REFEREES from Japan

Top 3

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the most legendary Japanese Referees of all time. This list of famous Japanese Referees is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity.

1. Yuichi Nishimura (1972 - )

With an HPI of 42.12, Yuichi Nishimura is the most famous Japanese Referee.  His biography has been translated into 33 different languages on wikipedia.

Yuichi Nishimura (西村 雄一, Nishimura Yūichi, born 17 April 1972) is a Japanese football referee. He has refereed in the Japanese J. League Division 1 since 1999 and has been a full international referee for FIFA since 2004. He refereed at the 2010 FIFA World Cup, where he was appointed to several prestigious matches, including as fourth official on the final. He also refereed the opening game in the 2014 FIFA World Cup between hosts Brazil and Croatia, his poor performance in which was criticized. He refereed the second leg of the 2014 AFC Champions League final between Al Hilal and Western Sydney Wanderers in which his performance was heavily criticized also.

2. Toru Kamikawa (1963 - )

With an HPI of 39.48, Toru Kamikawa is the 2nd most famous Japanese Referee.  His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Toru Kamikawa (上川徹, Kamikawa Tōru, born June 8, 1963) is a former Japanese football (soccer) referee, debuting in Japan's professional J. League in 1996. Kamikawa was born in Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture. An international referee since 1998, he refereed one match at the 2002 FIFA World Cup and three matches at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. In the 2002 World Cup, he refereed a first round match between Ireland and Cameroon. In the 2006 World Cup, he refereed first round matches between Poland and Ecuador in Group A, and between England and Trinidad and Tobago in Group B. He also refereed the third place playoff match between Germany and Portugal. He was the AFC Referee of the Year in 2002, and the J. League Referee of the Year in 2003 and 2006. Kamikawa became the first Asian referee to officiate a Russian Premier League match when he refereed a match between Luch-Energia Vladivostok and Spartak Moscow on August 20, 2006, in Vladivostok. Before becoming a referee, he played football as a forward. He was educated at and played for Kagoshima National College of Technology and Tokai University. He represented Japan at an underage level in 1981. After the graduation, he joined Japan Soccer League side Fujita S.C. (current Shonan Bellmare) and finished his playing career there in 1991. He announced his retirement from the international game in October 2006 partly because of his knee injury although he still had two years before he reached the mandatory retirement age of an international referee. He quit refereeing entirely in January 2007. He now works for the Japan Football Association to help younger referees to develop their skills.

3. Ryuji Sato (1977 - )

With an HPI of 39.44, Ryuji Sato is the 3rd most famous Japanese Referee.  His biography has been translated into 24 different languages.

Ryuji Sato (佐藤 隆治, Satō Ryūji, born 16 April 1977) is an international football referee from Japan. He has refereed many matches in the AFC Champions League and FIFA World Cup qualifiers. He is also a referee in J. League Division 1 in Japan.