Kazuo Saito

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Kazuo Saito
Personal information
Full name Kazuo Saito
Date of birth (1951-07-27) July 27, 1951 (age 72)
Place of birth Saitama, Saitama, Japan
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
1967–1969 Saitama Urawa Minami High School
1970–1973 Hosei University
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1974–1989 Mitsubishi Motors 248 (3)
Total 248 (3)
National team
1976–1984 Japan 32 (0)
Teams managed
1989–1992 Mitsubishi Motors
1997 Kawasaki Frontale
2000 Urawa Reds
2014 JEF United Chiba
Honours
Mitsubishi Motors
Winner Japan Soccer League 1978
Winner Japan Soccer League 1982
Runner-up Japan Soccer League 1974
Runner-up Japan Soccer League 1975
Runner-up Japan Soccer League 1976
Runner-up Japan Soccer League 1977
Winner JSL Cup 1978
Winner JSL Cup 1981
Winner Emperor's Cup 1978
Winner Emperor's Cup 1980
Runner-up Emperor's Cup 1979
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Kazuo Saito (斉藤 和夫, Saito Kazuo, born July 27, 1951) is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for the Japan national team.

Biography[change | change source]

Saito was born in Saitama on July 27, 1951. After graduating from Hosei University, he joined his local club Mitsubishi Motors in 1974. The club won the 2nd place in Japan Soccer League for 4 years in a row (1974-1977). In 1978, the club won all three major title in Japan; Japan Soccer League, JSL Cup and Emperor's Cup. The club also won 1980 Emperor's Cup, 1981 JSL Cup and 1982 Japan Soccer League. However, the club finished at the bottom place in 1988/89 season and was relegated Division 2. He retired end of 1988/89 season. He played 248 games and scored 3 goals in the league. He was selected Best Eleven in 1975, 1977 and 1978.

On January 28, 1976, Saito debuted for the Japan national team against Bulgaria. He played as regular player at 1976 Summer Olympics qualification and 1978 World Cup qualification. He was also selected for Japan for 1978 Asian Games. In 1984, he played for Japan for the first time in 6 years. 1984 Summer Olympics qualification was his last game for Japan. He played 32 games for Japan until 1984.

Saito retired from playing career in 1989, he became a manager for Mitsubishi Motors (later Urawa Reds) as Kuniya Daini successor. In 1989/90 season, he led the club to won the champions in Division 2 and promoted to Division 1. He resigned in 1992. Through an assistant coach for Urawa Reds and JEF United Ichihara (later JEF United Chiba), he signed with Kawasaki Frontale in 1997. In 2000, he returned to Urawa Reds and managed the club. From 2010, he signed with JEF United Chiba and became an assistant coach. In 2014, he managed JEF United Chiba as caretaker as Jun Suzuki successor.

Statistics[change | change source]

[1]

Club statistics League
SeasonClubLeague AppsGoals
JapanLeague
1974 Mitsubishi Motors JSL Division 1 15 0
1975 18 0
1976 17 1
1977 18 1
1978 13 0
1979 14 0
1980 18 1
1981 18 0
1982 18 0
1983 12 0
1984 15 0
1985/86 21 0
1986/87 19 0
1987/88 20 0
1988/89 12 0
Country Japan 248 3
Total 248 3

[2]

Japan national team
YearAppsGoals
1976 14 0
1977 5 0
1978 9 0
1979 0 0
1980 0 0
1981 0 0
1982 0 0
1983 0 0
1984 4 0
Total 32 0

References[change | change source]

  1. Kazuo Saito at National-Football-Teams.com Edit this at Wikidata
  2. Japan National Football Team Database

Other websites[change | change source]