Tsuyoshi Kitazawa

Tsuyoshi Kitazawa (北澤 豪, Kitazawa Tsuyoshi; born 10 August 1968) is a Japanese former football player who played for the Japan national team. He currently works on television as a football commentator.

When Kitazawa was a junior high school student, he joined Yomiuri Club Junior Youth after a one-week trial. After graduating from junior high school, he chose to attend Shutoku High School, where he played for the school football club. After graduating, he joined Japan Soccer League side Honda in 1987. He was the league's joint top scorer in the 1990–91 season.

He transferred to Yomiuri Club (later Verdy Kawasaki, now Tokyo Verdy) in 1991. He became a key member of Verdy's successful early-1990s side, playing alongside Kazuyoshi Miura, Ruy Ramos, Nobuhiro Takeda, Tetsuji Hashiratani and, from 1993, Bismarck. Verdy won consecutive J.League championships in 1993 and 1994, as well as three consecutive J.League Cup titles from 1992 to 1994. Kitazawa remained with Verdy until retiring in 2002.

Kitazawa earned 58 caps and scored 3 goals for the Japan national team between 1991 and 1999. He made his international debut on 2 June 1991 in a friendly against Thailand, under national coach Kenzo Yokoyama. He was a member of the Japan team that won the 1992 Asian Cup. He scored his first international goal on 6 November 1992 in the semifinal against China at Hiroshima Stadium.

He took part in Japan's unsuccessful campaign to qualify for the 1994 FIFA World Cup, appearing in two matches during the final Asian qualifying round in Doha, Qatar. He was an unused substitute in the final qualifier against Iraq, when an injury-time equaliser denied Japan qualification for the World Cup, an event remembered in Japan as the Agony of Doha.

Kitazawa was short-listed for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, but national coach Takeshi Okada dropped him, along with Kazuyoshi Miura and Daisuke Ichikawa, at the final training camp in Nyon, Switzerland.

Kitazawa represented Japan national futsal team in the 1989 FIFA Futsal World Championship finals hosted by the Netherlands.

Japan Soccer League top goalscorer: 1990–91