Awards

Best Eleven: (4)

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

Silver Ball (Assist Leader):

* Japan Football Hall of Fame: Inducted in 2010

References

External links

*
Japan National Football Team Database
at

Japan Football Association The Japan Football Association (JFA, ) is the Sport governing body, governing body responsible for the administration of Association football, football, futsal, beach soccer and Esports, efootball in Japan. It is responsible for the Japan national ...

1947 births 2003 deaths Japanese men's footballers Japan men's international footballers Japan Soccer League players Cerezo Osaka players Footballers at the 1974 Asian Games Brazilian emigrants to Japan Brazilian sportspeople of Japanese descent Naturalized citizens of Japan Men's association football midfielders Asian Games competitors for Japan Deaths from intracranial haemorrhage 20th-century Japanese sportsmen {{Japan-footy-midfielder-1940s-stub