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 and manager.

Club career

Imai was born in

Shizuoka Shizuoka can refer to: * Shizuoka Prefecture, a Japanese prefecture * Shizuoka (city), the capital city of Shizuoka Prefecture * Shizuoka Airport * Shizuoka Domain, the name from 1868 to 1871 for Sunpu Domain was a feudal domain under the Tok ...

on April 2, 1959. After graduating from

Kokushikan University is a private university in Setagaya, Tokyo, Japan. The basic origins of Kokushikan University lie in the Kokushikan private academy which was founded in Tokyo's Azabu District in 1917, during the Taisho period. Kokushikan's 146,000 graduates a ...

, he joined

Honda commonly known as just Honda, is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate automotive manufacturer headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Founded in October 1946 by Soichiro Honda, Honda has bee ...

in 1982. He played 115 games in

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 1990.

Futsal career

In 1989, Imai was elected to the

Japan national futsal team The , nicknamed , represents Japan in international futsal competitions and is controlled by the Japan Football Association. Japan is one of the two teams besides Iran to have won the AFC Futsal Asian Cup, winning in 2006, 2012, 2014 and 2022. I ...

for the 1989 Futsal World Championship in

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

Coaching career

In 1989, Imai became a playing manager at

. In 2001, he became a manager for Philippines national team. In 2002, he returned to Japan and signed with

Avispa Fukuoka is a Japanese professional football club based in Hakata, Fukuoka. They currently compete in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. History Earlier years in Fujieda The club were originally based in Fujieda, Shizu ...

. In 2003, he became a manager for Macau national team and he managed until 2004. In 2007, he signed with

Tokushima Vortis is a Japanese professional football club located in Tokushima, capital of Tokushima Prefecture. The club currently playing in the J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football league. Name origin The name, "Vortis" was named in 19 ...

Managerial statistics

J.League Data Site
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References

External links

at FIFA.com *
Tokushima Vortis
1959 births Living people Futsal goalkeepers Kokushikan University alumni Japanese men's footballers Japanese men's futsal players Japan Soccer League players Honda FC players Japanese football managers J2 League managers J3 League managers Expatriate football managers in the Philippines Philippines national football team managers Avispa Fukuoka managers Expatriate football managers in Macau Macau national football team managers Tokushima Vortis managers Azul Claro Numazu managers Men's association football goalkeepers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Macau Japanese expatriate sportspeople in the Philippines Association football people from Shizuoka (city) 20th-century Japanese sportsmen {{Japan-footy-goalkeeper-stub