| Playername | Hidetoshi Nakata |
|---|
| Fullname | Hidetoshi Nakata |
|---|
| Dateofbirth | January 22, 1977 |
|---|
| Cityofbirth | Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture |
|---|
| Countryofbirth | Japan |
|---|
| Height | |
|---|
| Position | Midfielder |
|---|
| Youthyears1 | 1986–1989 |youthclubs1 = Hokushin Boys Soccer Club |
|---|
| Youthyears2 | 1989–1992 |youthclubs2 = Kofu Kita Jr. H.S. |
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| Youthyears3 | 1992–1995 |youthclubs3 = Nirasaki H.S. |
|---|
| Years1 | 1995–1998 |clubs1 = Bellmare Hiratsuka |caps1 = 85 |goals1 = 16 |
|---|
| Years2 | 1998–2000 |clubs2 = Perugia |caps2 = 48 |goals2 = 12 |
|---|
| Years3 | 2000–2001 |clubs3 = A.S. Roma |caps3 = 30 |goals3 = 5 |
|---|
| Years4 | 2001–2004 |clubs4 = Parma |caps4 = 67 |goals4 = 5 |
|---|
| Years5 | 2004 |clubs5 = → Bologna (loan) |caps5 = 17 |goals5 = 2 |
|---|
| Years6 | 2004–2005 |clubs6 = Fiorentina |caps6 = 20 |goals6 = 0 |
|---|
| Years7 | 2005–2006 |clubs7 = → Bolton Wanderers (loan) |caps7 = 21 |goals7 = 1 |
|---|
| Totalcaps1 | 289 |totalgoals1 = 41 |
|---|
| Nationalyears1 | 1991–1993 |nationalteam1 = Japan U-17 |nationalcaps1 = 6 |nationalgoals1 = 2 |
|---|
| Nationalyears2 | 1994–1995 |nationalteam2 = Japan U-20 |nationalcaps2 = 12 |nationalgoals2 = 6 |
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| Nationalyears3 | 1995–2000 |nationalteam3 = Japan U-23 |nationalcaps3 = 12 |nationalgoals3 = 3 |
|---|
| Nationalyears4 | 1997–2006 |nationalteam4 = Japan |nationalcaps4 = 77 |nationalgoals4 = 11 |
|---|
, is a retired Japanese football player. He was one of the most famous Asian footballers of his generation.
Nakata began his professional career in 1995 and won the Asian Football Confederation Player of the Year award in 1997 and 1998, the Scudetto with A.S. Roma in 2001, played for Japan in three FIFA World Cup tournaments (1998, 2002 and 2006) and played in the Olympics twice (1996 and 2000). In 2005, he was made the Knight of the Star of Italian Solidarity, one of Italy's highest honors, for improving the country's image overseas. Nakata is known as a fashion icon, regularly attending runway shows and wearing designer fashion.
Nakata announced his retirement at age 29 on July 3, 2006 after a ten-year career that included seven seasons in the Italian Serie A and a season in the English Premier League.
Pelé named Nakata in his FIFA 100 in March 2004.
Club career
Nakata began his professional career at age 18 in 1995, with
J. League side Bellmare Hiratsuka (now
Shonan Bellmare). He represented
Japan at the
1996 Olympics, where Japan upset
Brazil. Nakata also appeared in the
2000 Olympics.
After the World Cup in France, he moved to Perugia in Italy's Serie A.
In January 2000, after one and a half seasons at Perugia, Nakata moved to Roma for 42 Billion ITL, whom he helped to win the scudetto. The highlight of Nakata's career at Roma came on May 6, 2001 in the Serie A match against Juventus at Stadio Delle Alpi. After replacing Francesco Totti in the second half with Roma trailing 0-2, Nakata netted with a 30-yard screamer beyond Juventus goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar's reach. Nakata then set up another goal when his fierce drive from outside the box was parried into the path of Vincenzo Montella, who duly equalised for Roma. The match ended with a 2-2 draw and Roma maintained a six-point margin atop the league table.
In the summer of 2001, he joined Parma where he played for two and a half seasons.
In January 2004, Nakata joined Bologna where he played the remainder of the 2003–04 season before moving to Fiorentina, where he played the following season. In August 2005, Nakata moved to Premiership side Bolton Wanderers on loan. During his season at Bolton he scored once in the league, in a 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion.
On July 3, 2006, Nakata announced his retirement from professional football and the Japanese national team on his personal website "I decided half a year ago that I would retire from the world of professional football... after the World Cup in Germany." Nakata wrote, "I will never again stand on the pitch as a professional player. But I will never give up football."
On June 9, 2007, he made an appearance on the pitch again for the first time in public after his retirement when he played at Luís Figo's charity match.
Nakata has cited the popular manga and anime series, Captain Tsubasa, as his primary inspiration in choosing football as a career.
International career
He made his senior national team debut in May 1997 against
South Korea and was a key member of the Japanese side that qualified for the
1998 FIFA World Cup, setting up all three Japanese goals in the
qualification play-off against
Iran.
