is a Japanese former

football player A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who played for the Japan national team. He currently works on television as a football commentator.

Club career

When Kitazawa was a junior high student, he played for Yomiuri Junior Youth. After being rejected by the club to advance to the club's Youth team, he entered Shutoku High School and played for the school club. After graduating, he joined

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 ...

side

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 1987. He was the top scorer of the league in the 1990–91 season. He moved to Yomiuri (later Verdy Kawasaki, now

Tokyo Verdy is a Japanese professional football club based in Inagi, Tokyo. The club currently competes in the J1 League, following promotion from the J2 League in 2023. History Founded as Yomiuri Football Club in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the mo ...

) in 1991. Kitazawa, together with his teammates

Kazuyoshi Miura , nicknamed King Kazu, is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Japan Football League club Atletico Suzuka, on loan from J1 League club Yokohama FC. He is the world's second oldest active player to play and oldest to s ...

Ruy Ramos is a Brazilian-born Japanese former football manager and player. He is currently active as a television personality and '' tarento'', represented by Irving. Club career Ramos was one of the first foreign players in Japanese professional f ...

Nobuhiro Takeda is a Japanese former football player. He played for Japan national team. He was a forward and known as an opportunistic goal-scorer, making most of his quick thinking and canny positioning. He currently works at Nippon Television and belongs t ...

Tetsuji Hashiratani is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for Japan national team. His elder brother Koichi Hashiratani is also a former footballer. Club career Hashiratani was educated at and played for Kyoto Commercial High School and Ko ...

and Bismarck made in the early 1990s the golden era of Verdy who won the

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

championship (

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

and

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

) and

J.League Cup The is a Japanese Association football, football (soccer) competition organised by J.League, the men's association football league in Japan. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since it ...

(

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

, and

). He finished his playing career as a Verdy player in 2002.

National team career

Kitazawa was capped 58 times and scored 3 goals for the Japan national team between 1991 and 1999. He made his international debut on 2 June 1991 in a friendly against

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

Yamagata Park Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in the Yamagata Prefectural Sports Park in Tendo, Yamagata, Tendo, Yamagata Prefecture. The facility is owned by Yamagata Prefecture and operated and managed by Montedio Yamagata Co., Ltd. as the designated manager. The ...

, under national coach

Kenzo Yokoyama is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for, and then managed, the Japan national team. Club career Yokoyama was born in Saitama on January 21, 1943. After graduating from Kawaguchi High School and Rikkyo University, he joi ...

. He was a member of the Japan team for the 1992 Asian Cup that Japan won. He scored his first international goal on 6 November 1992 in the semifinal against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Hiroshima Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 1,199,391. The gross domestic product (GDP) in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Urban Employment Area, was US$ ...

. He took part in Japan's unsuccessful campaign to qualify for the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

. He was a member of the Asian final qualification stage that was held centrally in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

and played two games. He was on the bench when the Iraqi's injury-time equaliser dashed Japan's qualification hope in the last qualifier, in the match that the Japanese fans now remember as the Agony of Doha. Kitazawa was short-listed for the 1998 World Cup, but national coach

Takeshi Okada is a Japanese football manager and former player who played as a defender. He is currently the owner of FC Imabari Club career Okada was born in Osaka on August 25, 1956. After graduating from Waseda University, he joined Japan Soccer League ...

dropped him along with

and

Daisuke Ichikawa is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played for the Japan national team. Club career Ichikawa is a product of Shimizu S-Pulses youth system. He played as right side-back and right midfielder. He made his J ...

at the final training camp in

Nyon Nyon (; historically German language, German: or and Italian language, Italian: , ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in Nyon District in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud in Switzerland. It is located some 25 kilometer ...

, Switzerland.

Futsal career

Kitazawa represented

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 ...

in the

1989 FIFA Futsal World Championship The 1989 FIFA Futsal World Championship was the first FIFA Futsal World Championship, the quadrennial international futsal championship contested by the men's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. It was held between 5 and 15 January ...

finals hosted by the

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 ...

Career statistics

Club

National team

Honours

Japan national team *

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest c ...

References

External links

* *
Tsuyoshi Kitazawa
at Japan National Football Team Database * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kitazawa, Tsuyoshi 1968 births Living people Association football people from Tokyo Japanese men's footballers Japan men's international footballers Japanese men's futsal players Japan Soccer League players J1 League players Honda FC players Tokyo Verdy players 1992 AFC Asian Cup players 1995 King Fahd Cup players AFC Asian Cup–winning players Men's association football midfielders Footballers at the 1994 Asian Games Asian Games footballers for Japan People from Machida, Tokyo 20th-century Japanese sportsmen