is a Japanese former professional

footballer 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 le ...

who played as a defender.

Club career

Tsuboi was educated at and played for Yokkaichi Chuo Technical High School and

Fukuoka University Fukuoka University is a private research university located in Fukuoka, Japan. The university has nine faculties with a total of around 20,000 students, 800 of whom are foreign. Its two campuses are in Nanakuma and Kitakyushu. Fukuoka Universit ...

. After graduating from the university in 2002, he joined

Urawa Red Diamonds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

and immediately broke into the first team. His first appearance came on 3 March 2002 against

Yokohama F. Marinos is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club competes in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Having won the J-League title four times an ...

in opening game in 2002 season. He scored his first league goal on 17 May 2003 against

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Gamba'' comes from the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to st ...

. He won the Rookie of the Year award in 2002 and was selected as one of the J.League Best Eleven in 2003. In 2006, Reds won the champions in

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

which is first J1 champions in the club history. In 2007, Reds won first Asian title

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

. Although he played many matches as regular center back until 2010, he could not play many matches from 2011. In 2015, Tsuboi moved to

Shonan Bellmare is a Japanese professional football club based in Hiratsuka, in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Hiratsuka ...

. However he could not play many matches and Bellmare was relegated to

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yas ...

end of 2016 season. In 2018, he moved to J2 club

Renofa Yamaguchi FC is a Japanese professional football club based in Yamaguchi, the capital of Yamaguchi Prefecture. They currently play in the J2 League, the second tier of professional football in Japan's football league system. History The original footbal ...

International career

Tsuboi represented

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

for the

2001 Summer Universiade The 2001 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXI Summer Universiade, was an international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, between 22 August and 1 September. A total of 6,757 athletes from 165 nations took part in 12 sports ...

held in Beijing where the team won the title beating

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

in the final. Japan's national coach Zico gave him the first cap in 2003 when he played Tsuboi on 11 June 2003 in a friendly against

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Saitama Stadium , often called or simply , is a football stadium located in Midori-ku, Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. Currently, J1 League club Urawa Red Diamonds use this stadium for home games. It is the largest football-specific stadium in Japan an ...

.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref> He was a member of the Japan team for

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

where he played 2 games against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

and

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. In Japan's first match against Australia, he suffered from cramps in his both thighs and had to be replaced by

Teruyuki Moniwa is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Maruyasu Okazaki. Club career Moniwa was born in Atsugi on 8 September 1981. He joined J1 League club Bellmare Hiratsuka (later ''Shonan Bellmare'') from youth team in 1999 ...

in the 56th minute. He was also in the squad for

2007 Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its hi ...

but did not play any game in the tournament as

Yuki Abe is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He played 53 times for Japan between 2005 and 2011 and was a member of the 2010 FIFA World Cup squad. Club career JEF United Chiba Born in Ichikawa, Chiba, Abe ...

and

Yuji Nakazawa is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a centre back for J1 League side Tokyo Verdy and Yokohama F. Marinos. He was the formerly the captain of the Japan national team. His nickname is "Bomber" because of his distinctive hai ...

were the first-choice centre backs. On 8 February 2008, he announced retirement from international football. He played 40 games for Japan until 2007.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Urawa Reds *

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or also Japan FA Cup is a Japanese football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football match in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formation of the J.League, Japan Football League and their predecessor, J ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

J.League Cup The is a Japanese football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or (Levain is one of YB ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

Japanese Super Cup The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J. League and the Japan Football Association (JFA). This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the r ...

Shonan Bellmare *

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

Individual *

J.League Best Eleven The J.League Best XI is an acknowledgement of the best eleven players in J.League. J1 League (1993–present) Multiple appearances Appearances by club Appearances by country * Only in two occasions there was a full-Japanese Best XI (20 ...

J.League Rookie of the Year The J.League Best Young Player (formerly known as the "J.League Rookie of the Year" from 1993 to 2019) is awarded by the J.League to the most outstanding rookie of the season. To be considered a rookie, a player must be in his first professional y ...

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

* J. League Cup New Hero Award:

References

External links

* * * *
Japan National Football Team Database

Profile at Renofa Yamaguchi FC

Yahoo! Sports Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsuboi, Keisuke 1979 births Living people Fukuoka University alumni People from Tama, Tokyo Association football people from Tokyo Metropolis Japanese footballers Japan international footballers J1 League players J2 League players Urawa Red Diamonds players Shonan Bellmare players Renofa Yamaguchi FC players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players Association football defenders