Kenta Hasegawa
Encyclopedia
is a former Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...

 international football player. He was a right-footed forward. He managed J. League Division 1 side Shimizu S-Pulse
Shimizu S-Pulse
is a professional Japanese association football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J. League Division 1 . Formed as recently as 1991, S-Pulse are one of the youngest professional teams in Japan, but are among only five to have competed in...

 for 6 seasons between 2005 and 2010.

Club

He was educated at and played for Shimizu Higashi High School
Shimizu Higashi High School
is known as a top high school in Shimizu, and one of the best high schools in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Shimizu Higashi High School is famous for high academic achievement especially in science and mathematics field as well as competitive sports teams....

. He won the national high school championship with his teammates including Katsumi Oenoki
Katsumi Oenoki
is a former Japanese football player. He was a right-footed midfielder. He is currently a football coach.-Playing career:He was educated at and played for Shimizu Higashi High School. He won the national high school championship with his teammates including Kenta Hasegawa and Takumi Horiike...

 and Takumi Horiike
Takumi Horiike
is a former Japanese football player. He was a defender.-Club:He was educated at and played for Shimizu Higashi High School. He won the national high school championship with his teammates including Katsumi Oenoki and Kenta Hasegawa...

. He continued his study and football at University of Tsukuba
University of Tsukuba
is located in the city of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture in the Kantō region of Japan. The University has 28 college clusters and schools with a total of around 15,000 students...

 where he won the Kanto University League title in 1987.

After graduating from the university in 1988, he joined Japan Soccer League
Japan Soccer League
, or JSL, was the top flight soccer league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J. League. JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professional Japanese Baseball League that was founded in 1936...

 side Nissan Motor F.C. (current Yokohama F. Marinos
Yokohama F. Marinos
is a Japanese association football team that participates in the fully professional J. League Division 1; the top Japanese professional football league. Having won the J-League title three times and finished second twice, they are one of the most successful J-League clubs. The team are based in...

). He contributed to the club winning the Emperor's Cup
Emperor's Cup
, commonly known as or , is a Japanese association football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formation of the J. League, Japan Football League and their predecessor, Japan Soccer League...

 twice in 1988 and 1989. When Japan's first-ever professional league J. League started, Shimizu S-Pulse
Shimizu S-Pulse
is a professional Japanese association football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J. League Division 1 . Formed as recently as 1991, S-Pulse are one of the youngest professional teams in Japan, but are among only five to have competed in...

 was founded in his local city. He joined the club in 1992 and re-united with his high school teammates Oenoki and Horiike. He helped the club to win the J. League Cup
J. League Cup
J. League Cup is a Japanese football competition organized by J. League. It is also known as Yamazaki Nabisco Cup or Nabisco Cup because confectionery/bakery company Yamazaki Nabisco have sponsored the competition since its inception in 1992.It is generally regarded as the Japanese equivalent to...

 in 1996. He retired as a Shimizu player after the club won the second stage of the J. League 1999 season. He played 207 league matches and scored 45 league goals in 7 seasons at Shimizu.

International

He was capped 27 times and scored 4 goals for the Japanese national team
Japan national football team
The Japan national football team represents Japan in association football and is operated by the Japan Football Association, the governing body for association football in Japan...

 between 1989 and 1995. His first international appearance came on January 20, 1989 in a friendly against Iran
Iran national football team
The national football team of Iran represents Iran in international football competitions and is controlled by the Football Federation Islamic Republic of Iran...

 in Teheran. He scored for the first time for his country on June 11, 1989 in a 1990 FIFA World Cup
1990 FIFA World Cup
The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event twice. Teams representing 116 national football associations from all six populated...

 qualifier against Indonesia
Indonesia national football team
The Indonesia national football team represents Indonesia in international football. It is controlled by the Football Association of Indonesia . Prior to independence in 1945, the team competed as the Dutch East Indies national football team. Under this name, Indonesia was the first Asian team to...

 at Nishigaoka Soccer Stadium in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. He was a member of the Japan squad who participated in the AFC
Asian Football Confederation
The Asian Football Confederation is the governing body of association football in Asia. It has 46 member countries, mostly located on the Asian continent. However, due to the disputed boundary of Europe and Asia, nations such as Russia and Turkey which are located mostly in geographic Asia are...

 final qualifying stage for the 1994 FIFA World Cup
1994 FIFA World Cup
The 1994 FIFA World Cup, the 15th staging of the FIFA World Cup, was held in nine cities across the United States from June 17 to July 17, 1994. The United States was chosen as the host by FIFA on July 4, 1988...

