is a Japanese

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former player.

Early life

Imai was born in

Saitama Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (January 1, 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...

on December 29, 1954. He is a graduate of

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 ...

Playing career

Imai played for Fujitsu (later ''Kawasaki Frontale'') from 1977 to 1981.

Coaching career

After retirement, Imai became a manager for Tokyo Gas in 1993. He managed Shiroki FC Serena (1996),

Kawasaki Frontale is a Japanese professional football club based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The club currently compete in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium i ...

(2000). In November 2005, Imai was appointed by

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 ...

to coach Chinese Taipei national team and to help the football development in Taiwan. It was his first international assignment. He accepted the challenge and signed a one-year contract with

Chinese Taipei Football Association Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) is the governing body for football in the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan). Its official name in Chinese is the Republic of China Football Association, but due to the political status of Tai ...

in December. Under his guidance, although the team did not have any amazing performance in international competitions, it was believed that Imai did bring good influence on the team, as well as football activities in Taiwan. On 15 December 2006, Imai extended his contract with CTFA. In addition to men's national team, he also led Chinese Taipei women's national team in the 2008 Olympic Games qualification in February 2007. In 2008, he returned to Japan and became the manager of

. In 2016, Imai became manager of

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One China principle stipulated by the ...

again, but was fired in October of that year after complaints of team disunity. By January 2017, he was already mentoring Global Cebu which is set to participate at the

Philippines Football League The Philippines Football League (PFL) is a men's professional association football, football league in the Philippines. Sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and organized by Liga Futbol Inc., it is the country's Football in t ...

as its head coach. In 2020, Imai briefly coached

Taiwan Football Premier League The Taiwan Football Premier League (TFPL; ) is the top-ranked Taiwanese Association football, football league run by the Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA). History The Taiwan Football Premier League was founded in 2017 after the folding ...

team Taichung Futuro.

Managerial statistics

J.League Data Site
/ref>

References

External links

* 1954 births Living people Waseda University alumni Association football people from Saitama Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Kawasaki Frontale players Japan Soccer League players Japanese football managers FC Tokyo managers Kawasaki Frontale managers Chinese Taipei national football team managers Chinese Taipei women's national football team managers Mongolia national football team managers Global F.C. managers J1 League managers Philippines Football League managers Japanese expatriate football managers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Taiwan Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Mongolia Japanese expatriate sportspeople in the Philippines Expatriate football managers in Taiwan Expatriate football managers in Mongolia Expatriate football managers in the Philippines Men's association football players not categorized by position 20th-century Japanese sportsmen {{Japan-footy-bio-stub