He also helped Japan reach the final of the 2001 Confederations Cup that season, but left the national team before the final to join Roma for their final league matches.
Nakata played in every match for Japan at the 2002 FIFA World Cup, co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, and scored a goal against Tunisia.
At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Nakata played in all three matches for Japan, losing to Australia and Brazil, and drawing with Croatia. His performance against Croatia earned him a Man of the Match award.
Despite Nakata playing every match in Japan's first three world cups appearances, he was not selected for the country's Asian Cup-winning squads in 2000 and 2004.
Nakata finished his career after he played against Brazil in the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Even though many people thought he is too young to retire, he did not change his mind and retired.
Career statistics
|-
|
1995||rowspan="4"|
Bellmare Hiratsuka||rowspan="4"|
J. League||26||8||2||1||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||28||9
|-
|
1996||26||2||3||0||12||2||colspan="2"|-||41||4
|-
|
1997||21||3||3||0||6||1||colspan="2"|-||30||4
|-
|
1998||12||3||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||12||3
|-
|
1998-99||rowspan="2"|
Perugia||rowspan="9"|
Serie A||33||10||0||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||33||10
|-
|rowspan="2"|
1999-00||15||2||4||1||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||19||3
|-
|rowspan="2"|
Roma||15||3||1||0||colspan="2"|-||2||0||18||3
|-
|
2000-01||15||2||0||0||colspan="2"|-||7||1||22||3
|-
|
2001-02||rowspan="3"|
Parma||24||1||6||2||colspan="2"|-||8||1||38||4
|-
|
2002-03||31||4||2||0||colspan="2"|-||4||0||37||4
|-
|rowspan="2"|
2003-04||12||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||4||1||18||1
|-
|
Bologna||17||2||0||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||17||2
|-
|
2004-05||
Fiorentina||20||0||3||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||23||0
|-
|
2005-06||
Bolton Wanderers||
Premier League||21||1||3||0||2||0||6||0||32||1
85||16||8||1||18||3||colspan="2"|-||111||20
182||24||18||3||colspan="2"|-||25||3||225||30
21||1||3||0||2||0||6||0||32||1
288||41||29||4||20||3||31||3||368||51
* Other Official Games
* 1995 Japanese Super Cup: 1games 0goals
* 1996 Asian Cup Winners Cup: 6games 1goals
* 1996 Asian Super Cup: ?games ?goals
* 1997 Asian Cup Winners Cup: 3games 0goals
* 1997 J. League All-Star Soccer: 1games 0goals
* 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup: 3games 1goals
* 2002 Supercoppa Italiana: 1games 0goals
National team
|-
|1997||16||5
|-
|1998||10||1
|-
|1999||3||0
|-
|2000||4||0
|-
|2001||7||1
|-
|2002||8||2
|-
|2003||11||1
|-
|2004||2||0
|-
|2005||10||0
|-
|2006||6||1
|-
!Total||77||11
|}
*
*May 1997-June 2006
*Debut against South Korea
*FIFA World Cup appearances: 1998, 2002, 2006
Appearances in major competitions
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
!rowspan="2"|Team
!rowspan="2"|Competition
!rowspan="2"|Category
!colspan="2"|Appearances
!rowspan="2"|Goals
!rowspan="2"|Team Record
|-
!Start
!Sub
|-
|align="left"|||
1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship||U-17||3||0||1||Quarterfinals
|-
|align="left"|||
1994 AFC Youth Championship||U-19||6||0||2||Runner-up
|-
|align="left"|||
1995 FIFA World Youth Championship||U-20||4||0||2||Quarterfinals
|-
|align="left"|||
1996 Olympics qualification||U-22||5||0||1||Qualified
|-
|align="left"|||
1996 Olympics||U-23||2||0||0||Round 1
|-
|align="left"|||
1998 FIFA World Cup qualification||Senior||11||1||5||Qualified
|-
|align="left"|||
1998 East Asian Dynasty Cup||Senior||3||0||2||
Champions
|-
|align="left"|||
1998 FIFA World Cup||Senior||3||0||0||Round 1
|-
|align="left"|||
2000 Olympics qualification||U-22||2||0||1||Qualified
|-
|align="left"|||
2000 Olympics||U-23||3||0||1||Quarterfinals
|-
|align="left"|||
2001 FIFA Confederations Cup||Senior||4||0||1||Runner-up
|-
|align="left"|||
2002 FIFA World Cup||Senior||4||0||1||Round of 16
|-
|align="left"|||
2003 FIFA Confederations Cup||Senior||3||0||1||Round 1
|-
|align="left"|||
2005 FIFA Confederations Cup||Senior||3||0||0||Round 1
|-
|align="left"|||
2006 FIFA World Cup qualification||Senior||5||0||0||Qualified
|-
|align="left"|||
2006 FIFA World Cup||Senior||3||0||0||Round 1
|}
International goals
{| class="wikitable"
! # !! Date !! Venue !! Opponent !! Score !! Result !! Competition
|-
| 1. || June 22, 1997 ||
