is a Japanese professional

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 beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who is the manager of club

Shonan Bellmare 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 Hiratsuk ...

Club career

Yamaguchi was born in Sakawa, Kochi on April 17, 1978. He joined

JEF United Ichihara , full name and also known as , is a Japanese professional football club based in Chiba, capital of Chiba Prefecture. They currently play in the J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football. History Furukawa Electric SC (19 ...

(later ''JEF United Chiba'') from youth team in 1996. He debuted on March 20, when he was 17 year and 354 days old. It was the youngest player to play for

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

until

Yuki Abe is a Japanese former professional association football, footballer who played as a Midfielder (association football)#Defensive midfielder, defensive midfielder. He played 53 times for Japan national football team, Japan between 2005 and 2011 and ...

made new record in 1998. He became a regular player as center back from 1997. He moved to

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's home stadium is Panasonic Stadium Suita. They form a ...

in 2001. The club won the champions 2005 J1 League,

2007 J.League Cup The 2007 edition of the J.League Cup, officially the 2007 J.League Yamazaki Nabisco Cup, sponsored by Nabisco began on March 21 with reigning champions JEF United seeking to claim their 3rd successive crown. This would equal the record set by Ver ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

and

2009 Emperor's Cup The 89th Emperor's Cup began on September 19, 2009 and ended on January 1, 2010 with the final at National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan. Gamba Osaka won the title for the second consecutive season. Since Gamba already confirmed 2010 AFC Champions Leag ...

. He was also elected Best XI for 3 years in a row (

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

). In Asia, in 2008, the club won the champions

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

and the 3rd place Club World Cup. He returned JEF United Chiba in 2012 and played in 3 seasons. He moved to

Kyoto Sanga FC is a Japanese professional football club based in Kyoto. The club plays in the J1 League, the top tier of football in the country. Its name "Sanga" comes from the Sanskrit word ''sangha'', a term meaning "group" or "club" and often used to deno ...

in 2015 and retired end of 2015 season.

National team career

In June 1997, Yamaguchi was selected Japan U-20 national team for 1997 World Youth Championship. He played as right back of 3 back defense with

Tsuneyasu Miyamoto is a former Japanese football coach and former player who last coached Gamba Osaka. He played for Japan national team and is the current president of the Japan Football Association. A central defender, Miyamoto went on to make 71 internationa ...

and Kazuyuki Toda full time in all 5 matches. On May 27, 2009, Yamaguchi debuted for Japan national team against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. On May 31, he also played against

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. He played 2 games for Japan in 2009.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref>

Managerial career

From 2021 season, he will be the assistant coach of

on 14 May 2021. On 1 September 2021, Yamaguchi was appointed as manager of J1 club,

following the retirement of Bin Ukishima for during 2021 season. After winning his first victory as a manager in the 33rd round against

Yokohama FC is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club was formed by fans of Yokohama Flügels as a protest against Flügels' merger with Yokohama Marinos in 1999, becoming th ...

. On October 23 at same year, he led the team to remain in the final round of the 38th round against

on December 4 at same year. It was decided that he would continue to serve as manager in the 2022 season and in June he was awarded the monthly best manager award.

Club statistics

Kyoto Sanga FC
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¹Includes

and

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

²Includes

Japanese Super Cup The , the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J.League and the Japan Football Association. This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the reigning J1 Leag ...

and Promotion Playoffs to J1.

National team statistics

Managerial statistics

Personal honours

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 on two occasions there has been a full-Japanese Best X ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

Team honours

- 2008 *

Pan-Pacific Championship The Pan-Pacific Football Championship was an inter-confederation football (soccer), football tournament between teams from A-League (Australia and New Zealand), Chinese Super League (People's Republic of China, China), J. League (Japan), K-League ...

- 2008 *

- 2005 *

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formatio ...

- 2008, 2009 *

J.League Cup The is a Japanese Association football, football (soccer) competition organised by J.League, the men's association football league in Japan. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since it ...

- 2007 *

- 2007

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Yamaguchi, Satoshi 1978 births Living people Association football people from Kōchi Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Japan men's youth international footballers 21st-century Japanese sportsmen Japan men's international footballers J1 League players J2 League players JEF United Chiba players Gamba Osaka players Kyoto Sanga FC players Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games Men's association football defenders Asian Games footballers for Japan J1 League managers Shonan Bellmare managers