Nozomu Kato

Nozomu Kato
加藤望
Personal information
Full name	Nozomu Kato
Date of birth	October 7, 1969 (age 55)
Place of birth	Miyagi, Japan
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1985–1987	Tohoku Gakuin High School
1988–1991	Tokai University
Senior career*
Years	Team
1992–2004	Kashiwa Reysol
2005–2008	Shonan Bellmare
Total
Managerial career
2018	Kashiwa Reysol
Medal record
Kashiwa Reysol
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Nozomu Kato (加藤望, Katō Nozomu, born October 7, 1969) is a Japanese football manager and former football player he is the currently development coach of J3 League side Matsumoto Yamaga.

Playing career

Kato was born in Miyagi Prefecture on October 7, 1969. After graduating from Tokai University, he joined Japan Football League club Hitachi (later Kashiwa Reysol) in 1992. He became a regular player as an offensive midfielder in 1994. He also played as forward, not only midfielder. The club also won second place in 1994 and was promoted to the J1 League in 1995. The club won the 1999 J.League Cup. Although he played as a regular player for a long time, he did not play as much in 2002. In 2005, he moved to the J2 League club Shonan Bellmare. He played as a regular player for four seasons and retired at the end of the 2008 season at the age of 39.

Coaching career

After retirement, Kato started a coaching career at Shonan Bellmare in 2009. He served as coach for the top team (2009–10) and manager for the youth team (2011–12). In 2013, he became a manager for Sanno Institute of Management and managed until 2017. In 2018, he moved to Kashiwa Reysol, where he first played. He became a coach under the manager Takahiro Shimotaira who Kato's teammate when Kato played for Reysol. Shimotaira was terminated for poor results in May and Kato became a new manager.^[1] However, Kato could not improve the club's record and he was terminated in November.^[2]

Club statistics

Club performance			League		Cup		League Cup		Total
Season	Club	League	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Japan			League		Emperor's Cup		J.League Cup		Total
1992	Hitachi	Football League	3	0	-		-		3	0
1993	Kashiwa Reysol	Football League	7	0	0	0	-		7	0
1994		Football League	26	6	0	0	1	0	27	6
1995		J1 League	46	8	2	0	-		48	8
1996			27	8	2	0	14	2	43	10
1997			32	4	3	1	8	1	43	6
1998			34	8	2	1	4	6	40	15
1999			30	9	4	0	8	2	42	11
2000			29	2	2	2	2	0	33	4
2001			22	4	1	0	4	2	27	6
2002			18	3	0	0	6	0	24	3
2003			10	0	1	0	2	0	13	0
2004			7	0	1	0	2	0	10	0
2005	Shonan Bellmare	J2 League	41	9	1	0	-		42	9
2006			42	6	2	0	-		44	6
2007			47	10	1	0	-		48	6
2008			40	5	1	0	-		41	5
Total			458	82	23	4	51	13	532	99