is a Japanese 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 plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

or full-back for

Nankatsu SC are a Japanese football club based in Katsushika, Tokyo. They play in the Kantō Soccer League. As the club aims for a future qualification to the J.League, they currently hold the J.League 100 Year Plan status. History The club's origin date ...

Career

Inoha was educated at and played for Kagoshima Jitsugyo High School and Hannan University. He was on trial with several

J. League The , officially is Japan's professional football league including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League of the Japanese association football league system. J1 League is one of the most succe ...

clubs before the graduation from his high school but failed to convince any club to sign him. He decided to continue his study and football at Hannan University. When he was at the university, he was a member of the Japan team that won the 23rd

Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

football competition hosted by

İzmir İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...

, Turkey. His good form in the Kansai university League was recognised by Japan's youth team coach Kiyoshi Okuma who included him in the squad for the

2005 FIFA World Youth Championship The 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship was the 15th edition of the FIFA World Youth Championship. It took place in the Netherlands between 10 June and 2 July 2005. Venues Qualification The following 24 teams qualified for the 2005 FIFA Worl ...

finals. He signed with F.C. Tokyo after a successful trial and he took a leave of absence from the university with which he is still enrolled as of April 2008. Manager

Alexandre Gallo Alexandre Tadeu Gallo (born 29 May 1967), known as Alexandre Gallo or just Gallo, is a Brazilian football coach and former player who played as a defensive midfielder. He is the current head coach of Londrina. Career Gallo started his career ...

immediately established him as a starting member in his midfield. He received a call-up twice in 2006 for the national squad. Then he was a late replacement for injured Ryuji Bando for the

2007 AFC 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 h ...

finals but did not play in the competition. He was transferred to reigning J. League champions Kashima in 2008. He was a key member of the Japan's Under 23 team, however he failed to join the U-23 squad to compete the Beijing Olympics football competition. He was included in the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the fifte ...

finals and made his full international debut on 17 January 2011 against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. In a game against

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

, in the

, he scored a goal in minute 89' of the game. The game ended 3–2, a win for Japan. In the summer transfer window of 2011 he moved to Croatian giant

Hajduk Split Hrvatski nogometni klub Hajduk Split, commonly referred to as Hajduk Split () or simply Hajduk, is a Croatian professional football club based in Split, that competes in the Croatian First League, the top tier in Croatian football. Since 1979, t ...

. He scored his only goal for Hajduk in a 3–0 away from home victory over newly promoted side

Lučko Lučko is a settlement in the Novi Zagreb - zapad district of the City of Zagreb, located south of the Sava and southwest of the city center. Lučko is located near the Lučko interchange that connects the A1 motorway, the Zagreb bypass and the ...

on 21 October 2011. He struggled to adapt to Croatian life, stating reasons such as difficulty to learn the new language and no other Asian players in the side as main factors. On 17 January 2012, he skipped training for the first time due to unpaid wages. The unpaid wages were due to the debt of Hajduk Split and many players were unpaid during his stay at the club. He was fined by the club for missing three training sessions before finally rescinding his contract and returning to Japan in late January 2012. He made 16 appearances in his single season for Hajduk Split. Upon leaving, Masahiko stated: "In my entire career, I have never been as sad as I was in the last two weeks." Masahiko signed for Vissel Kobe as a free agent in early 2012. After Vissel Kobe's relegation from the top tier in Japan in 2012, Inoha then moved to Jubilo Iwata in January 2013 for an undisclosed fee. He made 25 appearances and scored a single goal in his first season for Iwata in the Japanese first division but unfortunately they finished in 17th place and were relegated. After three seasons spent in Shizuoka, he was released at the end of the 2015 season after helping Jubilo Iwata gain promotion. He signed for Vissel Kobe in February 2016.

Career statistics

Club

Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社
"2017 J1&J2&J3選手名鑑 (NSK MOOK)"
8 February 2017, Japan, (p. 61 out of 289)

International

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

Honours

Kashima Antlers *

J. League Division 1 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 Football Confederation, Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promot ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

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 ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

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 ...

: 2009, 2010 Japan *

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
* *
Profile at Vissel Kobe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Inoha, Masahiko 1985 births Living people Hannan University alumni Association football people from Miyazaki Prefecture Japanese footballers Association football defenders Japan international footballers Japan youth international footballers J1 League players J2 League players Croatian Football League players FC Tokyo players Kashima Antlers players HNK Hajduk Split players Vissel Kobe players Júbilo Iwata players Yokohama FC players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players 2011 AFC Asian Cup players 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players AFC Asian Cup-winning players Japanese expatriate footballers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate footballers in Croatia