Yukio Shimomura

Yukio Shimomura was born in Hiroshima and was still living there when the atomic bomb was dropped on the city during World War II. He was fortunate to escape serious injury and, after the conflict, took up football during his final years of high school. After graduating in 1949, he joined the Toyo Kogyo Shukyu Club (now Sanfrecce Hiroshima) and remained there through his 1961 retirement, coming in second in the Emperor’s Cup in 1954 and 1957. He played his only match for the Japanese national team in 1955 and was also selected as a reserve goalkeeper for the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, but did not see any playing time, as his squad was eliminated by Australia in round one. He was also an alternate with the team during the 1954 World Cup qualifiers and the 1958 Asian Games.

Following his retirement from active competition, Shimomura took up coaching, first with his old team of Toyo Kogyo Shukyu. During his tenure with the team, from 1964 through 1970, the club won the Japan Soccer League five times (1965-1969 and 1970) and the Emperor’s Cup thrice (1965, 1967, and 1969). From 1972 through 1974 he managed the newly-promoted Towa Real Estate (now Shonan Bellmare) and in 1979 he was placed at the head of the Japanese national team. He resigned one year later, however, when Japan failed to qualify for the 1980 Moscow Olympics. By career, he was a high school teacher, but also served in administrative roles in sport. He was inducted into the Japan Football Hall of Fame in 2015.