When Japan's first-ever professional leagueJ1 League started in the early 1990s, Mitsubishi was transferred to theUrawa Red Diamonds. He turned professional and continued to play for the club. He scored his first J1 League goal on June 9, 1993 against theKashima Antlers atKashima Soccer Stadium. All the Urawa players except the goalkeeper flocked around Fukuda to celebrate the goal. While the celebration was prolonged, the referee signaled the restart and Kashima's Hisashi Kurosaki equalized immediately.
In the 1995 season, Fukuda scored 32 goals, which made him the League's top scorer and a member of theJ.League Best XI. Urawa was fighting the relegation battle in the 1998 season. In order to stay up, Urawa needed to win the last match in the normal 90 minutes. The J1 League employed extra time with thegolden goal rule even for a league match at that time, and 2 points were awarded for an extra win while a regulation win earned 3 points. Urawa failed to win in the 90 minutes and the players fielded for the extra time knowing that they had already been relegated. Fukuda scored the golden goal, which fans now remember as the "saddest golden goal in the world."[1]
He retired from the game after the 2002 season. He played his senior club football with one club. He was the symbolic player of Urawa Red Diamonds and the fans refer to him as Mr. Reds. At the beginning of 2003, thetestimonial match for Fukuda was held atSaitama Stadium where more than 50,000 supporters attended to bid farewell.
Fukuda was capped 45 times and scored 9 goals for theJapan national team between 1990 and 1995.[2] His first international appearance came on July 27, 1990 in aDynasty Cup match againstSouth Korea inBeijing. He scored his first goal for his country on August 24, 1992 in another Dynasty Cup match againstChina inBeijing.
He was a member of the Japan team that won the1992 Asian Cup and he played 4 games and scored 1 goal in the semi-final againstChina.
Under national coachHans Ooft, Japan reached the1994 World Cup qualification for the1994 World Cup. He was on the pitch, after replacingKenta Hasegawa in the 59th minute, when Japan's hope to play in the finals in the USA was dashed by an injury-time Iraqi equaliser in the last qualifier, the match that the Japanese fans now refer to as theAgony of Doha.
He works as a football commentator and columnist for various programs and magazines. He also acquired the S-Class Coaching license that was a prerequisite to manage a J.League club in 2007. He became an assistant coach at Urawa in 2008 and he resigned in 2010.
