Eiji Kawashima

is a Japanese football player. He played for the Japan national team.

Biography
Kawashima was born in Saitama on March 20, 1983. After graduating from Urawa Higashi High School, he joined his local club Omiya Ardija in J2 League in 2001. He played many matches from 2003. In 2004, he moved to J1 League club Nagoya Grampus Eight. However he could not play many matches behind Seigo Narazaki who playing for the Japan national team. In 2007, he moved to Kawasaki Frontale. He became a first choice goalkeeper from first season. Kawasaki also won the 2nd place in the 2008 and 2009 J1 League. In summer 2010, he moved to Belgian Pro League club Lierse and played in 2 seasons. In 2012, he moved to Standard Liège. Although he played as first choice goalkeeper until 2014, he lost his position in 2015 and he left the club end of 2014/15 season. After half year blank, he signed with Scottish Premiership club Dundee United. However the club was relegated to Scottish Championship end of the 2015/16 season. In 2016, he moved to French Ligue 1 club Metz. In 2018, he moved to Strasbourg Alsace.

In 2003, Kawasahima was selected the Japan U-20 national team for 2003 World Youth Championship and played all 5 matches. In February 2008, he was selected the Japan national team for 2008 East Asian Football Championship. At this tournament, he debuted against North Korea on February 17. However he could not play many matches behind Seigo Narazaki. In 2010, he was selected the Japan for 2010 World Cup. In May, he became a first choice goalkeeper instead Narazaki just before the 2010 World Cup. Kawashima played all 4 matches at the 2010 World Cup and Japan qualified to the knockout stage. After the 2010 World Cup, Narazaki retired from national team and Kawashima became a egular goalkeeper under new manager Alberto Zaccheroni. In 2011, he played at 2011 Asian Cup and won the champions. He also played at 2013 Confederations Cup, 2014 World Cup and 2015 Asian Cup. Although he lost his position behind Shusaku Nishikawa from 2015, Kawashima played many matches again from 2017. In 2018, he was selected the Japan for 2018 World Cup. He played all 4 matches and Japan qualified to the knockout stage. He also played at 2019 Copa América. He played 91 games for Japan until 2019.

Kawashima helped develop a program to improve the foreign language skills of Japanese athletes and coaches who play and coach internationally.  He is fluent in English and Italian.  He works to improve speaking and listening skills in Dutch, French and Portuguese skills.

Statistics

|-
|2001||rowspan="3"|Omiya Ardija||rowspan="3"|J2 League||0||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0
|-
|2002||8||0||4||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||12||0
|-
|2003||33||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||33||0
|-
|2004||rowspan="3"|Nagoya Grampus Eight||rowspan="3"|J1 League||4||0||0||0||8||0||colspan="2"|-||12||0
|-
|2005||3||0||1||0||6||0||colspan="2"|-||10||0
|-
|2006||10||0||0||0||4||0||colspan="2"|-||14||0
|-
|2007||rowspan="4"|Kawasaki Frontale||rowspan="4"|J1 League||34||0||4||0||3||0||7||0||48||0
|-
|2008||34||0||1||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||36||0
|-
|2009||34||0||1||0||3||0||9||0||47||0
|-
|2010||11||0||0||0||0||0||6||0||17||0

|-
|2010/11||rowspan="2"|Lierse||rowspan="2"|Pro League||23||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||25||0
|-
|2011/12||30||0||6||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||36||0
|-
|2012/13||rowspan="3"|Standard Liège||rowspan="3"|Pro League||30||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||30||0
|-
|2013/14||27||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||9||0||37||0
|-
|2014/15||11||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||7||0||19||0

|-
|2015/16||Dundee United||Premiership||16||0||3||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||19||0

|-
|2016/17||rowspan="2"|Metz||rowspan="2"|Ligue 1||5||0||1||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||6||0
|-
|2017/18||29||0||1||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||30||0
|-
|2018/19||rowspan="3"|Strasbourg Alsace||rowspan="3"|Ligue 1||1||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0
|-
|2019/20||0||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||0||0
|-
|2020/21||||||||||||||||||||
171||0||11||0||25||0||22||0||229||0
141||0||10||0||colspan="2"|-||16||0||167||0
16||0||3||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||19||0
35||0||2||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||37||0
363||0||26||0||25||0||22||0||436||0
|}

|-
|2008||1||0
|-
|2009||7||0
|-
|2010||8||0
|-
|2011||12||0
|-
|2012||11||0
|-
|2013||14||0
|-
|2014||11||0
|-
|2015||7||0
|-
|2016||1||0
|-
|2017||9||0
|-
|2018||7||0
|-
|2019||3||0
|-
!Total||91||0
|}

References

Other websites

1983 births
Living people
Footballers from Saitama Prefecture
Japan international footballers
J1 League players
J2 League players
Omiya Ardija players
Nagoya Grampus players
Kawasaki Frontale players
2010 FIFA World Cup players
2014 FIFA World Cup players
2018 FIFA World Cup players
2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players