Maeda was born in Kobe on October 9, 1981. After graduating from Gyosei High School, he joined J1 League club Júbilo Iwata in 2000. 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, he became a top scorer with 20 goals. In the 2010 season, Maeda became the top scorer again, with 17 times. Júbilo also won the champions in 2010 J.League Cup. At 2010 J.League Cup final, he scored 2 goals and was selected "MVP award" in the tournament. However Júbilo was relegated to J2 League end of the 2013 season. In 2014, although he scored 17 goals, Júbilo finished at the 4th place and missed promotion to J1.