Makoto Kitano

Makoto Kitano
北野誠
Personal information
Full name	Makoto Kitano
Date of birth	July 17, 1967 (age 57)
Place of birth	Takamatsu, Kagawa, Japan
Height	1.64 m (5 ft 4+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Nojima Stella (Manager)
Youth career
1983–1985	Teikyo High School
Senior career*
Years	Team
1986–1992	Hitachi
1993–1995	Kyoto Purple Sanga
Managerial career
1998–2004	Kyoto Sanga (youth)
2005–2008	Roasso Kumamoto (assistant)
2009	Roasso Kumamoto
2010–2018	Kamatamare Sanuki
2019	FC Gifu
2020–	Nojima Stella
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Makoto Kitano (北野誠, Kitano Makoto, born July 17, 1967) is a former Japanese football player and manager, currently in charge of Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara.

Playing career

Kitano was born in Takamatsu on July 17, 1967. After graduating from high school, he joined Hitachi in 1986. In 1993, he moved to Kyoto Purple Sanga. He retired in 1995.

Coaching career

After retirement, Kitano started coaching career at Kyoto Purple Sanga in 1998. He mainly coached youth team until 2004. In 2005, he moved to Regional Leagues club Rosso Kumamoto (later Roasso Kumamoto) and became a coach under manager Tomoyoshi Ikeya. The club was promoted to Japan Football League (JFL) in 2006 and J2 League in 2008. In 2009, he was promoted to manager as Ikeya successor.

In 2010, Kitano moved to Regional Leagues club Kamatamare Sanuki based in his local Kagawa Prefecture. In first season, the club won the champions and was promoted to JFL. In 2013, the club won the 2nd place in JFL and was promoted to J2. However the club results were bad every season in J2 and was finally relegated to J3 League end of 2018 season. He resigned end of 2018 season.^[1]

In June 2019, Kitano signed with J2 club FC Gifu and became a manager as Takeshi Oki successor.^[2] In February 2020, Kitano went into women's football, being appointed the manager of Nojima Stella Kanagawa Sagamihara.^[3]^[4]