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Hidetoshi Nakata
Personal information
Full name	Hidetoshi Nakata
Date of birth	January 22, 1977 (1977-01-22) (age 31)
Place of birth	Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, Japan
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Playing position	Midfielder (Retired)
Youth clubs
1986–1989 1989–1992 1992–1995	Hokushin Boys Soccer Club Kofu Kita Jr. H.S. Nirasaki H.S.
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1995–1998 1998–2000 2000–2001 2001-2004 2004 2004-2005 2005-2006	Bellmare Hiratsuka Perugia AS Roma Parma →Bologna (loan) Fiorentina →Bolton Wanderers (loan) Total	085 (16) 048 (12) 030 0(5) 067 0(5) 017 0(2) 033 0(0) 024 0(1) 289 (41)
National team
1997–2006	Japan	077 (11)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Hidetoshi Nakata (中田 英寿 Nakata Hidetoshi; born January 22, 1977 in Yamanashi Prefecture), is a Japanese former 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 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.

Pelé named Nakata in his 125 Top Living Footballers in March 2004.

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 for £15 Million, 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 F.C. 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.

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 the summer of 2001, he joined Parma for £18.5 million, where he 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 following 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. His performace against Croatia earned him a Man of the Match award.^[4]

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 2000 and 2004.

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."^[5][6] On June 9, 2007, he made an appearance for the first time in public after his retirement on the pitch again when he played for Luís Figo's charity match.^{citation needed} On June 2nd 2008, it was reported that the Manchester City owner was trying to get Nakata out of retirement to join the club.^{citation needed}

Nakata has cited the popular manga and anime series, Captain Tsubasa, as his primary inspiration in choosing football as a career.^[7]

Career statistics

National team

• 1998 FIFA World Cup
• 2001 Confederations Cup
• 2002 FIFA World Cup
• 2003 Confederations Cup
• 2005 Confederations Cup
• 2006 FIFA World Cup
  • May 1997-June 2006
  • Debut against South Korea
  • FIFA World Cup appearances: 1998, 2002, 2006

Honours

• Asian Cup Winners Cup Champions: 1996
• 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

Outside 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.^[8] 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,"^[9] 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." ^[10] He is currently featured in the July 2007 US version of GQ Magazine with a 12-page spread on Fall Fashion.

Nakata is currently also an Editor-at-Large at Monocle^[11] at the invitation of his friend Tyler Brûlé, who also serves as the magazine's Editor-in-Chief.

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

v • d • e Japan squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Kojima • 2 Narahashi • 3 Soma • 4 Ihara • 5 Omura • 6 Yamaguchi • 7 Ito • 8 Nakata • 9 Nakayama • 10 Nanami • 11 Ono • 12 Lopes • 13 Hattori • 14 Okano • 15 Morishima • 16 Saito • 17 Akita • 18 Jo • 19 Nakanishi • 20 Kawaguchi • 21 Narazaki • 22 Hirano • Coach: Okada

v • d • e Japan squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Kawaguchi • 2 Akita • 3 Matsuda • 4 Morioka • 5 Inamoto • 6 Hattori • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Morishima • 9 Nishizawa • 10 Nakayama • 11 Suzuki • 12 Narazaki • 13 Yanagisawa • 14 Alex • 15 Fukunishi • 16 K. Nakata • 17 Miyamoto • 18 Ono • 19 Ogasawara • 20 Myojin • 21 Toda • 22 Ichikawa • 23 Sogahata • Coach: Troussier

v • d • e Japan squad - 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Narazaki • 2 Narahashi • 3 Akita • 4 Morioka • 5 Inamoto • 6 Hattori • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Ogasawara • 9 Okubo • 10 Nakamura • 11 Matsui • 12 Doi • 13 Oku • 14 Alex • 15 Myojin • 16 K. Nakata • 17 Miyamoto • 18 Nagai • 19 Endō • 20 Takahara • 21 Tsuboi • 22 Yamada • 23 Kawaguchi • Coach: Zico

v • d • e Japan squad - 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Narazaki • 2 Tanaka • 3 Chano • 4 Endō • 5 Miyamoto • 6 K. Nakata • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Ogasawara • 9 Tamada • 10 Nakamura • 11 Suzuki • 12 Doi • 13 Yanagisawa • 14 Alex • 15 Fukunishi • 16 Oguro • 17 Miura • 18 Inamoto • 19 Motoyama • 20 Tsuboi • 21 Kaji • 22 Moniwa • 23 Kawaguchi • Coach: Zico

v • d • e Japan squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Narazaki • 2 Moniwa • 3 Komano • 4 Endō • 5 Miyamoto • 6 K. Nakata • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Ogasawara • 9 Takahara • 10 Nakamura • 11 Maki • 12 Doi • 13 Yanagisawa • 14 Alex • 15 Fukunishi • 16 Oguro • 17 Inamoto • 18 Ono • 19 Tsuboi • 20 Tamada • 21 Kaji • 22 Nakazawa • 23 Kawaguchi • Coach: Zico