is a former

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

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 also played for the Japanese National Team.

Club career

Echigo was born in

Mie District, Mie is a district located in Mie Prefecture, Japan. As of the Kusu merger but with 2003 population estimates, the district has an estimated population of 57,507 and a density of 473 persons per km2. The total area is 121.59 km2. Towns and vil ...

on December 28, 1965. After graduating from high school, he joined

Furukawa Electric is a Japanese electric and electronics equipment company. History The company traces its origins to Furukawa Ichibei who founded Nikko Copper Works, a copper-smelting facility at Yokohama in 1884, which became part of Furukuwa Kogyo. A new c ...

(later ''JEF United Ichihara'') in 1984. The club won the

1985–86 Japan Soccer League Statistics of Japan Soccer League for the 1985–86 season. First Division Led by their star player Yasuhiko Okudera, who had returned to the club after successful periods in Europe, Furukawa Electric won their second title. Okudera became the f ...

and the 1986 JSL Cup. In Asia, the club won

1986 Asian Club Championship The 1986 Asian Club Championship was the 6th edition of the annual Asian club football competition hosted by Asian Football Confederation. Several Asian clubs started the qualifying round in Fall of 1986. The final round was held in Riyadh, Saud ...

. They were the first Japanese club to win the Asian championships. In 1995, he moved to

Brummell Sendai is a Japanese professional football club based in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football. History Founded in 1988 as '' Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club'', Ve ...

(later ''Vegalta Sendai''). He retired in 1999.

National team career

On July 25, 1986, Echigo debuted for the Japanese National Team against

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. He also played at

1986 Asian Games The 1986 Asian Games (), officially known as the 10th Asian Games and the X Asiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1986 (), were held from 20 September to 5 October 1986, in Seoul, South Korea. The venues and facilities of the 10th Asiad were the sa ...

. In 1987, he was selected by Japan for 1988 Summer Olympics qualifications. He played 6 games and scored 1 goal.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref>

Coaching career

After retirement, Echigo started a coaching career at

Vegalta Sendai is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Sendai, Miyagi, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football. History Founded in 1988 as ''Tohoku Elect ...

in 2000. He served as a coach until 2004. In 2007, he signed with

JEF United Chiba , full name and also known as , is a Japanese professional football club based in Chiba, capital of Chiba Prefecture. They currently play in the J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football. History Furukawa Electric SC (19 ...

and became a manager for the reserve team. In 2011, he moved back to Vegalta Sendai and served as manager for the youth team. In 2017, he became a manager for the Mynavi Vegalta Sendai Ladies. In the 2017 season, the club was finished in 4th place. However in the 2018 season, the club won only 1 out of 9 matches and he resigned in June.Mynavi Vegalta Sendai
/ref> Echigo was appointed as the manager of

Chinese Taipei women's national football team The Chinese Taipei women's national football team () represents Taiwan (the Republic of China) in international women's football (soccer), women's football and is controlled by the Chinese Taipei Football Association, the governing body for foot ...

on January 19, 2019, and at the

2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup was the 20th edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international women's football tournament in Asia competed by the national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). India was selected as ...

almost led the team to its first world cup since 1991.

Club statistics

National team statistics

References

External links

*
Japan National Football Team Database
* 1965 births Living people Association football people from Mie Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Japan men's international footballers Japan Soccer League players J1 League players J2 League players Japan Football League (1992–1998) players JEF United Chiba players Vegalta Sendai players Japanese football managers Mynavi Sendai Ladies managers Chinese Taipei women's national football team managers Footballers at the 1986 Asian Games Men's association football midfielders Asian Games footballers for Japan Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Taiwan Japanese expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Taiwan 20th-century Japanese sportsmen {{Japan-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub