Junichi Inamoto

Junichi Inamoto (稲本 潤一, Inamoto Junichi, born September 18, 1979) is a Japanese former football player. He played for the Japan national team.

Junichi Inamoto
稲本 潤一

Inamoto playing for Kawasaki Frontale in 2010
Personal information
Full name	Junichi Inamoto[1]
Date of birth	(1979-09-18) 18 September 1979 (age 46)[1]
Place of birth	Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11 in)[2]
Position(s)	Midfielder[3]
Youth career
1992–1997	Gamba Osaka
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1997–2004	Gamba Osaka	118	(16)
2001–2002	→ Arsenal (loan)	0	(0)
2002–2004	→ Fulham (loan)	41	(9)
2004–2006	West Bromwich Albion	28	(0)
2004–2005	→ Cardiff City (loan)	14	(0)
2006–2007	Galatasaray	25	(0)
2007–2009	Eintracht Frankfurt	43	(0)
2009–2010	Rennes	5	(0)
2010–2014	Kawasaki Frontale	99	(3)
2015–2018	Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	47	(1)
2019–2021	SC Sagamihara	19	(1)
2022–2024	Nankatsu SC	2	(0)
Total		441	(25)
International career
1995	Japan U-17	3	(0)
1998–1999	Japan U-20	11	(4)
1998–2000	Japan U-23	15	(5)
2000–2010	Japan	82	(5)
Medal record Men's football Representing  Japan AFC Asian Cup Winner 2000 Lebanon FIFA Confederations Cup Runner-up 2001 Korea/Japan
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Biography

Inamoto was born in Osaka Prefecture on September 18, 1979.^[4] He joined J1 League club Gamba Osaka from their youth team in 1997. In April, at the age of 17, he made his debut in the 1997 season, which made him the youngest player to play in the J1 League at that time. He played for Gamba until summer 2001 and played 118 matches in J1 League. In summer 2001, he moved to English Premier League club Arsenal. After that, he played for many European clubs including Fulham, West Bromwich Albion, Cardiff City, Galatasaray, Eintracht Frankfurt and Stade Rennais. In 2010, he returned to Japan and joined Kawasaki Frontale. He played for the club for five seasons. In 2015, he moved to J2 League club Consadole Sapporo (later Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo). Although the club were the champions in 2016 and was promoted to J1, he could not play many matches in the 2016 season. In 2019, he moved to J3 League club SC Sagamihara. The club reached second place in 2020 and was promoted to J2.

In August 1995, Inamoto was selected for the Japan U-17 national team in the [the [1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship|1995 U-17 World Championship]] and played all three matches. In April 1999, he was selected for the Japan U-20 national team for the 1999 World Youth Championship. At this tournament, he played three matches and Japan came in second place.

On February 5, 2000, Inamoto debuted for the Japan national team under manager Philippe Troussier against Mexico. After the debuted, Inamoto played 10 matches or more every year. In September 2000, Inamoto was selected Japan U-23 national team for 2000 Summer Olympics. He played full-time in all 4 matches and scored a goal against Slovakia. In 2000, Inamoto played at 2000 Asian Cup. He played four matches and Japan won the championship. In 2001, he also played at 2001 Confederations Cup. He played four matches and Japan came second place. In 2002, he was selected Japan for 2002 World Cup. He played all four matches and scored two goals against Belgium at first match and Russia at second match. Japan qualified to the knockout stage first time in Japan's history. After 2002 World Cup, Inamoto played at 2003 and 2005 Confederations Cup. In 2006, he was selected by Japan for 2006 World Cup. He played two matches while Japan was eliminated in the group stages. After the 2006 World Cup, Inamoto was not selected Japan for a year. In June 2007, he played for Japan for the first time in a year. After that, he played several matches every year. In 2010, he was selected by Japan for the 2010 World Cup. He played two matches and Japan qualified for the knockout stage. This World Cup saw his last game for Japan. He played 82 games and scored 5 goals for Japan.

Career statistics

Club

As of 14 October 2022^[5][6]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Gamba Osaka	1997	J1 League	27	3	3	0	6	0	–		36	3
	1998		28	6	1	0	4	0	–		33	6
	1999		22	1	2	0	0	0	–		24	1
	2000		28	4	2	0	4	1	–		34	5
	2001		13	2	0	0	3	0	–		16	2
	Total		118	16	8	0	17	1	–		143	17
Arsenal (loan)	2001–02	Premier League	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0	4	0
Fulham (loan)	2002–03	Premier League	19	2	2	0	2	0	10[a]	4	33	6
	2003–04		22	2	2	1	1	0	–		25	3
	Total		41	4	4	1	3	0	10	4	58	9
West Bromwich Albion	2004–05	Premier League	3	0	0	0	0	0	–		3	0
	2005–06	Premier League	22	0	2	0	2	1	–		26	1
	2006–07	Championship	3	0	0	0	0	0	–		3	0
	Total		28	0	2	0	2	1	–		32	1
Cardiff City (loan)	2004–05	Championship	14	0	2	0	0	0	–		16	0
Galatasaray	2006–07	Süper Lig	25	0	3	0	–		5	1	33	1
Eintracht Frankfurt	2007–08	Bundesliga	24	0	2	0	–		–		26	0
	2008–09		19	0	1	0	–		–		20	0
	Total		43	0	3	0	–		–		46	0
Rennes	2009–10	Ligue 1	5	0	0	0	0	0	–		5	0
Kawasaki Frontale	2010	J1 League	28	0	2	0	4	0	5	0	39	0
	2011		12	2	1	0	1	0	–		14	2
	2012		20	0	1	0	3	0	–		24	0
	2013		25	0	3	0	10	0	–		36	0
	2014		14	1	1	0	1	0	3	0	19	1
	Total		99	3	8	0	20	0	8	0	135	3
Consadole Sapporo	2015	J2 League	31	0	1	0	–		–		32	0
	2016	J2 League	8	1	0	0	–		–		8	1
	2017	J1 League	6	0	0	0	0	0	–		6	0
	2018		2	0	1	0	5	0	–		8	0
	Total		47	1	2	0	5	0	–		54	0
SC Sagamihara	2019	J3 League	9	1	0	0	–		–		9	1
	2020		1	0	0	0	–		–		1	0
	2021	J2 League	9	0	2	0	–		–		11	0
Nankatsu SC	2022	Kanto Soccer League	2	0	0	0	–		–		2	0
Career total			441	25	34	1	49	2	25	5	549	33

1. Includes appearances in the Intertoto Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[7]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Japan	2000	14	0
	2001	11	1
	2002	11	2
	2003	10	1
	2004	6	0
	2005	10	0
	2006	4	0
	2007	3	0
	2008	2	0
	2009	4	1
	2010	8	0
Total		82	5

Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Inamoto goal.

List of international goals scored by Junichi Inamoto

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	4 July 2001	Ōita, Japan	Yugoslavia		1–0	Friendly match
2	4 June 2002	Saitama, Japan	Belgium		2–2	2002 FIFA World Cup Group Stage
3	9 June 2002	Yokohama, Japan	Russia		1–0	2002 FIFA World Cup Group Stage
4	28 March 2003	Tokyo, Japan	Uruguay		2–2	Friendly match
5	9 September 2009	Utrecht, Netherlands	Ghana		4–3	Friendly match

Honours

Fulham

• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2002^[8]

Hokkaido Consodale Sapporo

• J2 League: 2016^[9]

Japan U17

• AFC U-17 Championship: 1994^[source?]

Japan U20

• FIFA World Youth Championship runner-up: 1999^[source?]

Japan

• AFC Asian Cup: 2000^[source?]
• FIFA Confederations Cup runner-up: 2001^[source?]

Individual

• J.League Best Eleven: 2000^[source?]