Koichi Hashiratani

Who is Koichi Hashiratani?

Koichi Hashiratani is a former Japanese footballer. He has played for Japan national team. His younger brother Tetsuji is also a former Japanese footballer.

Hashiratani was selected as one of 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship squads for Japan when he was playing for Kokushikan University F.C., then started his senior career with Nissan Motors since 1983 and played with Nissan for 9 seasons until transferred to Urawa Red Diamonds in 1992, right before J. League's inauguration. He experienced another transfer to Kashiwa Reysol, then playing in Japan Football League in June 1994. Kashiwa was promoted to J. League as of the end of 1994 season, and he also made his return to the top flight. After 2 1/2 seasons playing with Kashiwa, he retired as a player.

After obtaining J. League's S-grade coach license in 1999, he started his coaching career with Montedio Yamagata, where he managed for 3 years from 2001 season to 2003 season. After 6 months of absence, he was named as a manager of Kyoto Purple Sanga in June 2004 when Kyoto was playing in the 2nd division, then contributed to Kyoto's promotion back to the top flight after the 2005 season. However, due to the poor performances and turnouts of the club, he was dismissed on 3 October about 2 months before the end of 2006 season.