Maeda was born in
Kobe, Japan but spent his childhood in the United States. He was educated at and played for
Gyosei Junior and Senior High School in Tokyo. While he was a high school student, he was chosen as one of the Designated Players for Development by
J.League and
JFA. Because of this status, Maeda was able to register as a
Verdy Kawasaki player while he was still eligible to play for his high school club. However, he did not play any official match for Verdy. After graduating from his high school in 2000, he joined
Júbilo Iwata. His first appearance as a professional player came on 3 May 2000 in a league match against
Kawasaki Frontale. His first professional goal came on 28 August 2001 in a
J.League Cup game against
JEF United Ichihara. Although he could not play many matches behind
Masashi Nakayama and
Naohiro Takahara until 2002, he played as regular player from 2003. In the season 2009 was the
J.League Top Scorer with twenty goals. In the 2010 season, Maeda became the top scorer again, netting 17 times. Júbilo also won the champions in
2010 J.League Cup. At
2010 J.League Cup Final, he scored two goals and was selected MVP award in the tournament. However Júbilo was relegated to
J2 League end of 2013 season. In 2014, although he scored 17 goals, Júbilo finished at the 4th place and missed promotion to J1. In 2015, Maeda moved to J1 club
FC Tokyo. He played as regular player until 2016. However his opportunity to play decreased from 2017 and he could hardly score goals in the match. In 2019, Maeda moved to J2 club
FC Gifu.
Curse of Maeda Since the
2007 season, for six straight seasons, each team Maeda scores his first goal of the league campaign against has eventually been relegated to
J2 League. This has given rise to the so-called "curse of (Ryoichi) Maeda". It became a topic of wide public conversation in late 2012 as
Gamba Osaka, the team that he scored his first goal of that season against, was in the relegation zone despite having not ranked lower than third in the previous three seasons. Consistent with the "curse", Gamba Osaka was relegated to J2 following the last game of the season in which they lost against, funnily enough, Jubilo Iwata 2–1 with Maeda scoring a goal and an assist. The curse came to an end by the end of the 2013 season, as Maeda's first goal of the 2013 season came in a loss to Urawa, who will not be relegated. ==International career==