Hidetoshi Nakata: Difference between revisions

Hidetoshi Nakata
	File:Koji nakata2.JPG
Personal information
Full name	Hidetoshi Nakata
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder

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Hidetoshi Nakata (中田英寿 Nakata Hidetoshi; born January 22, 1977 in Yamanashi Prefecture), is a former Japanese soccer 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 the Italy's highest honours, for improving the country's image overseas.^[1] 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 Premiership.

Biography

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.^[2] Nakata also appeared in the 2000 Olympics.

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. 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, whom he helped win the Serie A championship with two late goals to secure a 2-2 draw against league rivals Juventus. 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.^[3]

In 2001, he joined Parma, where he played played for two and a half seasons.

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.

In January 2004, Nakata joined Bologna where he played the remainder of the 2003/04 season before moving to Fiorentina, where he played the 2004/05 season.

In August 2005, Nakata moved to Premiership side Bolton Wanderers on loan.

At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Nakata played in all three matches for Japan, losing to Australia and Brazil, and drawing with Croatia. Although Nakata has appeared in every World Cup match that Japan has played thus far, he was not selected for the country's Asian Cup-winning squads in either 2000 or 2004.

On July 3, 2006, Nakata announced his retirement from professional football and the Japanese national team on his personal website (retirement announcement). "I decided half a year ago that I would retire from the world of professional soccer... after the World Cup in Germany," Nakata wrote, "I will never again stand on the pitch as a professional player. But I won't stop playing the game."^[4]

Nakata has cited the popular manga and anime series, Captain Tsubasa, as his primary inspiration in choosing football as a career.^[5]

Clubs

Bolton Wanderers August 2005 - May 2006 (loan deal)
Fiorentina July 2004 - August 2005
Bologna January 2004 - July 2004 (loan deal)
Parma July 2001 - January 2004
Roma January 2000 - July 2001
Perugia July 1998 - January 2000
Bellmare Hiratsuka (Japan) 1997 - July 1998

Japanese national team
- May 1997 - June 2006
- Debut against South Korea
- FIFA World Cup appearances: 1998 2002 2006

Honors

FIFA Confederations Cup Runner-up: 2001
Serie A Champions: 2001 (with AS Roma)
Coppa Italia: 2002 (with AC Parma)
Selected to FIFA 100: 2004
FIFA Confederations Cup Best Eleven: 2001
AFC Asian Player of the Year: 1997 1998
J-League Best Eleven: 1997

Fashion

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.^[6] 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,"^[7] 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." ^[8]

Trivia

Nakata shares the same birthday as Mohamed Sissoko (Liverpool).

Notes and references

^ "Arise, Sir Nak!". This Is Lancashire. 2005-10-14. Retrieved 2006-07-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ "Japan in need of miracle". 2006 FIFA World Cup. 2006-06-21. Retrieved 2006-07-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ "Just making the final was a triumph for cup co-host". Associated Press. 2001-06-11. Retrieved 2006-07-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ "Japan and Bolton midfielder Nakata to retire". Reuters. 2006-07-03. Retrieved 2006-07-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ ‘I don’t understand why people are football fans. I don’t like to watch any kind of sport’ - by Jonathan Northcroft, The Sunday Times, January 1, 2006.
^ Efe Sodje (2002). "Footballers ... haircuts. Not always the best combination!". BBC. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ J. J. Martin (2002-07-01). "Feast for marketers: It's all about soccer". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^ Eric Wilson (2006-06-22). "BLEACH IT LIKE BECKHAM: World Cup of hair style". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

Nakata.net Official website
Career profile and stats at FootballDatabase
Player profile at official 2006 FIFA World Cup site

Preceded by Khodadad Azizi	Asian Player of the Year 1997, 1998	Succeeded by Ali Daei

[nakata_knight-1] "Arise, Sir Nak!". This Is Lancashire. 2005-10-14. Retrieved 2006-07-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[FIFAwc_miracle-2] "Japan in need of miracle". 2006 FIFA World Cup. 2006-06-21. Retrieved 2006-07-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[AP_confedcup-3] "Just making the final was a triumph for cup co-host". Associated Press. 2001-06-11. Retrieved 2006-07-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[reuters_retirement-4] "Japan and Bolton midfielder Nakata to retire". Reuters. 2006-07-03. Retrieved 2006-07-03. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[5] ‘I don’t understand why people are football fans. I don’t like to watch any kind of sport’ - by Jonathan Northcroft, The Sunday Times, January 1, 2006.

[bbc_hair-6] Efe Sodje (2002). "Footballers ... haircuts. Not always the best combination!". BBC. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[iht_fashion-7] J. J. Martin (2002-07-01). "Feast for marketers: It's all about soccer". International Herald Tribune. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

[nyt_fashion-8] Eric Wilson (2006-06-22). "BLEACH IT LIKE BECKHAM: World Cup of hair style". New York Times. Retrieved 2006-07-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

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 ==External links==
 *[http://www.nakata.net Nakata.net] Official website
-*[http://www.footballdatabase.com/site/players/index.php?dumpPlayer=879 Career profile and stats] at ''FootballDatabase''
+*[http://www.footballdatabase.com/site/players/index.php?dumpPlayer=879 Career profile and stats] at [[FootballDatabase]]
 *[http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/enwiki/w/player/156055_NAKATA_Hidetoshi.html Player profile] at official [[2006 FIFA World Cup]] site