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 be ...

and former player.

Early life

Imai was born in

Saitama Prefecture is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 km2 (1,466 sq mi). Saitama Prefecture borders Tochigi Prefectur ...

on 29 December 1954 and graduated from

Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

Playing career

Imai played for

Fujitsu is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...

(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 plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium, in Nakahara W ...

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

Japan Football Association The Japan Football Association (JFA, ) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football, futsal, beach soccer and efootball in Japan. It is responsible for the national team, as well as club competitions. History The organ ...

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 Taiw ...

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 th ...

again, but was fired in October of that year after complaints of team disunity. By January 2017, he was already mentoring

Global Cebu Global Football Club was a professional football club that last played in the Philippines Football League (PFL), the top flight of Philippines' club football. The club has won four league titles, two UFL Cups, one UFL FA Cup, and one PFF Natio ...

which is set to participate at the

Philippines Football League The Philippines Football League, commonly known as PFL, is a Philippines, Filipino professional association football, football league sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). It is the Philippines, Philippines' highest level of men ...

as its head coach. In 2020, Imai briefly coached Taiwan Football Premier League team Taichung Futuro.

Managerial statistics

J.League Data Site
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References

External links

* 1954 births Living people Waseda University alumni Association football people from Saitama Prefecture Japanese 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 Makati F.C. managers J1 League managers Philippines Football League head coaches 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 Association footballers not categorized by position {{Japan-footy-bio-stub