Tokyo,
Japan || || 10-0 || Won ||
1998 FIFA World Cup Qualification
|-
| 2. || June 22, 1997 ||
Tokyo,
Japan || || 10-0 || Won ||
1998 FIFA World Cup Qualification
|-
| 3. || June 28, 1997 ||
Tokyo,
Japan || || 1-1 || Draw ||
1998 FIFA World Cup Qualification
|-
| 4. || September 7, 1997 ||
Tokyo,
Japan || || 6-3 || Won ||
1998 FIFA World Cup Qualification
|-
| 5. || November 8, 1997 ||
Tokyo,
Japan || || 5-1 || Won ||
1998 FIFA World Cup Qualification
|-
| 6. || February 15, 1998 ||
Adelaide,
Australia || || 3-0 || Won || Friendly
|-
| 7. || June 7, 2001 ||
Yokohama,
Japan || || 1-0 || Won ||
2001 FIFA Confederations Cup Semi-finals
|-
| 8. || March 27, 2002 ||
Łódź,
Poland || || 2-0 || Won || Friendly
|-
| 9. || June 14, 2002 ||
Osaka,
Japan || || 2-0 || Won ||
2002 FIFA World Cup Group Stage
|-
| 10. || June 18, 2003 ||
Saint-Denis,
France || || 3-0 || Won ||
2003 FIFA Confederations Cup Group Stage
|-
| 11. || February 28, 2006 ||
Dortmund,
Germany || || 2-2 || Draw || Friendly
|}
Honours
AFC U-19 Championship Runner-up: 1994
Japanese Super Cup Runner-up: 1995
Asian Cup Winners Cup Champions: 1996
Asian Super Cup Runner-up: 1996
Selected to J. League All-Star Soccer: 1997
J. League Best Eleven: 1997
Japanese Footballer of the Year: 1997
Japan Professional Sports Grand Prize: 1997
Asian Footballer of the Year: 1997 1998
Dynasty Cup Champions: 1998
Dynasty Cup MVP: 1998
Selected to AFC All Star Team: 1997 1998 1999
FIFA Confederations Cup Runner-up: 2001
FIFA Confederations Cup Bronze Ball: 2001
FIFA Confederations Cup Best Eleven: 2001
Serie A Champions: 2001 (with AS Roma)
Coppa Italia Champions: 2002 (with AC Parma)
Supercoppa Italiana Runner-up: 2002 (with AC Parma)
Selected to FIFA 100: 2004
Achievements
Nominated for Ballon d'Or: 1998, 1999, 2001
Nominated for FIFA World Player of the Year: 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002
Outside of football
Outside of football Nakata has shown interest in fashion, attending runway shows, wearing designer clothing and sporting colorful haircuts. He dyed his hair red for the
1998 FIFA World Cup, hoping to attract the attention of European scouts, and Japanese hairstylist Aki Watanabe credits him as a trendsetter in hair styles. Andrea Tenerani, photographer for
GQ in Italy said of Nakata, "He's perfect; he's like a model. And he's totally obsessed with fashion," and
Calvin Klein designer
Italo Zucchelli said, "(Nakata) plays with fashion like all of them now, but in a cooler, more sophisticated way than many others." He is one of the models featuring the
Calvin Klein underwear campaign 2010. He was featured in the July 2007 US version of
GQ with a 12-page spread on
Fall Fashion.
Nakata is currently also an Editor-at-Large at Monocle at the invitation of his friend Tyler Brûlé, who also serves as the magazine's Editor-in-Chief.
Nakata is often regarded as the "Asian" David Beckham, because of his obsession to fashion and his status as being a role model for many Asian Football exports to Europe.
Notes and references
External links
Nakata.net Official website
Career profile and stats at FootballDatabase
Player profile at official 2006 FIFA World Cup site
Hidetoshi Nakata Revealed, on CNN.com
Category:1977 births
Category:Living people
Category:1998 FIFA World Cup players
Category:2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players
Category:2002 FIFA World Cup players
Category:2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players
Category:2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players
Category:2006 FIFA World Cup players
Category:A.S. Roma players
Category:Bolton Wanderers F.C. players
Category:Expatriate footballers in England
Category:Expatriate footballers in Italy
Category:FIFA 100
Category:Japanese Footballer of the Year winners
Category:ACF Fiorentina players
Category:Association football midfielders
Category:Footballers at the 1996 Summer Olympics
Category:Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Category:J. League players
Category:Japan international footballers
Category:Japanese expatriate footballers
Category:Japanese expatriates in Italy
Category:Japanese expatriates in the United Kingdom
Category:Japanese footballers
Category:Olympic footballers of Japan
Category:Parma F.C. players
Category:People from Yamanashi Prefecture
Category:Perugia Calcio players
Category:Premier League players
Category:Serie A footballers
Category:Shonan Bellmare players
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