Akira Matsunaga (footballer, born 1948)

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

Biography
Matsunaga was born in Shizuoka Prefecture on August 8, 1948. After graduating from Waseda University, he joined Japan Soccer League club Hitachi in 1971. In 1972, the club won the champions in Japan Soccer League and Emperor's Cup. The club also won 1975 Emperor's Cup and 1976 JSL Cup. He scored many goals in early 1970s and competed with Kunishige Kamamoto for top scorer. Matsunaga retired in 1982. He played 176 games and scored 82 goals in the league and became a top scorer in 1972 and 1973. He was also selected Best Eleven for 4 years in a row (1972-1975).

In May 1973, Matsunaga was selected the Japan national team for 1974 World Cup qualification. At this qualification, on May 22, he debuted against Hong Kong. He also played at 1976 Summer Olympics qualification. This qualification was his last game for Japan. He played 10 games and scored 2 goals for Japan until 1976.

Statistics

|-
|1971||rowspan="12"|Hitachi||rowspan="12"|JSL Division 1||11||4
|-
|1972||14||12
|-
|1973||18||11
|-
|1974||18||17
|-
|1975||18||15
|-
|1976||5||0
|-
|1977||15||4
|-
|1978||18||7
|-
|1979||18||2
|-
|1980||17||4
|-
|1981||16||4
|-
|1982||8||2
176||82
176||82
|}
Japan National Football Team Database

|-
|1973||3||0
|-
|1974||0||0
|-
|1975||0||0
|-
|1976||7||2
|-
!Total||10||2
|}

References

Other websites

Category:1948 births
Category:Living people
Category:Footballers from Shizuoka Prefecture
Category:Japan international footballers
Category:Japan Soccer League players
Category:Kashiwa Reysol players