Tomoki Imai
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Tomoki Imai | ||
| Date of birth | November 29, 1990 | ||
| Place of birth | Tokyo, Japan | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Ichikawa KIFC | |||
| Ichikawa Kanezuka SC | |||
| 2006–2008 | Omiya Ardija | ||
| College career | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2009–2012 | Chuo University | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2013–2015 | Omiya Ardija | 58 | (2) |
| 2015–2018 | Kashiwa Reysol | 5 | (0) |
| 2018–2019 | Matsumoto Yamaga | 25 | (0) |
| 2020–2025 | Western United | 135 | (1) |
| 2025–2026 | Machida Zelvia | 0 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 11:41, 7 October 2026 (UTC) | |||
Tomoki Imai (今井 智基, Imai Tomoki; born November 29, 1990) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a defender, most recently for Machida Zelvia.
Career
[edit]Born in the Chiba Prefecture, Imai made his debut for Omiya Ardija of the J1 League on March 20, 2013, against Júbilo Iwata in the J.League Cup in which he came on in the 56th minute for Daisuke Watabe as Omiya suffered a 2–0 defeat.[1]
On 11 February 2020, Imai moved to Australia, signing for A-League side Western United. Imai is only the second player in the clubs history to reach 100 games played. He was also a key part of Westerns Inaugural A-league championship in 2022.[2] Following the suspension of Western United's participation ahead of the 2025–26 season, all players – including Imai – were released from their contracts in September 2025.[3][4]
After his departure from Western United, Imai returned to Japan and signed for Machida Zelvia.[5]
Club statistics
[edit]| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Omiya Ardija | 2013 | J.League Division 1 | 23 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | – | 30 | 2 | |
| 2014 | J.League Division 1 | 30 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | – | 39 | 1 | ||
| 2015 | J2 League | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 5 | 0 | ||
| Total | 58 | 2 | 5 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 74 | 3 | ||
| Kashiwa Reysol | 2015 | J1 League | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1[c] | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 2016 | J1 League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2017 | J1 League | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2018 | J1 League | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2[c] | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| Total | 5 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 20 | 0 | ||
| Matsumoto Yamaga | 2018 | J2 League | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 7 | 0 | |
| 2019 | J1 League | 18 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | 21 | 0 | ||
| Total | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 28 | 0 | ||
| Western United FC | 2019–20 | A-League | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 12 | 0 | ||
| 2020–21 | A-League | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 26 | 1 | |||
| 2021–22 | A-League Men | 27 | 0 | 2 | 0 | – | – | 29 | 0 | |||
| 2022–23 | A-League Men | 19 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | – | 22 | 0 | |||
| 2023–24 | A-League Men | 24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 24 | 0 | |||
| 2024–25 | A-League Men | 27 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 28 | 0 | |||
| Total | 135 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 141 | 1 | ||
| Machida Zelvia | 2025 | J1 League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 2026 | J1 (100) | 0 | 0 | – | – | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| Total | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 223 | 3 | 16 | 1 | 21 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 263 | 4 | ||
- ↑ Includes Emperor's Cup, Australia Cup
- ↑ Includes J.League Cup
- 1 2 Appearances in AFC Champions League
References
[edit]- ↑ "OMIYA ARDIJA VS. JÚBILO IWATA 0 – 2". Soccerway. Retrieved 11 April 2013.
- ↑ "Western United sign Japanese defender Imai". FTBL. Retrieved 2020-02-11.
- ↑ "APL statement: An update on Western United Football Club". A-Leagues. 6 September 2025. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
- ↑ Monteverde, Marco (8 September 2025). "United contracts terminated". news.com.au. Retrieved 10 September 2025.
- ↑ "今井 智基選手 完全移籍加入のお知らせ" [Announcement of permanent transfer of Tomoki Imai]. FC Machida Zelvia (in Japanese). 11 September 2025.
- ↑ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2016J1&J2&J3選手名鑑", 10 February 2016, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411338 (p. 86 out of 289)
- ↑ Tomoki Imai at Soccerway
External links
[edit]- Profile at Kashiwa Reysol
- Profile at Omiya Ardija
- Tomoki Imai at J.League (archive) (in Japanese)
  | This biographical article related to a Japanese association football defender born in the 1990s is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information. |
- 1990 births
- Living people
- Chuo University alumni
- Football people from Chiba Prefecture
- Japanese men's footballers
- J1 League players
- J2 League players
- RB Omiya Ardija players
- Kashiwa Reysol players
- Matsumoto Yamaga FC players
- Western United FC players
- FC Machida Zelvia players
- Men's association football defenders
- 21st-century Japanese sportsmen
- Japanese football defender, 1990s birth stubs
