Ito was born inShizuoka on 31 August 1974. After graduating from high school, he joinedJ1 League clubShimizu S-Pulse based in his local in 1993. He debuted in June 1994 and played several matches in1994 season. He became a regular midfielder under managerMasakatsu Miyamoto from 1995 season and played as central player for the club for a long time. In 1996, S-Pulse won the champions inJ.League Cup first title in the club history. In 1999, S-Pulse the 2nd place inJ1 League and he also was selected Best Eleven award. In 2000, S-Pulse won the Asian title,1999–2000 Asian Cup Winners' Cup. In 2001, S-Pulse wonEmperor's Cup. After that, the club results was sluggish. In 2005, former teammateKenta Hasegawa became a new manager. Although S-Pulse finished at the 15th place which is worst position in the club history inJ1 League, S-Pulse won the 2nd place in2005 Emperor's Cup. However the club results was raised under manager Hasegawa from 2006 and S-Pulse won the 2nd place in2008 J.League Cup. Ito also played all matches in J1 League from 2006 to 2008 season and received the fair play awards in 2007.[1] In 2010, his opportunity to play decreased and he resigned end of 2010 season.
In 2011, Ito moved to newly promoted J1 clubVentforet Kofu withDaisuke Ichikawa who is teammate in S-Pulse for 13 seasons. On 16 July 2011, he became a first player to earn 500th matches in J1 League.[2] Although, Ventforet was relegated toJ2 League from 2012, the club won the champions in J2 and returned to J1 in a year. However Ito played only 6 matches in 2013 season and left the club end of 2013 season. In 2014, he moved to newly promotedJ3 League clubAC Nagano Parceiro. However he could not play many matches and left the club end of 2015 season. In 2016, he moved to J3 clubBlaublitz Akita where he spent the2016 season.[3] In 2017, he moved to newly promoted J3 clubAzul Claro Numazu.[4] He finally made his début for Azul Claro Numazu two years later, on 24 November 2019, as an 81st-minute substitute forKotaro Tokunaga in a 3–1 home win overGainare Tottori.[5]
In July 1996, Ito was selected for theJapan U23 national team for the1996 Summer Olympics. At this tournament, he played the whole 90 minutes in all three matches. He is most remembered for his goal againstBrazil inAtlanta which earned Japan a shock 1–0 victory. It was known as the "Miracle of Miami" (マイアミの奇跡) in Japan.
