Koji Funamoto

Koji Funamoto
船本 幸路

Personal information
Full name	Koji Funamoto
Date of birth	(1942-08-12) August 12, 1942
Place of birth	Hiroshima, Hiroshima, Empire of Japan
Height	1.77 m (5 ft 9+1⁄2 in)
Position	Goalkeeper
Youth career
1958–1960	Hiroshima University High School
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1961–1975	Toyo Industries	166	(0)
Total		166	(0)
International career
1967–1975	Japan	19	(0)
Medal record Toyo Industries Winner Japan Soccer League 1965 Winner Japan Soccer League 1966 Winner Japan Soccer League 1967 Winner Japan Soccer League 1968 Winner Japan Soccer League 1970 Runner-up Japan Soccer League 1969 Winner Emperor's Cup 1965 Winner Emperor's Cup 1967 Winner Emperor's Cup 1969 Runner-up Emperor's Cup 1966 Runner-up Emperor's Cup 1970
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Koji Funamoto (船本 幸路, Funamoto Koji; born August 12, 1942) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.

Youth career

Funamoto was born in Hiroshima on August 12, 1942. He played for Hiroshima University High School from 1958 to 1960. He and teammates Aritatsu Ogi, Yasuyuki Kuwahara, Takayuki Kuwata, Kensei Mizote, and Sonkyo Nomura became locally famous together by leading their school to a second-place finish in the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament in 1959. Ogi, Kuwahara, Funamoto, and Mizote carried the team to the quarterfinals of this tournament in 1960. Funamoto moved on to club football immediately after high school, while Ogi, Kuwahara, and Kuwata would play four years at Chuo University before joining Funamoto in club play with Toyo Industries.

Club career

Funamoto joined the Toyo Industries in 1961. Toyo then won the National Sports Festival football tournament in 1962 and were Emperor's Cup semifinalists (1961, 1962) and quarterfinalists (1963) with Funamoto at goalkeeper. In 1965, the club became an inaugural member of the newly formed Japan Soccer League (JSL), the first national league of soccer clubs in Japan. He remained with the club for 11 seasons in the JSL until his retirement in 1975. In 11 seasons, he played all matches, 166 matches in the league.

With Funamoto and his former high school teammates, Toyo dominated the JSL for the first six years, winning the championship five times (1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1970) and placing second once (1969). The club won the Emperor's Cup three times (1965, 1967, 1969) during this period and finished third in the Asian Club Championship in 1969. As goalkeeper, Funamoto played a critical role on Toyo's early success in the JSL when they won 75 of their first 112 matches (67%), allowing opponents just 87 goals. He was named goalkeeper of the year in the JSL in 1970. The golden era of Hiroshima football then came to an end over the next three years when the club won 15 of 54 matches (28%), while allowing 82 goals.

National team career

In September 1967, Funamoto was selected Japan national team for 1968 Summer Olympics qualification. At this qualification, on September 27, he debuted against Philippines. He shared goalkeeping duties with two-time Olympian, Kenzo Yokoyama, on the Japan national team from 1967 to 1975. Funamoto appeared in 19 matches, 17 as a starter and 2 as a substitute, shutting out opponents 5 times. He allowed 25 goals, while the Japan team went 9-8-2 (W-L-D). He played in the Pestabola Merdeka (1970, 1972, 1975), Asian Games (1970), AFC Asian Cup qualifiers (1975), Olympic Games qualifiers (1967), and FIFA World Cup qualifiers (1969, 1973) during his International career.

After retirement

Funamoto retired after the 1975 season after 15 years with Toyo Industries and 11 years in the JSL. He served as goalkeeper coach from 1975 to 1980 for Toyo Industries and for the Japan national team from 1979 to 1980. He lectured at the Mazda soccer school from 1981 to 2007. His proteges included Kenichi Uemura, Kenji Wakai, and Masaaki Toma. He worked in the Mazda business office until his retirement.

After he retired, he served as a match commissioner of the J.League until 2007 and that of Japan Football League since 2008. He currently enjoys retirement in Hiroshima City, playing golf with friends, gardening, and watching football with his family.

Club statistics

JSL Player/Club Statistics
Year	Club	Appearances	Club Record (W-L-D)	League Standing	Club Goals Allowed	Tournament Results
1965	Toyo Industries	14	12-0-2	1	9	Emperor's Cup champion
1966	Toyo Industries	14	12-1-1	1	6	Emperor's Cup 2nd Place
1967	Toyo Industries	14	10-2-2	1	16	Emperor's Cup champion
1968	Toyo Industries	14	10-3-1	1	11
1969	Toyo Industries	14	10-3-1	2	10	Emperor's Cup champion, AFC club championship 3rd Place
1970	Toyo Industries	14	11-2-1	1	5	Emperor's Cup 2nd Place
1971	Toyo Industries	14	3-7-4	6	17
1972	Toyo Industries	14	7-5-2	3	13	Emperor's Cup 3rd Place
1973	Toyo Industries	18	5-8-5	8	28	Emperor's Cup semifinalist
1974	Toyo Industries	18	6-6-6	6	25	Emperor's Cup semifinalist
1975	Toyo Industries	18	4-10-4	8	29
Totals		166	90-47-29		169

National team statistics

Japan national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1967	1	0
1968	1	0
1969	1	0
1970	1	0
1971	0	0
1972	5	0
1973	2	0
1974	0	0
1975	8	0
Total	19	0

Awards

• Japan Soccer League Best Eleven: 1970

External links

• Koji Funamoto at National-Football-Teams.com
• Japan National Football Team Database