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. He played for and managed the Japan national team. He is the founder and honorary chairman of the

J.League The , commonly a.k.a. shortened to the , and officially known as the for sponsorship with Meiji Yasuda Life, is the men's association football league in Japan. It is responsible for organizing Japan's major professional football tournaments, in ...

. Between 2002 and 2008, he served as president of the

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 ...

Early life

Kawabuchi was born in Takaishi on December 3, 1936.Saburo Kawabuchi
sports-reference.com At first, when he was in Takaishi elementary school and Takaishi Junior high school, he played baseball. He was on to Mikunigaoka High School, Osaka and became a member of football team at the high school. He graduated from Mikunigaoka High School, Osaka in 1955. He went on to

Waseda University Waseda University (Japanese: ), abbreviated as or , is a private university, private research university in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in 1882 as the Tōkyō Professional School by Ōkuma Shigenobu, the fifth Prime Minister of Japan, prime ministe ...

School of commerce in 1957. He played for the Waseda University football team. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in commerce from Waseda University.

Club career

After graduating from

, Kawabuchi played for

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 ...

, in the early days of the

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 ...

. In the initial league season, he was the first player to score a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

, against Nagoya Mutual Bank. He retired in 1970, having played 68 games and scored 10 goals in the league.

National team career

On December 25, 1958, when Kawabuchi was a

student, he debuted and scored 2 goals 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 ...

. In 1962, he played at

1962 Asian Games The 1962 Asian Games () also known as the 4th Asian Games, IV Asiad, and Jakarta 1962, were the fourth edition of pan-Asian multi-sport event sanctioned by the Asian Games Federation (AGF). The games were held from 24 August to 4 September 1962, ...

. In 1964, he was selected Japan for

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 ...

. At 1964 Summer Olympics, he scored a goal in first match against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. He also played at

. He played 26 games and scored 8 goals for Japan until 1965.Japan National Football Team Database
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Coaching career

After retirement, Kawabuchi became a coach for

in 1970. In 1973, he became a manager and managed until 1975. Just before

1982 World Cup qualification __NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 198 fo ...

in December 1980, he was named manager for the Japan national team and replaced

Masashi Watanabe was a Japanese football player and manager. He played for Japan national team. He also managed Japan national team. Club career Watanabe was born in Hiroshima on January 11, 1936. After graduating from high school, he joined Yawata Steel (later ...

, who 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 ...

. Kawabuchi managed Japan at the 1982 World Cup qualification and managed until March 1981. In 1991, he was named the inaugural chairman of the

, as the first professional league in Japan. In 1991, he also became the first chairman of the J.League. In 2002, he resigned as chairman of the J.League and became the 10th president of the

Shunichiro Okano was a Japanese football player and manager. He played for Japan national team as a forward. He also managed Japan's national team. Biography Okano coached the Japan national team from 1961 to 1971, becoming the manager for the 1970-1971 seas ...

's successor. Kawabuchi served until 2008. He also served as president of the

Japan Basketball Association The is the governing body of basketball in Japan. Formed in 1930, it is based in Tokyo. The JBA is a member of FIBA and FIBA Asia. The federation is responsible for the Japan national basketball team and the Japan women's national basketball te ...

from May 2015 to June 2016. In 2006, he received the

FIFA Order of Merit The FIFA Order of Merit is the highest honour awarded by FIFA. The award is presented at the annual FIFA congress. It is normally awarded to people who are considered to have made a significant contribution to :association football. At FIFA's ce ...

. In 2008, he was also selected for the Japan Football Hall of Fame.

Later years

Kawabuchi serves as a councilor on the

organizing committee A union organizer (or union organiser in Commonwealth spelling) is a specific type of trade union member (often elected) or an appointed union official. In some unions, the organizer's role is to recruit groups of workers under the organizing ...

for the 2020 Summer Olympic and

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

. He had been requested by former

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Yoshirō Mori is a Japanese politician who served as Prime Minister of Japan and President of the Liberal Democratic Party from 2000 to 2001. He was unpopular in opinion polls during his time in office, and is known for making controversial statements, bot ...

to succeed him as committee chairperson in February 2021, but Kawabuchi later said that he would not accept the request.

Club statistics

National team statistics

Awards and honours

Silver Ball (Assist Leader):

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

* Japan Football Hall of Fame: Inducted in 2008 * Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd Class, Gold and Silver Star: 2009 *

Person of Cultural Merit is an official Japanese recognition and honour which is awarded annually to select people who have made outstanding cultural contributions. This distinction is intended to play a role as a part of a system of support measures for the promotion of ...

: 2015 *

Order of Culture The is a Japanese Order (decoration), order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japanese Art, Japan's art, Japanese Literature, literature, science, technolog ...

: 2023

Books

* J's career – With Japan football, Nihon Keizai Shimbun Shuppan, 2009

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kawabuchi, Saburo 1936 births Living people Waseda University alumni Association football people from Osaka Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Japan men's international footballers Japan Soccer League players JEF United Chiba players Olympic footballers for Japan Footballers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 1962 Asian Games Japanese football managers Japan national football team managers Persons of Cultural Merit Recipients of the Order of Culture Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd class Men's association football forwards People from Takaishi, Osaka Asian Games competitors for Japan Presidents of the Japan Football Association Basketball executives 20th-century Japanese sportsmen