is a Japanese

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game bega ...

and former player.

Early life

Imai was born in Saitama Prefecture on 29 December 1954 and graduated from

Waseda University , mottoeng = Independence of scholarship , established = 21 October 1882 , type = Private , endowment = , president = Aiji Tanaka , city = Shinjuku , state = Tokyo , country = Japan , students = 47,959 , undergrad = 39,382 , postgrad ...

Playing career

Imai played for Fujitsu (later ''Kawasaki Frontale'') from 1977 to 1981.

Coaching career

After retirement, Imai became a manager for

Tokyo Gas , founded in 1885, is the primary provider of natural gas to the main cities of Tokyo, Kanagawa, Saitama, Chiba, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Yamanashi, and Nagano. , Tokyo Gas is the largest natural gas utility in Japan. Timeline *October 1, ...

in 1993. He managed

Shiroki FC Serena was a women's football team which played in Division 1 of Japan's Nadeshiko League. It founded the league back in 1993. Results See also * Japanese women's club teams References {{L. League Clubs navbox Women's football clubs in Japa ...

(1996),

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 ...

(2000). In November 2005, Imai was appointed by Japan Football Association to coach Chinese Taipei national team and to help the football development in Taiwan. It was his first international assignment. He accepted the challenge and signed a one-year contract with

Chinese Taipei Football Association Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA) is the governing body for football in the Republic of China (commonly known as Taiwan). Its official name in Chinese is the Republic of China Football Association, but due to the political status of Taiw ...

in December. Under his guidance, although the team did not have any amazing performance in international competitions, it was believed that Imai did bring good influence on the team, as well as football activities in Taiwan. On 15 December 2006, Imai extended his contract with CTFA. In addition to men's national team, he also led Chinese Taipei women's national team in the 2008 Olympic Games qualification in February 2007. In 2008, he returned to Japan and became the manager of

. In 2016, Imai became manager of Chinese Taipei again, but was fired in October of that year after complaints of team disunity. By January 2017, he was already mentoring Global Cebu which is set to participate at the

Philippines Football League The Philippines Football League, commonly known as PFL, is a Filipino professional football league sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). It is the Philippines' highest level of men's club football, supplanting the United Foo ...

as its head coach. In 2020, Imai briefly coached

Taiwan Football Premier League Taiwan Football Premier League (TFPL; ) is the top-ranked division in the Taiwanese Association football, football league run by Chinese Taipei Football Association (CTFA). History The Taiwan Football Premier League was founded in 2017 after the ...

team Taichung Futuro.

Managerial statistics

J.League Data Site
/ref>

References

External links

* 1954 births Living people Waseda University alumni Association football people from Saitama Prefecture Japanese footballers Kawasaki Frontale players Japan Soccer League players Japanese football managers FC Tokyo managers Kawasaki Frontale managers Chinese Taipei national football team managers Chinese Taipei women's national football team managers Mongolia national football team managers Global Makati F.C. managers J1 League managers Philippines Football League head coaches Japanese expatriate football managers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Taiwan Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Mongolia Japanese expatriate sportspeople in the Philippines Expatriate football managers in Taiwan Expatriate football managers in Mongolia Expatriate football managers in the Philippines Association footballers not categorized by position {{Japan-footy-bio-stub