. In the crucial last match, Hasegawa was substituted in the 59th minute by Masahiro Fukuda
Masahiro Fukuda
is a former Japanese football player. He was a forward but sometimes played in the midfield.-Club:After studying at and playing for Sagami Institute of Technology High School and Chuo University, he joined Mitsubishi Motors in 1989 and started to play for their football club that played in the...

 and watched from the bench a late Iraqi equaliser dashed Japan's hope to qualify for the finals in the U.S.A., the match that the Japanese fans now refer to as the Agony of Doha
Agony of Doha
The Agony of Doha is a term used by fans of the Japanese national football team to refer to the qualification match for their 1994 FIFA World Cup match with Iraq, held in Doha, Qatar on October 28, 1993....

.

Club career statistics

|-
|1988/89||rowspan="3"|Nissan Motors
Yokohama F. Marinos
is a Japanese association football team that participates in the fully professional J. League Division 1; the top Japanese professional football league. Having won the J-League title three times and finished second twice, they are one of the most successful J-League clubs. The team are based in...

||rowspan="3"|JSL Division 1
Japan Soccer League
, or JSL, was the top flight soccer league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J. League. JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professional Japanese Baseball League that was founded in 1936...

||18||4||||||||||18||4
|-
|1989/90||11||5||||||3||0||14||5
|-
|1990/91||4||0||||||4||0||8||0
|-
|1992||rowspan="8"|Shimizu S-Pulse
Shimizu S-Pulse
is a professional Japanese association football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J. League Division 1 . Formed as recently as 1991, S-Pulse are one of the youngest professional teams in Japan, but are among only five to have competed in...

||rowspan="8"|J. League 1||colspan="2"|-||3||0||10||2||13||2
|-
|1993||36||10||4||1||1||0||41||11
|-
|1994||44||9||1||1||1||0||46||10
|-
|1995||21||3||0||0||colspan="2"|-||21||3
|-
|1996||24||7||3||2||16||7||43||16
|-
|1997||30||5||1||0||6||2||37||7
|-
|1998||31||9||5||2||5||0||41||11
|-
|1999||21||2||2||1||2||1||25||3
240||54||19||7||48||12||307||73
240||54||19||7||48||12||307||73
|}

International career statistics

|-
|1989||11||2
|-
|1990||6||1
|-
|1991||0||0
|-
|1992||0||0
|-
|1993||5||0
|-
|1994||2||0
|-
|1995||3||1
|-
!Total||27||4
|}

Managerial career

After retiring from the game, he started working as a pundit for national television NHK
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....

. He was also installed as the general manager of two university clubs, Hamamatsu University S.C. and Fuji Tokoha University F.C. (2000–2001). He became the manager of Hamamatsu University S.C. and lead them to win the Tokai University League title and the Shizuoka Prefectural qualification for the Emperor's Cup
Emperor's Cup
, commonly known as or , is a Japanese association football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formation of the J. League, Japan Football League and their predecessor, Japan Soccer League...

. He acquired the S-class coaching license that was required to manage a J. League club in 2004 and became the manager of his old club S-Pulse in 2005. The club struggled and narrowly escaped relegation in the 2005 season but they fought back strongly in the 2006 season and finished 4th in the league; a position equaled in 2007. In 2008 Hasegawa led S-Pulse to the final of the Nabisco Cup and a fifth placed finish in the league, a placing which included them being the strongest performing team in the second half of the season. He was rewarded with an extended contract which will keep him at S-Pulse until 2010. He left Shimizu after he led the club to the final of 2010-11 Emperor's Cup
Emperor's Cup
, commonly known as or , is a Japanese association football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formation of the J. League, Japan Football League and their predecessor, Japan Soccer League...

 when his contract was expired.

In popular culture

In popular manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...

 and anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 series Chibi Maruko-chan
Chibi Maruko-chan
is a shōjo manga series by Momoko Sakura, later adapted into an anime TV series by Nippon Animation, which originally aired on Fuji Television from January 7, 1990 to September 27, 1992. The series depicts the simple, everyday life of a little girl nicknamed Maruko and her family in suburban...

, a boy called Kenta kun occasionally makes an appearance. He loves football and is a classmate of title character Chibi Maruko. Momoko Sakura
Momoko Sakura
, pen name , is a Japanese manga artist from Shimizu, Shizuoka Prefecture. She is the creator of the long-running manga Chibi Maruko-chan , based on her own childhood, and the more surreal fantasy anime series Coji-Coji, which ran from 1997 to 1999...

, the author of the manga, created this character after Hasegawa. Sakura and Hasegawa attended the same primary school during the same period.
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