If you look now into Transfermarkt, you can find a long list of the most faithful players in the world. Three in the Top 10 are actually Japanese. And if we already talked about Koji Homma and his ties with Mito HollyHock, while Hideakazu Otani is known even in Finland, the third protagonist might have been less celebrated.
Nevertheless, he lived for 20 years in the Yamanashi Prefecture. He’s been part of Ventforet Kofu rise to the top, being the captain for a long time. And despite being 42 this year, he’s still playing for the club, like many Japanese players are doing. The tendency in prolonging their career is still there (Kazu Miura, for example, isn’t still over with his one, having attracted more than 15k spectators to see him in a JFL match).
Our protagonist has a longer life with Kofu than Akinfeev with CSKA Moscow, just to make a well-known comparison from European football. But can an afternoon sum up 20 years together? It can if it’s the most important of a club’s history. Today, our man entered in the extra time of the Emperor’s Cup final, caused the PK that would have gifted Sanfrecce Hiroshima their first title and then scored the decisive penalty to bring Kofu the cup.
Hideomi Yamamoto hasn’t been that much celebrated, but he’s been a silent hero within Kofu fans’ hearts for a long time. A midfielder, a defender, a joker from the bench. And yet, no one would have predicted this ending a long time ago.
Chiba-born, JEF-raised
To think that Yamamoto should have been somewhere else. Born on June 26, 1980, the young Hideomi wore a decade the colors of JEF United Ichihara, well before they added “Chiba” into their name. Born in the Chiba Prefecture, Yamamoto was for five years in their youth ranks and then was promoted to the first team.
He saw the beginning of J. League. From 1998 to 2002, he was involved with a team that struggled on the table, reached a J. League Cup final (lost to Jubilo Iwata), and then achieved a third-place finish in 2001. Yamamoto shared the lockerroom with:
- Yoshikazu Nonomura, current J. League chairman.
- Hisato Sato, absolute legend and the third all-time scorer in J1.
- Shigetoshi Hasebe, current head coach of Avispa Fukuoka.
- Yuki Abe, one of the legends of Japanese football.
But it wasn’t like JEF had a clear direction, and Yamamoto played a few matches in three years as an official member of the first squad (6 in J. League Cup, 4 in J1). He needed to look out for another direction.
Beyond the Mountains
When Yamamoto joined Ventforet Kofu in 2003, the club wasn’t really anywhere. They joined J2 in 1999, in its inaugural season, but they were mostly at the bottom of the table, struggling to get any results. Their best year was indeed 2002 when they finished seventh out of 12 teams (fun fact: Takeshi Oki was the man behind their good year).
Ventforet had their first J1 stint between 2006 and ’07 (and it wasn’t easy to get there), but it took five years for Yamamoto to secure a starting spot (due to injuries and changing managers). When Kofu dropped back to J2 in ’08, Yamamoto became a pillar of the club, guiding the transition towards another promotion run and the second conquered in 2010. This time again, Kofu lasted just one season, despite showing some interesting players (e.g. Mike Havenaar).
Nevertheless, at 32 years old, Yamamoto was the symbol of the club. A decade in the Yamanashi Prefecture, the ductility was dictated by experience and silent leadership. He reminded us of a bit of a sort of Makoto Hasebe, although the former captain of Japan is two years younger than him. The meeting with Hiroshi Jofuku made the rest: between 2012 and 2014, Yamamoto played 102 matches only in the league.
And even when Kofu stayed for another three seasons in J1 and Yamamoto was gradually benched, he never really left.
Mr. Kofu
Not even the relegation back to J2 in 2017 erased the contribution of Yamamoto. The captain was partially granted by managers in Kofu, especially when Akira Ito took over the job in 2019. The newly established head coach found him a spot as center-back, in a three-CBs system. It worked marvelously: Yamamoto didn’t have to face the challenges and tackles of a defensive midfielder and just stayed in the back to help build up the plays.
When age advanced, in 2019, he also stepped down officially from the captain’s role, although he remained “Mr. Kofu” – it didn’t matter if the armband was worn by Ryohei Arai, Sho Araki or Motoki Hasegawa. And the 2022 Emperor’s Cup final close that circle, with Yamamoto coming in in the second extra time to help out his beloved team.
The penalty by Mitsuta could have written a very different history, but Kohei Kawata thought otherwise. And Yamamoto had his golden chance to seal the deal. It’s tough to say if he’ll be around again for 2023 but being the only member of having ever played for Kofu in J1, J2, and Japanese Cups (including the Japanese Super Cup: Ventforet will have to play that one too!), and the AFC Champions League… it’s a marvelous achievement.
We’ll see. We’ll leave it there with his words after the game and that final PK to win the Cup:
“Thinking back on it now, it’s a little scary. I think it’s crazy. But at that time, I was surprisingly calm. […] I hope that the momentum to build a dedicated stadium in Yamanashi will increase even a little”. That’s one of the best legacies a legend could actually leave, especially to a club like Ventforet Kofu.
