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.

Club career

Funakoshi was born in

Kobe Kobe ( , ; officially , ) is the capital city of Hyōgo Prefecture Japan. With a population around 1.5 million, Kobe is Japan's seventh-largest city and the third-largest port city after Tokyo and Yokohama. It is located in Kansai region, whic ...

on June 12, 1977. After graduating from high school, he joined Gamba Osaka in 1996. He moved to

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the ...

club

Telstar Telstar is the name of various communications satellites. The first two Telstar satellites were experimental and nearly identical. Telstar 1 launched on top of a Thor-Delta rocket on July 10, 1962. It successfully relayed through space the fir ...

on loan in 1996. Although he returned to Gamba in 1997, he could hardly play in the match and he moved to Bellmare Hiratsuka (later ''Shonan Bellmare'') in 1999 and

Oita Trinita is a Japanese football club currently playing in J2 League, having been relegated after the 2021 season after a three-year stint in J1 League. The club's home town is Ōita, Ōita, Ōita city, but the club draws support from Beppu, Ōita, Beppu, ...

in 2001. At Trinita, he played many matches. He moved to Albirex Niigata in 2002. Although he played many matches until 2003, he could hardly play in the match from 2004. He moved to Tokyo Verdy in 2007 and played until 2009. He played for

SC Sagamihara is a Japanese association football club based in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture. They currently play in the third tier of Japanese football J3 League. History In 2011 they joined Division 2 of the Kanto Regional League after three years of con ...

in 2010 and retired at the end of the 2010 season.

National team career

In August 1993, Funakoshi was selected Japan U-17 national team for 1993 U-17 World Championship. He played full-time in all 4 matches and scored a goal against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Club statistics

References

External links

* * 1977 births Living people Association football people from Hyōgo Prefecture Japanese footballers Japan youth international footballers J1 League players J2 League players Gamba Osaka players Shonan Bellmare players Oita Trinita players Albirex Niigata players Tokyo Verdy players SC Sagamihara players Japanese expatriate footballers Association football forwards {{Japan-footy-forward-1970s-stub