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.
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. The club was relegated to J3 League end of the 2019 season. He retired end of the 2020 season.
Maeda played for the Japan U-20 at the 2001 World Youth Championship. On August 22, 2007, he debuted for the Japan national team against Cameroon. In 2011, he was selected the Japan for 2011 Asian Cup. He played all 6 matches and scored 3 goals, and Japan won the champions. He also became a regular player from the 2011 Asian Cup. He also played at 2013 Confederations Cup. He played 33 games and scored 10 goals for Japan until 2013.
