is a Japanese former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

. He played for the Japan national team. He played for several clubs, including

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 ...

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 ...

and

Thespa Kusatsu is a professional football (soccer) club based in Maebashi, Gunma Prefecture in Japan. The club plays in the J2 League, the second division of professional football in Japan. History The club was founded in 1995 in Kusatsu, one of the most we ...

. He played for the Japan national team (4 matches) and was a participant at the

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

Club career

Kojima started playing football when he was in the 5th grade and was converted to a goalkeeper at high school. After graduating from

Doshisha University , mottoeng = Truth shall make you free , tagline = , established = Founded 1875,Chartered 1920 , vision = , type = Private , affiliation = , calendar = , endowment = €1 ...

in 1988, Kojima joined Fujita Industries (later ''Bellmare Hiratsuka'') playing in the

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 ...

Division 1. He became a regular starting member of the team in 1994. He had been playing for the club as an employee of Fujita Industries but turned professional in January 1995. At the end of 1998, Bellmare released their main players including Kojima as well as Wagner Lopes,

Hong Myung-bo Hong Myung-bo ( ko, 홍명보, Hanja: 洪明甫; ; born 12 February 1969) is a South Korean former footballer who played as a sweeper, and the current head coach of Ulsan Hyundai. Hong is often considered one of the greatest Asian footballers ...

Kazuaki Tasaka is a former Japanese football player and manager. He last played for Japan national team until 1999. He manager of Giravanz Kitakyushu from 2023. Club career Tasaka was born in Hiroshima on August 3, 1971. He was educated at and played for Tok ...

and

Yoshihiro Natsuka is a former Japanese football player. He played for the Japan national team He is the current head coach J2 League club of Renofa Yamaguchi. Club career Natsuka was born in Funabashi on October 7, 1969. After graduating from high school, he j ...

due to their financial problems. Kojima moved to

. He further moved to

in 2002 that played in the Gunma Prefectural League division 2. As a player - assistant coach, he was instrumental in the team's promotion to the

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 a ...

, then

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 Y ...

. His last competitive game was against

Consadole Sapporo is a Japanese professional football club, which plays in the J1 League. The team is based in Sapporo, on the island of Hokkaido. The club name of "Consadole" is made from ''consado'', a reverse of the Japanese word and the Spanish express ...

on December 3, 2005 and he announced his retirement from the game in January 2006.

International career

In January 1995, Kojima was selected Japan national team 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 did not play any game in the tournament. His debut came on June 6, 1995 against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the

Umbro Cup The Umbro Cup was a friendly international football competition, which took place in June 1995 in England. The trophy was sponsored by the sports brand Umbro, the manufacturers of England's kit. Host nation England, Sweden, Japan and world cha ...

. He played four games for Japan until 1996.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref> He was in the squad for the

1996 AFC Asian Cup The 1996 AFC Asian Cup was the 11th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international association football, football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in the United Arab Emirates be ...

and

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for t ...

as reserve goalkeeper but did not play any game in the tournament.

After retirement

Kojima is currently an advisor for Kusatsu. He also serves as a pundit for

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

. (as of February 2010)

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
* 1966 births Living people Doshisha University alumni Association football people from Gunma Prefecture Japanese footballers Japan international footballers Japan Soccer League players J1 League players J2 League players Japan Football League (1992–1998) players Japan Football League players Shonan Bellmare players Avispa Fukuoka players Thespakusatsu Gunma players 1995 King Fahd Cup players 1996 AFC Asian Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players Association football goalkeepers {{Japan-footy-goalkeeper-stub