JFA Hall of Fame Inductee

IHARA Masami

Player Inductee: 21st Japan Football Hall of Fame in 2025

Born in Shiga Prefecture on 18 September 1967

After graduating from Moriyama High School and Tsukuba University, IHARA Masami joined the Nissan Motor Co. soccer club (now Yokohama F. Marinos) in 1990. Known as the "Asian Wall", his iron-clad defense and calm decision-making saved the day in many pinch points. A key player in the team's successes, he contributed to back-to-back Emperor's Cup titles from 1991, back-to-back Asian Cup Winners' Cup titles from 1992, and the J.League title in 1995 (Yokohama Marinos).

As an individual, he was named to the J.League Best Eleven for five consecutive years from 1993 to 1997 and won the AFC Asian Player of the Year award in 1995.

He was selected for the Japan national team for the first time in 1988, when he was a sophomore in college, and quickly established himself as a regular player, contributing to the first AFC Marlboro Dynasty Cup and AFC Asian Cup titles in 1992. In 1997, he became the first player in Japan's national team history to play 100 international A-matches, and by 1999, he had played 122 matches, which put him at the top of the rankings for a long time until that record was broken in 2012. From 1996 onwards, he served as captain of the Japan national team. In both the Asian qualifiers and the main tournament of the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France—Japan's long-awaited first World Cup appearance—he led the team as captain.

• 
  Alberto ZACCHERONI
• SUZUKI Tamotsu