is a former

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 ...

ese

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 ...

player and manager. He is the current assistant manager

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 of

Briobecca Urayasu are a Japanese football (soccer) club based in Urayasu, Chiba Prefecture, Chiba. They will play from the 2023 season at the Japan Football League, coming back to the league after being relegated from it in 2017. It will be their second time pl ...

. He played for Japan national team. His son Yuta Tsunami is also a footballer.

Club career

Tsunami was a product of Yomiuri (later ''Verdy Kawasaki'') youth system. He joined

Japan Soccer League , or JSL, was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professional ...

side Yomiuri in 1980. The club won the champions in

5 times,

JSL Cup was the original league cup for clubs in the top levels of Japanese soccer before the creation of the J. League and its cup. The cup was first played in 1973, but did not become an annual tournament until 1976. The JSL/JFL Cup included clubs fro ...

3 times and

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 ...

3 times. This was golden era in club history. He was also selected Best Eleven 3 times (

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeast A ...

). In 1992, Japan Soccer League was folded and founded new league

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 ...

. However he lost opportunity to play after that. Toward the end of his career, he played for

Avispa Fukuoka is a Japanese professional football club, currently competing in the J1 League. The team is located in Hakata, Fukuoka. "Avispa" means "wasp" in Spanish. They were originally called Fujieda Blux and based in Fujieda, Shizuoka before moving t ...

(1996–1997) and

Bellmare Hiratsuka 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 ...

(1997–1998). He retired in 1998. He played 267 games and scored 5 goals in the league.

National team career

Tsunami was capped 78 times and scored 2 goals for the Japanese national team between 1980 and 1995.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref> He made his first international appearance on 22 December 1980 in a 1982 World Cup qualification against

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

in Hong Kong. He scored his first international goal on 20 September 1986 in an

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

match against

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

Daejeon Daejeon () is South Korea's fifth-largest metropolis, with a population of 1.5 million as of 2019. Located in the central-west region of South Korea alongside forested hills and the Geum River, the city is known both for its technology and ...

, South Korea. After 1988 Summer Olympics qualification in 1987, he ceased to be selected Japan. In May 1992, Tsunami was selected Japan for the first time in 5 years. He was a member of the Japan team that won the

1992 Asian Cup The 1992 AFC Asian Cup was the 10th 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 Hiroshima Prefecture, Japan between 29 Octob ...

. He played all the Japan games except one for which he wasn't eligible due to suspension. He was such a key player that national coach

Hans Ooft Marius Johan ("Hans") Ooft (born 1947) is a Dutch former football player and manager who became the first foreigner to head the Japanese football team. Under Ooft, Japan won the Asian Championship for the first time in 1992 but was fired a yea ...

named him a member of the Japan squad for the

1994 World Cup qualification File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

stage for the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the countr ...

in spite of his injury. However, he could not play any game in the competition that was centrally held in

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...

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 ...

as his recovery wasn't as good as Ooft had wished it to be. Japan's hope to qualify for the finals was dashed by a stoppage time Iraqi equaliser in the last qualifying match. The Japanese fans now refer to this match as the

Agony of Doha In the final round of matches of the final round of Asian qualification for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, Japan and Iraq drew 2–2 in Doha, Qatar. If Japan had won the match, they would have qualified for the World Cup for the first time. Instead, J ...

, and his absence was one of the main reasons why Japan's campaign ended up unsuccessful.

Coaching career

After finishing his playing career, Tsunami worked as a pundit on television and as a coach at

Tokyo Verdy is a Japanese professional football club based in Inagi, Tokyo. The club plays in the J2 League, the second tier of football in the country. Founded as Yomiuri F.C. in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the most decorated clubs in the J.League, with ...

's youth setup. He acquired the S-Class Coaching License that was a prerequisite to manage a J.League club in 2004. In 2005, he was appointed the manager of

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 ...

side

Vegalta Sendai is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in J2 League. The team is located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. History Founded in 1988 as ''Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club'', Vegalta joined the J-League in 1999 after p ...

. Vegalta finished fourth and failed to gain the promotion. Tsunami was dismissed after one season. In 2006, he became an assistant coach to new manager

Ruy Ramos is a former football player and manager, originally from Brazil, who spent his career in Japan and played for the Japan national team. Ramos is currently active as a television personality and ''tarento'', represented with Irving. Club car ...

at another J2 side Tokyo Verdy. Again the team failed to move up and he was sacked after one season. In 2007, he became the manager of newly relegated J2 side

Cerezo Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Osaka. The club currently plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Cerezo'' (Spanish for cherry blossom) is also the flower of the city of Osaka. ...

but was dismissed in May after a bad start. In 2008, he was appointed as the manager of J2 League club

Yokohama FC is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club currently plays in the J1 League, which is the first tier of football in the country. The club was formed by fans of Yokoh ...

but was fired at the end of the 2008 season.

Club statistics

National team statistics

Managerial statistics

J.League Data Site
/ref>

Honors and awards

Team honors

(Champions)

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tsunami, Satoshi 1961 births Living people Association football people from Tokyo Japanese footballers Japan Soccer League players J1 League players Tokyo Verdy players Avispa Fukuoka players Shonan Bellmare players Japan international footballers 1992 AFC Asian Cup players 1995 King Fahd Cup players AFC Asian Cup-winning players Japanese football managers J2 League managers Vegalta Sendai managers Cerezo Osaka managers Yokohama FC managers Footballers at the 1982 Asian Games Footballers at the 1986 Asian Games Association football defenders Asian Games competitors for Japan