Yahiro Kazama (風間 八宏, Kazama Yahiro, born October 16, 1961) is a Japanese manager and former footballer. He played for the Japan national team. He is the first Japanese player to score in the J1 League.[1] His two sons Koki Kazama and Koya Kazama are also footballers.
Club career
Kazama was born in Shizuoka on October 16, 1961. After graduating from University of Tsukuba, he moved to Germany in 1984. He played for several clubs, including Remscheid and Eintracht Braunschweig.[2] In 1989, he returned to Japan and joined Japan Soccer League Division 2 club Mazda (later Sanfrecce Hiroshima). The club was promoted to Division 1 in 1991. In 1992, the Japan Soccer League was folded and a new league, the J1 League, was founded. In the league's first season, he played in the opening match and scored a goal, which is the first goal by a Japanese player in the J1 League. He left Sanfrecce Hiroshima at the end of the 1995 season and returned to Remscheid again. He retired in 1998.
After retirement, Kazama became a manager for the Toin University of Yokohama in 1998.[4] He resigned in 2003. In 2008, he became a manager for his alma mater University of Tsukuba and managed until April 2012.
On April 23, 2012, Kawasaki Frontale announced Kazama as their new manager. He succeeded Naoki Soma who was fired for poor results.[1] Kazama led the club to 3rd place twice (2013 and 2016) and were runners-up of the 2016 Emperor's Cup. He resigned at the end of the 2016 season.
In 2017, Kazama moved to J2 League club Nagoya Grampus. He led the club to a 3rd place finish at the end of the season and hence gained promotion to 2018 J1 League. In the 2018 season, although Grampus results were bad, Grampus finished at the 15th place and remained in J1. On 23 September 2019, it was announced Kazama would be leaving Grampus after an underwhelming season.[5][6]
