Takayuki Yoshida

is a former Japanese football player and manager. He is currently the manager of J1 League club Shimizu S-Pulse.

During his managerial tenure at Vissel Kobe, Yoshida has coached a number of former FIFA World Cup winners with the like of Lukas Podolski, Andrés Iniesta and David Villa. He also has coached a few world class superstars like Thomas Vermaelen, Sergi Samper and Juan Mata. Yoshida also guided Vissel Kobe to two consecutive J1 League title in 2023 and 2024.

Club career After graduating from high school, he joined Yokohama Flügels with teammate Yasuhiro Hato in 1995. He played many matches as forward from first season and the club won the 1994–95 Asian Cup Winners' Cup. In 1998, the club won Emperor's Cup. In the final, he scored the winning goal.

However the club was disbanded at the end of 1998 due to financial strain, he then moved to its merger club Yokohama F. Marinos. However his opportunity to play decreased and he moved to J.League Division 2 Oita Trinita in 2000. He played as offensive midfielder in many matches. The club won the championship in 2002 and was promoted to the first division. He returned to Yokohama F. Marinos in 2006. He moved to his local club Vissel Kobe in 2008. He played many matches until 2011. In 2012, he could not play for injury and the club was relegated to second division. Although he thought of retirement, he extended the contract a year. In 2013, the club finished second and was promoted to first division. He retired at the end of the season.

National team career In August 1993, Yoshida was selected Japan U-17 national team for the 1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship on home soil and he played 3 matches.

Coaching career After the retirement, Yoshida started coaching career at Vissel Kobe in 2015. He served as an assistant coach under head coach Nelsinho Baptista. In August 2017, Nelsinho was sacked for poor results and Yoshida became the club new head coach as Nelsinho successor. Although Vissel managed to signed a Germany former FIFA World Cup winner, Lukas Podolski in July 2017, Vissel finished at the 9th place in 2017 season. In 2018 season, Vissel gained another former Spanish FIFA World Cup winner, Andrés Iniesta in July and Vissel rose to the 4th place temporarily. However Vissel went down after that and Yoshida resigned in September when the club was at the 10th place. In April 2019, he became a manager again as Juan Manuel Lillo successor. However Vissel won only 1 match in 7 matches and he resigned in June.

Club statistics

Managerial statistics

Honours Player Yokohama Flügels Asian Cup Winners' Cup: 1994–95 Emperor's Cup: 1998 Yokohama F. Marinos J.League Division 1: 2000 Oita Trinita J.League Division 2: 2002 Manager Vissel Kobe J1 League: 2023, 2024 Emperor's Cup: 2024