Kazuo Saito

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

Biography
Saito was born in Saitama on July 27, 1951. After graduating from Hosei University, he joined his local club Mitsubishi Motors in 1974. The club won the 2nd place in Japan Soccer League for 4 years in a row (1974-1977). In 1978, the club won all three major title in Japan; Japan Soccer League, JSL Cup and Emperor's Cup. The club also won 1980 Emperor's Cup, 1981 JSL Cup and 1982 Japan Soccer League. However, the club finished at the bottom place in 1988/89 season and was relegated Division 2. He retired end of 1988/89 season. He played 248 games and scored 3 goals in the league. He was selected Best Eleven in 1975, 1977 and 1978.

On January 28, 1976, Saito debuted for the Japan national team against Bulgaria. He played as regular player at 1976 Summer Olympics qualification and 1978 World Cup qualification. He was also selected for Japan for 1978 Asian Games. In 1984, he played for Japan for the first time in 6 years. 1984 Summer Olympics qualification was his last game for Japan. He played 32 games for Japan until 1984.

Saito retired from playing career in 1989, he became a manager for Mitsubishi Motors (later Urawa Reds) as Kuniya Daini successor. In 1989/90 season, he led the club to won the champions in Division 2 and promoted to Division 1. He resigned in 1992. Through an assistant coach for Urawa Reds and JEF United Ichihara (later JEF United Chiba), he signed with Kawasaki Frontale in 1997. In 2000, he returned to Urawa Reds and managed the club. From 2010, he signed with JEF United Chiba and became an assistant coach. In 2014, he managed JEF United Chiba as caretaker as Jun Suzuki successor.

Statistics

|-
|1974||rowspan="15"|Mitsubishi Motors||rowspan="15"|JSL Division 1||15||0
|-
|1975||18||0
|-
|1976||17||1
|-
|1977||18||1
|-
|1978||13||0
|-
|1979||14||0
|-
|1980||18||1
|-
|1981||18||0
|-
|1982||18||0
|-
|1983||12||0
|-
|1984||15||0
|-
|1985/86||21||0
|-
|1986/87||19||0
|-
|1987/88||20||0
|-
|1988/89||12||0
248||3
248||3
|}
Japan National Football Team Database

|-
|1976||14||0
|-
|1977||5||0
|-
|1978||9||0
|-
|1979||0||0
|-
|1980||0||0
|-
|1981||0||0
|-
|1982||0||0
|-
|1983||0||0
|-
|1984||4||0
|-
!Total||32||0
|}

References

Other websites

Category:1951 births
Category:Living people
Category:Footballers from Saitama Prefecture
Category:Japan international footballers
Category:Japanese football managers
Category:Japan Soccer League players
Category:Urawa Red Diamonds players
Category:Urawa Red Diamonds managers