Shoji Jo

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

Biography
Jo was born in Muroran on June 17, 1975. After graduating from Kagoshima Jitsugyo High School, he joined J1 League club JEF United Ichihara in 1994. After three seasons with Ichihara, Jo moved to the Yokohama Marinos (later Yokohama F. Marinos) in 1997. His performances in the 1998 and 1999 season led to a loan move to the Spanish La Liga team Real Valladolid. He failed to make an impact with the club, making just 15 appearances and scoring two goals before sustaining a knee injury. After his return to Japan, Jo struggled to reestablish himself as a regular goal scorer with the Marinos and Vissel Kobe, with whom he joined in 2002. He joined Yokohama FC in 2003, where he scored 12 goals in his first season with them. He helped his club to become J2 Champions in 2006 gained and promotion to J1, but he retired from playing after that season.

On September 20, 1995, Jo debuted for the Japan national team against Paraguay. He made his first appearance in an international competition with the Japan U-23 national team in the 1996 Summer Olympics. In October 1996, he played for the Japan senior team for the first time in a year. He also played at the 1996 Asian Cup in December. After the 1998 World Cup qualification in 1997 Japan qualified for the 1998 World Cup for the first time in their history. He played at the 1998 World Cup and the 1999 Copa América. He played all matches in both competitions. He played 35 games and scored 7 goals for Japan until 2001.

Statistics

|-
|1994||rowspan="3"|JEF United Ichihara||rowspan="3"|J1 League||33||12||2||0||2||1||37||13
|-
|1995||43||14||0||0||colspan="2"|-||43||14
|-
|1996||23||9||1||0||13||4||37||13
|-
|1997||rowspan="2"|Yokohama Marinos||rowspan="2"|J1 League||21||12||2||2||0||0||23||14
|-
|1998||31||25||1||0||0||0||32||25
|-
|1999||Yokohama F. Marinos||J1 League||25||18||3||1||6||3||34||22

|-
|1999–00||Real Valladolid||La Liga||15||2||||||colspan="2"|-||15||2

|-
|2000||rowspan="2"|Yokohama F. Marinos||rowspan="2"|J1 League||4||2||0||0||0||0||4||2
|-
|2001||25||2||1||0||8||4||34||6
|-
|2002||Vissel Kobe||J1 League||25||1||1||0||6||2||32||3
|-
|2003||rowspan="4"|Yokohama FC||rowspan="4"|J2 League||33||12||1||4||colspan="2"|-||34||16
|-
|2004||35||8||2||0||colspan="2"|-||37||8
|-
|2005||40||12||1||0||colspan="2"|-||41||12
|-
|2006||43||12||0||0||colspan="2"|-||43||12
381||139||15||7||35||14||431||160
15||2||||||colspan="2"|-||15||2
396||141||15||7||35||14||446||162
|}
Japan National Football Team Database

|-
|1995||1||0
|-
|1996||3||0
|-
|1997||13||4
|-
|1998||10||1
|-
|1999||5||0
|-
|2000||2||2
|-
|2001||1||0
|-
!Total||35||7
|}

References

Other websites

Category:1975 births
Category:Living people
Category:Footballers from Hokkaidō Prefecture
Category:Japan international footballers
Category:J1 League players
Category:J2 League players
Category:JEF United Chiba players
Category:Yokohama F. Marinos players
Category:Vissel Kobe players
Category:Yokohama FC players
Category:1998 FIFA World Cup players
Category:Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Category:1996 AFC Asian Cup players