In 2000, Matsui graduated from Kagoshima Jitsugyo High School (鹿児島実業高校) and began his professional career with Kyoto Purple Sanga of the J1 League.

[3] Among the teams which were believed to have shown interest in signing him at the time were Catania, Genoa, Lazio and Torino of Serie A, Celtic and Rangers of the Scottish Premier League, Werder Bremen and Wolfsburg of the Bundesliga, and Lille of Ligue 1.

[6][7][8][9] At the conclusion of the 2007–08 season, after having played for Le Mans for four consecutive years, Matsui announced his transfer to Saint-Étienne of Ligue 1 on a three-year signing.

[10] In the beginning of the 2008–09 season Matsui was seeing very limited playing time, which was believed to have been due to his poor form combined with a rift with the manager, Laurent Roussey.

[11] At the time of Roussey's release the club had lost five consecutive matches and sat in 18th place in the 20-team league, with a record of three wins, nine losses and a draw.

[13] Perrin had led Olympique Lyonnais to the domestic double in the previous season by winning the Ligue 1 title and the French Cup.

[20][21] He made his debut in a 2–0 home win over Lokomotiv Sofia on 23 September, coming on as a half-time substitute for Pavle Popara.

On 8 August 2017, Matsui signed for Polish club playing in 2016–17 I liga, Odra Opole, for an undisclosed fee.

[24] Matsui made his national team debut on 22 June 2003 with Japan at 2003 Confederations Cup against Colombia and scored his international goal against Angola on 11 October 2005.

"[26] Matsui was called up for the first time under Ivica Osim's reign to play in friendlies against Austria and Switzerland in September 2007.