is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for Japan national team.

Club career

Sakakura was educated at and played for Yokkaichi Chuo Technical High School and

Juntendo University is a private university in Japan. Its headquarters are on its campus in Bunkyo, Tokyo, for the School of Medicine and in Inzai, Chiba, for the School of Health and Sports Science. The university was established in 1838 for medical and in 1946 ...

. After finishing the university, 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 Furuawa Electric (later ''JEF United Ichihara''). He moved to Nagoya Grampus Eight in 1995, then

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 ...

side

Brummell 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 ...

in 1996. He finished his playing career in 1998 at his home town club Mind House TC, a

Regional Leagues In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

side, after playing for them for one season.

National team career

Sakakura was capped 6 times without scoring for the Japanese national team between 1990 and 1991.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref> His first full international cap came on July 27, 1990 in a

Dynasty Cup Dynasty Cup was an East Asian international association football tournament. The tournament was held every 2 or 3 years. It was hosted by Beijing in 1990 and 1992, Hong Kong in 1995, Yokohama and Tokyo in 1998. In 2002 the East Asian Football F ...

match against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. He was a member of the Japan team that won the 1992 Asian Cup but did not play in the tournament.

Coaching career

Sakakura was a coach at

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 ...

between 1999 and 2004. He briefly served as caretaker manager at the club after

Yoshikazu Nagai is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team. His son Shunta Nagai is also a former footballer. Club career Nagai was born in Saitama on April 16, 1952. After graduating from high school, he joined Furukawa Electr ...

was sacked in 2001. He coached

Kyoto Sanga FC is a Japanese professional football club based in Kyoto. "Sanga" comes from the Sanskrit word ''sangha'', a term meaning "group" or "club" and often used to denote the Buddhist priesthood, associating the club with Kyoto's many Buddhist templ ...

's U-18 team from 2005 to 2007. He moved to

Tochigi SC , commonly referred to as Tochigi SC are a football club based in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. They currently play in the J2 League. History Teachers in Tochigi Prefecture founded the club in 1953. They were initially called self-ex ...

and became a coach. In 2014, he became a manager and managed until July 2015. He signed with Shimizu S-Pulse in 2016 and coached until 2017. He moved to AC Nagano Parceiro in 2018 and became a coach. In June, he became a manager as

Tetsuya Asano is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for the Japanese national team. Club career Asano was born in Hokota on February 23, 1967. After graduating from high school, torough Toyota Shukyu-Dan, he joined Japan Soccer Leag ...

successor. He managed until end of 2018 season.

Club statistics

National team statistics

Managerial statistics

J.League Data Site
/ref>

Honors and awards

Team Honors

* 1992 Asian Cup (Champions)

References

External links

*
Japan National Football Team Database
* * 1967 births Living people Juntendo University alumni Association football people from Mie Prefecture Japanese footballers Japan international footballers Japan Soccer League players J1 League players Japan Football League (1992–1998) players JEF United Chiba players Nagoya Grampus players Vegalta Sendai players 1988 AFC Asian Cup players 1992 AFC Asian Cup players AFC Asian Cup-winning players Footballers at the 1990 Asian Games Japanese football managers J2 League managers J3 League managers Yokohama FC managers Tochigi SC managers AC Nagano Parceiro managers Association football defenders Asian Games competitors for Japan {{Japan-footy-defender-1960s-stub