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. He played for Japan national team. His younger brother Toshimi is also a former footballer.

Club career

Kikuchi was born in

Tono TONO is a Norwegian corporation that administers copyrights for music in Norway. It is owned and governed by its members; composers, music publishers and text-writers. Through the managing agreement the originators give TONO an exclusive right to ...

on April 12, 1967. After graduating from high school, 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 ...

club Yomiuri (later ''Verdy Kawasaki'', ''Tokyo Verdy'') in 1986. The club won league champions 3 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 ...

1 time 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 ...

2 times. In Asia, the club also won

1987 Asian Club Championship The 1987 Asian Club Championship was the 7th edition of the annual Asian club football competition hosted by Asian Football Confederation. Several Asian clubs started the qualifying round in Fall of 1987. Yomiuri FC (Japan) became the second Jap ...

. 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 ...

. The club won the league champions in

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

and

1994 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 Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

. The club also won

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

, 1994 J.League Cup and

1996 Emperor's Cup Statistics of Emperor's Cup in the 1996 season. Overview It was contested by 80 teams, and Verdy Kawasaki won the championship. Results 1st Round * Denso 3–1 Juntendo University *Blaze Kumamoto 2–1 Kwansei Gakuin University *World Blitz K ...

. He was a central player in golden era in both clubs history. In 1999, he lost opportunity to play behind

Kenji Honnami is a former Japanese Association football, football player and manager. He played for Japan national football team, Japan national team. Club career Honnami was born in Hirakata, Osaka, Hirakata on June 23, 1964. After graduating from Osaka Univ ...

. In 2000, Kikuchi moved to

Kawasaki Frontale is a Japanese professional football club based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium, in Nakahara W ...

on loan. In 2001, he returned to Tokyo Verdy and retired with his rival Honnami end of the season.

National team career

On September 27, 1994, Kikuchi debuted for Japan national team 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 ...

. In October, he played all matches at

1994 Asian Games The 1994 Asian Games ( ja, 1994年アジア競技大会, ''Senkyūhyakukyūjūyon-nen Ajia kyōgi taikai''), also known as the XII Asiad and the 12th Asian Games ( ja, 第12回アジア競技大会, Daijūni-kai Ajia kyōgi taikai), were held from ...

. He was also selected Japan for

1995 King Fahd Cup The 1995 King Fahd Cup ( ar, كأس الملك فهد) was the second and last tournament held under the King Fahd Cup name before the competition was retroactively sanctioned by FIFA and recognized as FIFA Confederations Cup. Disputed as the King ...

. But he did not play in the match, as he was the team's reserve goalkeeper behind

Shigetatsu Matsunaga is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team. Club career Matsunaga was educated at and played for Hamana High School and Aichi Gakuin University. After graduating from the university, he joined Nissan Motors (later ...

. He played 7 games for Japan until 1995.Japan National Football Team Database
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Club statistics

National team statistics

Awards

J.League Best XI 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 ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
* 1967 births Living people Association football people from Iwate Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Japan men's international footballers Japan Soccer League players J1 League players Tokyo Verdy players Kawasaki Frontale players 1995 King Fahd Cup players Men's association football goalkeepers Footballers at the 1994 Asian Games Asian Games competitors for Japan {{Japan-footy-goalkeeper-stub