is a Japanese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

manager and former

player and he is the current assistant coach of Chinese Taipei U23.

Playing career

Kato was born in

Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the nort ...

on October 7, 1969. After graduating from

Tokai University is a private non-sectarian higher education institution located in Tokyo, Japan. It was founded by Dr. Shigeyoshi Matsumae. It was accredited under Japan's old educational system in 1946 and under the new system in 1950. In 2008, Tokai Un ...

, he joined

Japan Football League The also known as simply the JFL is the 4th tier of the Japanese association football league system, positioned beneath the three divisions of the J.League. The league features fully professional teams that hold J.League associate membership am ...

club

Hitachi () is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. It is the parent company of the Hitachi Group (''Hitachi Gurūpu'') and had formed part of the Ni ...

(later ''Kashiwa Reysol'') in 1992. He became a regular player as an offensive midfielder in 1994. He also played as forward, not only midfielder. The club also won second place in 1994 and was promoted to the

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 ...

in 1995. The club won the

1999 J.League Cup Statistics of J. League Cup, officially the '99 J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup, in the 1999 season. Overview It was contested by 26 teams, and Kashiwa Reysol won the championship. Results 1st round *Consadole Sapporo 1–0 ; 0–3 Avispa Fukuoka ...

. Although he played as a regular player for a long time, he did not play as much in 2002. In 2005, he moved to the

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 ...

club

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 ...

. He played as a regular player for four seasons and retired at the end of the 2008 season at the age of 39.

Coaching career

After retirement, Kato started a coaching career at

in 2009. He served as coach for the top team (2009–10) and manager for the youth team (2011–12). In 2013, he became a manager for

Sanno Institute of Management The , also stylized SANNO Institute of Management, is a private university established in 1979 in Isehara, Kanagawa Prefecture Japan. It offers highly interdisciplinary and practical programs in the field of management and information science. ...

and managed until 2017. In 2018, he moved to

Kashiwa Reysol is a Japanese professional football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba 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 Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadiu ...

, where he first played. He became a coach under the manager Takahiro Shimotaira who Kato's teammate when Kato played for Reysol. Shimotaira was terminated for poor results in May and Kato became a new manager. However, Kato could not improve the club's record and he was terminated in November.

Club statistics

Managerial statistics

References

External links

* * 1969 births Living people Tokai University alumni Association football people from Miyagi Prefecture Japanese men's footballers J1 League players J2 League players Japan Football League (1992–1998) players Kashiwa Reysol players Shonan Bellmare players Japanese football managers J1 League managers Kashiwa Reysol managers Men's association football midfielders {{Japan-footy-midfielder-1960s-stub