Hidetoshi Nakata

Hidetoshi Nakata, Cavaliere OSSI (中田 英寿, Nakata Hidetoshi, born 22 January 1977) is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder most famously for Parma. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest Japanese players of all time.[1]

The native form of this personal name is Nakata Hidetoshi. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.
Hidetoshi Nakata
中田 英寿
Nakata in 2012
Personal information
Full name Hidetoshi Nakata
Date of birth (1977-01-22) 22 January 1977
Place of birth Kofu, Yamanashi, Japan
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1992–1994 Nirasaki High School
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1995–1998 Bellmare Hiratsuka 85 (16)
1998–2000 Perugia 48 (12)
2000–2001 Roma 30 (5)
2001–2004 Parma 67 (5)
2004 → Bologna (loan) 17 (2)
2004–2006 Fiorentina 20 (0)
2005–2006 → Bolton Wanderers (loan) 21 (1)
Total 288 (41)
National team
1991–1993 Japan U-17 6 (2)
1994–1995 Japan U-20 12 (6)
1995–2000 Japan U-23 12 (3)
1997–2006 Japan 77 (11)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

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 Roma in 2001, played for Japan in three World Cup tournaments (1998, 2002 and 2006) and competed in the Olympics twice (1996 and 2000).[2] In 2005, he was made the Knight of the Order of the Star of Italian Solidarity, one of Italy's highest honors, for improving the country's image overseas.[3] Nakata has also been involved in fashion, regularly attending runway shows and wearing designer clothing.

Nakata announced his retirement at age 29 on 3 July 2006, after a ten-year career that included seven seasons in the Italian Serie A and a season in the English Premier League. In March 2004, Pelé named Nakata in his FIFA 100, a list of the top living footballers at the time. Nakata was the only Japanese, and one of only two Asian footballers to be named on the list. In 2018, Nakata was added as an icon to the Ultimate Team on the FIFA video game FIFA 19.

Club career

Early career

Nakata began his professional career at age 18 in 1995, with J1 League side Bellmare Hiratsuka (now Shonan Bellmare). He played many matches as offensive midfielder from first season and the club won the champions in 1995 Asian Cup Winners' Cup first Asian title in club history. At the final against Al-Talaba, he scored a winning goal in the 81st minute.[4] From 1996, he became a regular player and he was selected J.League Best XI in 1997. After the 1998 World Cup in France, Nakata was signed by Perugia in Italy's Serie A for 4 million U.S. dollars,[5] becoming the second Japanese player ever to appear in the Italian top league after Kazuyoshi Miura had done it for Genoa four years earlier. In his first season in Italy, Nakata scored 10 goals, his single-season highest total.

Roma

In January 2000, after one and a half seasons at Perugia, Nakata moved to Roma for 42 billion lire helping the team win the scudetto.[6][7] The highlight of Nakata's career at Roma came on 6 May 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 goal beyond Juventus goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar's reach, with 11 minutes left in the match. He then helped Roma score the equalizer when his fierce drive from outside the box was parried by Van der Sar into the path of Vincenzo Montella, who scored for Roma in the last minute. The match ended with a 2–2 draw and Roma maintained a six-point margin at top of the league table.[8]

Parma

In the summer of 2001, Nakata penned a four-year deal with Parma[9] for a transfer fee of 55 billion lire, a world record payment for an Asian player which would not be broken for 14 years.[10][11][12] He made his club debut on 8 August 2001 in their 0–2 defeat at Stadio Ennio Tardini against Lille in the first leg of the third round of the Champions League.[13] More than one month later, on 23 September, Nakata scored his first goal for Parma in Serie A at home over Brescia, which also proved to be the winning goal of the match.[14] Nakata played there for two and a half seasons, where he scored a crucial goal during the 2001–02 season in the 1–2 first leg deficit of the Coppa Italia final against Juventus,[15] which Parma eventually won.[16]

Later years

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, which would be the last of his professional career, he scored once in the league, in a 2–0 win over West Bromwich Albion.[17]

International career
Nakata training with Japan at the 2006 World Cup

After having represented U-17 Japan at the 1993 U-17 World Championship (where he scored a goal) and U-20 Japan at the 1995 U-20 World Championship (where he scored twice), Nakata was part of the U-23 Japan squads at the 1996 Olympics, where Japan upset Brazil,[18] and at the 2000 Olympics. His senior national team debut came in May 1997 against South Korea.[19]

He was a key member of the Japanese side that qualified for the 1998 World Cup, scoring five goals in qualification matches and setting up all three Japanese goals in the qualification play-off against Iran. He helped Japan reach the final of the 2001 Confederations Cup but left the national team before the final to join Roma for their final league matches.[20] Nakata played in all four of Japan's matches at the 2002 World Cup, co-hosted by South Korea and Japan, scoring the second goal of a 2–0 first round win against Tunisia.

