After graduating from Waseda University, Kawabuchi played for Furukawa Electric, in the early days of the Japan Soccer League.

In the initial league season, he was the first player to score a hat-trick, against Nagoya Mutual Bank.

On December 25, 1958, when Kawabuchi was a Waseda University student, he debuted and scored 2 goals for Japan national team against Hong Kong.

Just before 1982 World Cup qualification in December 1980, he was named manager for the Japan national team and replaced Masashi Watanabe, who suffered a subarachnoid hemorrhage.

In 2002, he resigned as chairman of the J.League and became the 10th president of the Japan Football Association as Shunichiro Okano's successor.

Kawabuchi serves as a councilor on the organizing committee for the 2020 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games.