Ryoichi Maeda

Ryoichi Maeda

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Personal information
Date of birth	(1981-10-09) 9 October 1981
Place of birth	Kobe, Japan
Height
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	FC Tokyo
Number	9
Youth career
1994–1996	Gyosei Gakuen Junior High School
1997–1999	Gyosei Gakuen High School
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2000–2014	Júbilo Iwata	363	(154)
2015–	FC Tokyo	30	(9)
International career‡
2000–2001	Japan U-20	12	(5)
2003–2004	Japan U-23	5	(0)
2007–2013	Japan	33	(10)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 4 January 2016 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19:09, 22 June 2013 (UTC)

Ryoichi Maeda (前田 遼一, Maeda Ryōichi, born 9 October 1981 in Kobe) is a Japanese footballer who plays as a striker for FC Tokyo of the J. League Division 1.

Club career

Maeda was born in Kobe, Japan but spent his childhood in the United States. He was educated at and played for Gyosei Junior High and Ghosei High School in Tokyo. While he was a high school student, he was chosen as one of the Designated Players for Development by J. League and JFA. Because of this status, Maeda was able to register as a Verdy Kawasaki player while he was still eligible to play for his high school club. However, he did not play any official match for Verdy.

After graduating from his high school in 2000, he joined Jubilo Iwata. His first appearance as a professional player came on 3 May 2000 in a league match against Kawasaki Frontale. His first professional goal came on 28 August 2001 in a J. League Cup game against JEF United Ichihara. In the season 2009 was the J. League Top Scorer with twenty goals. In the 2010 season, Maeda became the top scorer again, netting 17 times.

Curse of Maeda

Since the 2007 season, for 6 straight seasons, each team Maeda scores his first goal of the league campaign against has eventually been relegated to J. League Division 2. This has given rise to the so-called "curse of (Ryoichi) Maeda". It became a topic of wide public conversation in late 2012 as Gamba Osaka, the team that he scored his first goal of that season against, was in the relegation zone despite having not ranked lower than 3rd in the previous 3 seasons. Consistent with the "curse", Gamba Osaka was relegated to J2 following the last game of the season in which they lost against, funnily enough, Jubilo Iwata 2–1 with Maeda scoring a goal and an assist. The curse will have come to an end by the end of the 2013 season, however, as Maeda's first goal of the 2013 season came in a loss to Urawa, who will not be relegated.

International career

Maeda played for Japan U-20 at the 2001 FIFA World Youth Championship in Argentina. He also played for Japan U-23 at the 2004 Summer Olympics qualification but failed to be picked up to the squad for the finals in Greece. After impressive performance at club, Maeda made his international debut for Japan in a friendly against Cameroon on 22 August 2007 at Ōita Stadium. He scored his first international goal on 17 October 2007 in a friendly against Egypt at Nagai Stadium in Osaka. In 2011, Maeda participated in his first major full international tournament at 2011 AFC Asian Cup in Qatar and started all six games in Japan's Asian Cup winning campaign.

Career statistics

As of match played 22 November 2015

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Japan			League		Emperor's Cup		League Cup		Asia		Total
2000	Júbilo Iwata	J. League 1	1	0	3	0	-		-		4	0
2001			9	2	2	1	5	1	-		16	4
2002			4	0	3	1	2	0	-		9	1
2003			28	7	5	1	9	5	-		42	13
2004			27	8	5	3	6	1	3	1	41	13
2005			25	12	-		2	2	3	0	30	14
2006			27	15	3	2	7	1	-		37	18
2007			22	12	2	1	-		-		24	13
2008			22	8	-		-		-		22	8
2009			34	20	2	1	6	3	-		42	24
2010			33	17	1	0	10	3	-		44	20
2011			28	14	-		3	1	-		31	15
2012			33	13	1	1	4	2	-		38	16
2013			33	9	0	0	4	1	-		37	10
2014		J. League 2	37	17	0	0	0	0	-		37	17
2015	F.C. Tokyo	J. League 1	30	9	6	0	2	1	-		38	10
Career total			393	163	35	12	60	21	6	1	494	197

Japan national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2007	2	1
2008	1	1
2009	2	0
2010	2	0
2011	9	4
2012	8	4
2013	9	0
Total	33	10

National team career statistics

Appearances in major competitions

Team	Competition	Category	Appearances		Goals	Team Record
			Start	Sub
Japan	2001 FIFA World Youth Championship	U-20	3	0	0	Group stage
Japan	2011 AFC Asian Cup	Senior	6	0	3	Champion

Goals for senior national team

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	17 October 2007	Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan	Egypt	3–0	4–1	2007 Afro-Asian Cup of Nations
2.	17 February 2008	Olympic Sports Center, Chongqing, China PR	North Korea	1–1	1–1	East Asian Football Championship 2008
3.	17 January 2011	Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar	Saudi Arabia	0–3	0–5	2011 AFC Asian Cup
4.	17 January 2011	Ahmed bin Ali Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar	Saudi Arabia	0–4	0–5	2011 AFC Asian Cup
5.	25 January 2011	Al-Gharafa Stadium, Doha, Qatar	South Korea	1–1	2–2	2011 AFC Asian Cup
6.	11 November 2011	Pamir Stadium, Dushanbe, Tajikistan	Tajikistan	0–3	0–4	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
7.	24 February 2012	Nagai Stadium, Osaka, Japan	Iceland	1–0	3–1	International Friendly
8.	3 June 2012	Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan	Oman	2–0	3–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
9.	8 June 2012	Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan	Jordan	1–0	6–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification
10.	11 September 2012	Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan	Iraq	1–0	1–0	2014 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Japan

• AFC Asian Cup (1) : 2011
• Afro-Asian Cup of Nations (1) : 2007

Club

Júbilo Iwata

• J. League Cup (1) : 2010

Individual

• Asian Young Footballer of the Year (1) : 2000

• J. League Top Scorer (2) : 2009, 2010
• J. League Best XI (2) : 2009, 2010
• J. League Cup MVP (1) : 2010