is 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 ...

manager and former player. He was previously the head coach of the Singapore national team, serving from 2019 to 2021 which he was famously known in the country for enhancing Singapore fluidity football. As a player, Tatsuma spent the majority of his career with

Montedio Yamagata is a Japanese people, Japanese professional association football club based in Tendo, Yamagata. The club currently playing in J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football. Name origin Montedio is a coined word combining the I ...

Early life

Tatsuma was born in

Chiba Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama ...

on June 9, 1974.

Playing career

Youth career

During Tatsuma junior high school years, he played for the Hitachi Junior Youth Soccer Club.

Senior career

After graduating from Urayasu High School, Tatsuma joined his local club

Kashiwa Reysol is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo ...

in 1993. In 1997, he moved to Kyoto Purple Sanga. In 1999, Tatsuma moved to newly promoted

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...

club,

. He became a regular for them, playing as a defensive midfielder. During the final day of the 1999 J.League Division 2 season, Yoshida scored a late long range free kick goal against

Oita Trinita is a Japanese football club located in Ōita, Capital of Ōita Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football. Name origin The club's name, ''Trinita'', is the Italian translation of the word ' ...

, denying their chances of being promoted to the J.League Division 1. In 2002, he moved to Singapore and played for Jurong FC in the S-League (now

Singapore Premier League The Singapore Premier League, commonly abbreviated as the SPL, officially known as the AIA Singapore Premier League for sponsorship reasons, is a men's professional football league sanctioned by the Football Association of Singapore (FAS), wh ...

). After five appearances, he retired at the end of the 2002 season.

Coaching career

Return to Kashiwa Reysol

Tatsuma returned to

in 2003 and spent seven years as director of the club's academy, where he helped to establish it as one of the best in the country. Japan internationals Hiroki Sakai,

Masato Kudo was a Japanese footballer who played as a forward. International career On 23 September 2010, Kudo was selected for the Japan Under-21 squad for the 2010 Asian Games held in Guangzhou, China. On 23 May 2013, Kudo was called up to Japan's sen ...

and

Kosuke Nakamura is a Japanese professional footballer who lastly played as a goalkeeper for Portimonense. He has represented the Japan national team internationally. International career In June 2011, Nakamura was called up to the Japan U17 national team ...

were groomed during his time there. Tatsuma spent a further three years as Reysol's sports director before succeeding as head coach for the 2015 J1 season on a two-year contract. In his first season, Tatsuma produced a respectable performance at the

2015 AFC Champions League The 2015 AFC Champions League was the 34th edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 13th under the current AFC Champions League title. Guangzhou Evergrande won the tourna ...

, reaching the

quarter-finals A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

before losing to Guangzhou Evergrande, the eventual winners of the competition that year. Reysol had also finished at the semi-finals of that year's

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 ...

. However, performances in the domestic league was lacklustre, and Tatsuma stint was cut short.

Albriex Niigata

In 2016, Tatsuma was appointed as head coach of

Albirex Niigata is a professional football club based in Niigata, Japan. Formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC, it was renamed Albireo Niigata FC in 1995, and Albirex Niigata in 1997. They currently play in J1 League after being promoted from J2 League as cha ...

until he was sacked on 27 September 2016 for poor performances

Ventforet Kofu

Tatsuma was appointed as

Ventforet Kofu is a Japanese professional football club from Kōfu in Yamanashi Prefecture. The team currently competes in the J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football, hosting their home matches in the JIT Recycle Ink Stadium, located in Kōf ...

head coach in 2017. Ventforet was relegated to

at the end of

2017 J1 League The 2017 J1 League (known as the 2017 Meiji Yasuda J1 League (2017 明治安田生命J1リーグ) for sponsorship reasons) was the 25th season of the J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its estab ...

season and Tatsuma was subsequently dismissed in April 2018.

Singapore

On 30 May 2019, Tatsuma was unveiled as the head coach of the Singapore national team. Yoshida's first game in change for the national team began with a 4–3 victory against the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

at the

National Stadium Many countries have a national sport stadium, which typically serves as the primary or exclusive home for one or more of a country's national representative sports teams. The term is most often used in reference to an association football ...

. Yoshida extended his contract in 2021, but ended his stint by mutual agreement citing family reasons on 28 December that same year shortly after the 2020 AFF Suzuki Cup, whereby the Singapore team impressively reached the semi-finals after 9 years.

Return to Ventforet Kofu

On 3 January 2022, the club confirmed that he will return to the club for the 2022 J2 League season. On 16 October 2022, he brought his club won 2022 Emperor's Cup for the first time in history thus qualifying them to their debut

2023–24 AFC Champions League The 2023–24 AFC Champions League was the 42nd edition of Asia's premier club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 21st and final under the AFC Champions League title, as the competition would be rebra ...

group stage appearances.

Tokushima Vortis

In August 2023, Yoshida was appointed manager of

club

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 ...

following the mid-season departure of Beñat Labaien. They finished the season in 15th place. Following a disappointing start to the 2024 season with only 4 points from 7 games, Yoshida was dismissed on 31 March.

Club statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager

Ventforet Kofu *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Yoshida, Tatsuma 1974 births Living people Association football people from Chiba Prefecture Japanese men's footballers J1 League players J2 League players Japan Football League (1992–1998) players 20th-century Japanese sportsmen Jurong FC players Kashiwa Reysol players Kyoto Sanga FC players Montedio Yamagata players Japanese football managers J1 League managers J2 League managers Kashiwa Reysol managers Albirex Niigata managers Ventforet Kofu managers category:Tokushima Vortis managers Men's association football midfielders