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. He also managed Japan national team.

Club career

Watanabe was born in

Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$61.3 billion as of 2010. Kazumi Matsui has b ...

on January 11, 1936. After graduating from high school, he joined

Yawata Steel (previously known as Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal until 2019) is Japan's largest steelmaker, headquartered in Marunouchi, Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company has four business segments, which are steelmaking, engineering, chemicals, and systems solu ...

(later ''Nippon Steel'') in 1954. In 1958, he left Yawata Steel and entered

Rikkyo University , also known as Saint Paul's University, is a private university, in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, Japan. Rikkyo is one of the five MARCH (Japanese universities), MARCH universities, the group of private universities in the Kantō region, Kanto region, toge ...

. After graduating from Rikkyo University, he joined Yawata Steel again in 1962. In 1965, Yawata Steel joined new league

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 ...

. He retired in 1971. He played 79 games and scored 19 goals in the league. He was selected Best Eleven in

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

National team career

On December 25, 1958, when Watanabe was a

student, he debuted for Japan national team against

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. He played at

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this honor was subseq ...

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

and

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

. At 1968 Summer Olympics, he played 5 games and scored 2 goals against

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 ...

and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

. Japan also won Bronze Medal. In 2018, this team was selected Japan Football Hall of Fame. He also played at

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

and

1966 Asian Games The 1966 Asian Games, also known as the V Asiad or Bangkok 1966, were a continental multi-sport event that was held from 9 to 20 December 1966, in Bangkok, Thailand. A total of 142 events in 16 sports were contested by athletes during the games. T ...

. He played 39 games and scored 19 goals for Japan until 1969.

Coaching career

In 1969, when Watanabe played for

(later ''Nippon Steel''), he became a playing manager. He managed the club until 1975. In 1979, he became an assistant coach for Japan national team under manager Yukio Shimomura. At 1980 Asian Olympic Qualifying Tournaments in April 1980, following Japan's failure to qualify for

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

, Shimomura resigned a manager. In May, Watanabe was promoted to manager as Shimomura successor. However, just before 1982 World Cup qualification in December, he suffered a

subarachnoid hemorrhage Subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is bleeding into the subarachnoid space—the area between the arachnoid (brain), arachnoid membrane and the pia mater surrounding the human brain, brain. Symptoms may include a thunderclap headache, severe heada ...

and replaced to Saburo Kawabuchi. On December 7, 1995, Watanabe died of

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

in Chiba at the age of 59. In 2006, he was selected Japan Football Hall of Fame.

National team statistics

Awards and honors

Best Eleven:

* Japan Football Hall of Fame: Inducted in 2006

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 ...

Japan Football Hall of Fame
(Japan team at 1968 Olympics) at

* * 1936 births 1995 deaths Rikkyo University alumni Japanese men's footballers Japan men's international footballers Japan Soccer League players Nippon Steel Yawata SC players Japanese football managers Japan national football team managers Player-coaches Olympic footballers for Japan Olympic medalists in football Olympic bronze medalists for Japan Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1968 Summer Olympics Asian Games bronze medalists for Japan Footballers at the 1962 Asian Games Footballers at the 1966 Asian Games Men's association football forwards Medalists at the 1966 Asian Games Association football people from Hiroshima 20th-century Japanese sportsmen Asian Games bronze medalists in football {{Japan-footy-forward-stub