Hajime Moriyasu

Hajime Moriyasu

Personal information
Full name	Hajime Moriyasu
Date of birth	August 23, 1968
Place of birth	Kakegawa, Shizuoka, Japan
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8 ^1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1987–2001	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	271	(34)
1998	→ Kyoto Purple Sanga (loan)	32	(1)
2002–2003	Vegalta Sendai	45	(0)
Total		348	(35)
National team
1992–1996	Japan	35	(1)
Teams managed
2012–	Sanfrecce Hiroshima
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

Hajime Moriyasu (森保 一 Moriyasu Hajime, born August 23, 1968) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team. He was a defensive midfielder. He is now manager of J1 League club Sanfrecce Hiroshima. His son is Shohei Moriyasu.

Personal life

Moriyasu's son, Keigo Moriyasu, currently plays as a striker for Edgeworth FC in the National Premier Leagues Northern NSW.^[1]

Career

Club

Moriyasu was educated at and played for Nagasaki Nihon Daigaku Gakuen High School. After finishing his school, he joined Japan Soccer League side Mazda in 1987. New manager Hans Ooft rated him highly and established him as an anchoring midfielder of the team. In April 1990, Moriyasu had a trial at Manchester United. When Japan's first ever professional league J1 League started in 1993, Mazda was transformed to Sanfrecce Hiroshima for whom he continued to play. Together with Yahiro Kazama, he controlled Hiroshima's midfield and contributed to the club winning the second stage of the 1994 J1 League season.

In 1998, Ooft became the manager of Kyoto Purple Sanga and recruited Moriyasu on a loan deal. The deal was initially meant to be a permanent one but infuriated Hiroshima supporters collected signatures against the deal, which forced the clubs to settle for a loan. He was the linchpin of Kyoto for the 1998 season.

Moriyasu came back to Hiroshima for the 1999 season but find out his opportunities to play gradually decreasing mainly because of young Kazuyuki Morisaki's challenge for the place.

He was offered a coaching position at Hiroshima in 2002 but turned it down to continue to play. He moved to Vegalta Sendai and retired there at the end of the 2003 season.

National team

Ooft became the national coach of Japan in 1992. He called up and played Moriyasu for his first match in charge against Argentina held on May 31, 1992 at the Tokyo National Olympic Stadium. Moriyasu was still a low-profile player at that time and many international teammates didn't know how to pronounce his name. What Ooft asked him to do throughout his reign was a simple task, to "win the ball and pass it to playmaker Ruy Ramos".

He was a member of the Japan team that won the 1992 AFC Asian Cup and played all the Japan games except the final against Saudi Arabia for which he was ineligible due to suspension.

Under Ooft, Japan progressed to the final qualifying stage of the AFC for the 1994 FIFA World Cup. Moriyasu was on the pitch when Japan's hope to play in the finals was dashed by an injury time Iraqi equaliser in the last qualifier, the match that the Japanese fans now refer to as the Agony of Doha.^[2]

He was capped 35 times between 1992 and 1996.^[3] He scored one goal for his country in a friendly against Australia on February 10, 1996.

Coaching

He served as a coach for Sanfrecce Hiroshima from the 2004 season. He also coached the Japan national youth team which participated in the 2006 AFC Youth Championship and the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He was a coach for the Hiroshima first team from 2007 to 2009 before a spell coaching at Albirex Niigata.

Management

It was confirmed on 8 December 2011 that Moriyasu would return to Sanfrecce Hiroshima as manager for the 2012 season.^[4] Since then, he has won the J league title for both the 2012 season and the 2013 season.

Club statistics

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Japan			League		Emperor's Cup		J.League Cup		Total
1987/88	Mazda	JSL Division 1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1988/89		JSL Division 2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1989/90			19	8	0	0	0	0	19	8
1990/91			27	13	0	0	3	1	30	14
1991/92		JSL Division 1	18	4	0	0	0	0	18	4
1992	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	J1 League	-		0	0	8	1	8	1
1993			35	2	4	1	0	0	39	3
1994			40	3	3	0	1	0	44	3
1995			25	4	5	0	-		30	4
1996			26	3	5	0	14	2	45	5
1997			25	1	2	0	5	0	32	1
1998	Kyoto Purple Sanga	J1 League	32	1	2	0	4	0	38	1
1999	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	J1 League	27	1	0	0	3	1	30	2
2000			22	0	0	0	2	0	24	0
2001			16	0	1	0	3	0	20	0
2002	Vegalta Sendai	J1 League	27	0	2	0	6	1	35	1
2003			18	0	1	0	3	1	22	1
Country	Japan		357	40	25	1	52	7	434	48
Total			357	40	25	1	52	7	434	48

National team statistics

^[5]

Japan national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1992	7	0
1993	15	0
1994	4	0
1995	6	0
1996	3	1
Total	35	1

Managerial statistics

Update; December 31, 2015^[6]

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	2012	Present	136	74	29	33	54.41
Total			136	74	29	33	54.41

Honors and awards

Player

Japan

• AFC Asian Cup (1): 1992

Manager

Sanfrecce Hiroshima

• J1 League (3): 2012, 2013, 2015
• Japanese Super Cup (2): 2013, 2014
• FIFA Club World Cup: Third Place 2015

References

1. Ormond, Aidan. "YouTube sensation set for Cairns FFA Cup clash". FFA Cup. Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
2. Hajime Moriyasu – FIFA competition record
3. Mamrud, Roberto (29 October 2009). "Japan - Record International Players". RSSSF.
4. 森保一　新監督就任のお知らせ (in Japanese). Sanfrecce Hiroshima FC Official Web Site. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
5. Hajime Moriyasu at National-Football-Teams.com
6. J.League Data Site(Japanese)

External links

• National Football Teams
• Japan National Football Team Database
• Player statistics at J.League Data Site (Japanese)
• Manager statistics at J.League Data Site (Japanese)