Keisuke Honda

Early career

Born and raised in Settsu, Honda had belonged to the local junior youth team at Gamba Osaka, but was not promoted to the youth team. When Honda was a Seiryo High School student, he made an appearance at J.League Cup as Special Designated Youth Player in 2004. After graduating high school, he began his professional career in 2005, with J1 League side Nagoya Grampus Eight. On 16 January 2008, Honda signed a two and half-year deal with Eredivisie side VVV-Venlo. In his first six months at VVV, he experienced relegation for the first time in his professional career as his new side went down to Eerste Divisie, the second division. In the 2008–09 season, he scored 16 goals in 36 league appearances to help the team back into the Eredivisie. He became known as Keizer Keisuke (meaning Emperor Keisuke) among the club's fans. Also, Honda introduced his agent, Tetsuro Kiyooka, to Maya Yoshida in 2008 and led him to VVV-Venlo two years later.

CSKA Moscow

At the end of December 2009, Honda transferred to Russian club CSKA Moscow. Honda signed a 4-year contract. The transfer fee was undisclosed, but VVV-Venlo was said to be very content with the fee as it almost matched their asking price; it is believed to be in the region of €6 million. Honda made his debut for CSKA in the UEFA Champions League match against Sevilla. In the second leg in Seville, he scored the winning goal through a direct free kick for CSKA after having set up the first goal for Tomáš…

Youth career and early senior career

Honda was a member of the Japan team for 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship and played for the U-23 national team, that qualified for 2008 Summer Olympics finals. He made a full international debut for Japan on 22 June 2008 in a World Cup qualifier against Bahrain. On 14 July 2008, he was formally named as one of the midfielders of the Japanese U-23 national football team for the Beijing Olympics football competition. He scored his first goal for the senior national team on 27 May 2009 in a friendly match against Chile at Nagai Stadium in Osaka and has since been given the nickname "Emperor Keisuke". He has scored 37 goals in 98 games for the Japan national team from his debut in 2008, onwards.

2010 FIFA World Cup

Honda rose to prominence in the 2010 FIFA World Cup and became the country's newest prospect. He scored the only goal in Japan's opening match against Cameroon, finishing off Daisuke Matsui's cross into the top left corner of the net. His performance in the game gained him the Man of the Match Award from FIFA and the 1–0 victory was Japan's first World Cup triumph on foreign soil. In the final group-stage game against Denmark, he scored a magnificent free kick in the 17th minute from 30 yards out. He then turned provider for Shinji Okazaki after making his way into the penalty area, with a Cruyff Turn that beat a Denmark player, in the 88th minute to make the score 3–1 to Japan, a performance that earned him…

Cambodia

In August 2018, whilst still a player, Honda was named general manager of the Cambodia national team in a voluntary unpaid role. Under this arrangement, Honda held weekly conferences with the Cambodia coaching staff, and was on the touchline when Cambodia's matches were during international breaks, with his assistant, Félix Dalmás stepping in whenever Honda was unavailable. On 10 September 2018, Honda lost his opening game as manager of Cambodia 3–1 against Malaysia. Cambodia finished last in its 2022 FIFA world cup qualifying group and suffered two extraordinary defeats to Iran, first 14–0 in late 2019 and then 10–0 in June 2021. In January 2023, the Football Federation of Cambodia announced that the 2022 AFF Championship would be Honda's last tournament with the national team. Despite failing to advance past the group stage, Honda helped the team to their best achievement in the tournament with 2 wins, one of which was against the Philippines. Honda would fulfill his final duties as general manager for the under-23 team during the 2023 SEA Games, which Cambodia hosted. However, Honda did not manage to guide his team out of the group stage, finishing third in their group behind Indonesia and Myanmar.

Coming from a sporting family, Keisuke Honda's older brother was also a footballer. Honda's great-uncle Daisaburo was a canoeist who represented Japan in C-2 1000 metres event at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Keisuke Honda's cousin is Tamon Honda, a professional wrestler and former Olympic wrestler, who participated in three Olympic Games in freestyle wrestling in 100 kg at the 1984, 1988 Games, and in 130 kg at the 1992 showpiece, and is also a former tag team champion, winning the All Asia Tag Team Championship and GHC Tag Team Championship. He married Misako, whom he knew since high school. Honda has three children. Honda is co-founder and general partner of investment firm X&KSK, which raised $98 million in January 2025 to invest in AI and tech startups.

Political views

Honda has sporadically drawn the public attention for his controversial remarks on political issues.

In August 2025, he denied the Nanjing Massacre by citing Shintaro Ishihara's opinions on a social media, and immediately withdrew and apologized. However, despite his initial declaration to agree with the primary sources, he afterward expressed a sentiment not to conclude the issue strictly. Regarding the 2026 United States strikes in Venezuela, Honda evaluated the operation under the Trump administration as a "reinitiation of the world police" and a "role model for power play to carry forward with international negotiations advantageously ", describing the incident controversial yet unstoppable.