Saburō Kawabuchi

Kawabuchi was born in Osaka. At first, when he was in Takaishi elementary school and Takaishi Junior high school, he played baseball. He was on to Mikunigaoka High School, Osaka and became a member of football team at the high school. He graduated from Mikunigaoka High School, Osaka in 1955. He went on to Waseda University School of commerce in 1957. He played for Waseda University football team. He earned Bachelor of arts degree in commerce from Waseda University.

Kawabuchi played for Furukawa Electric football team, forerunner to JEF United Chiba, in the early days of the Japan Soccer League. In the initial league season, he was the first player to score a hat-trick, against Nagoya Bank. He became a player for Japan national football team and competed at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo. He retired as a player in 1970, he used to work for Furukawa Electric Corporation. In 1980, he became the head coach of Japan national football team for a short time.

In 1993, he established Japan professional soccer league and became the first chairman of the league. He was in the office between 1993 and 2002. He was the president of the Japan Football Association between 2002 and 2008.

He was selected for a member of Japan Football Hall of fame by Japan Football Association in 2005.

• Japan Soccer League Silver Ball (Assist Leader): 1966

• J's career – With Japan football, Nihon Keizai Shimbun Shuppan, 2009

• Wife: Yasuko
• Daughters: Junko and Hideko