Minoru Kobayashi

Minoru Kobayashi (小林 稔) is a former Japanese football player and manager.

Playing career
Kobayashi was born in Ayase on May 14, 1976. After graduating from Kokushikan University, he joined the newly promoted J2 League club, FC Tokyo in 1999. Although the club was promoted to the J1 League in 2000, he did not play that year. He debuted in late 2001 and played several matches as right side back. Although he played as a regular player in early 2002, he was second to Akira Kaji from May 2002 until he retired at the end of the 2002 season.

Coaching career
After the retirement, Kobayashi started coaching career at FC Tokyo in 2005. He mainly coached youth team until 2011. In 2012, he moved to Júbilo Iwata and became a coach for top team. In August 2019, manager Hideto Suzuki resigned for health reasons and Kobayashi became a caretaker manager.