At the 2006 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.[21] After the 2006 FIFA World Cup, on 3 July 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."[22][23] In a 2014 interview in TMW Magazine, Nakata confirmed that he had retired at such a young age because he was no longer enjoying football, and wanted instead to see what was going on in the world.[24]

Despite Nakata playing every match in Japan's first three World Cup appearances, he was not selected for the country's Asian Cup-winning squads in 2000 and 2004. In total, he was capped 77 times for Japan, scoring 11 goals, 9 of which came in official FIFA competitions.[19]

Style of play

A quick, creative, hard-working, and offensive-minded central midfielder, with an eye for goal, Nakata was known for his technical ability, agility, vision, passing, and his ability to make attacking runs into the penalty area and score goals; he also possessed a powerful shot from outside the box.[1][25][26][27]

Outside football

Outside football, Nakata has shown interest in fashion, attending runway shows, wearing designer clothing and sporting colorful haircuts. He dyed his hair blond for the 1998 World Cup, hoping to attract the attention of European scouts. Japanese hairstylist Aki Watanabe credits him as a trendsetter.[28] 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."[29] 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."[30] 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. He was featured in GQ in his home country in December 2011.[31]

Nakata (middle) at a fashion event in Tokyo, November 2016

Often regarded as a Japanese David Beckham,[32] Nakata is an editor-at-large at Monocle magazine at the invitation of his friend Tyler Brûlé, who serves as the magazine's editor-in-chief.[33] Nakata has cited the popular manga and anime series, Captain Tsubasa, as his primary inspiration in choosing football as a career.[34] In recent years, he has also been an active supporter of Special Olympics football and participated in the 2010 Special Olympics Unity Cup[35] in South Africa during the World Cup. Nakata was named a Global Ambassador for Special Olympics in 2014.[36]

Towards the end of 2015, Nakata entered into a partnership with Kee Club in Hong Kong to open Koko, a Hong Kong-based restaurant that serves sakes created by Nakata himself. He has developed his own line of sake as well as creating his own mobile educational app, "Sakenomy". Expressing interest in educating the public about sake, Nakata stated, "People recognise brands of wine but not usually brands of sake. There is a lack of information and branding when it comes to sake. That’s why I thought I needed to create a brand that people can recognise and understand. My purpose is to expand the market for all sake not just my own. You can pair any type of cuisine with sake. It can go with French, Italian, even Chinese food, not just Japanese cuisine."[37]

Media

Having been signed to sportswear company Nike, Nakata featured in Nike's "Secret Tournament" advertisement (branded "Scorpion KO") directed by Terry Gilliam, in the buildup to the 2002 World Cup in Korea and Japan.[38] He appeared alongside other star football players from around the world, including Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Luís Figo, Thierry Henry, Roberto Carlos and Francesco Totti, with former player Eric Cantona the tournament "referee".[38][39] Nakata featured on the front cover of various Japanese editions of EA Sports’ FIFA video game series, including FIFA Football 2002. In 2018, Nakata was added as an icon to the Ultimate Team in FIFA 19.[40] In the 2012 video game Inazuma Eleven 2: Firestorm / Blizzard Nakata was added as a hidden playable player. He then served an important story role in Inazuma Eleven 3 and its respective anime series, where Nakata would serve as the captain of the Italian team Orpheus.

Career statistics

Club
Club Season League League Cup League Cup Continental1 Super Cup2 Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Bellmare Hiratsuka 1995 J1 League 26821-61103510
1996 2623012230-444
1997 2133061--304
1998 123----123
Total 851681183911012121
Perugia 1998–99 Serie A 3310-00--3310
1999–00 152-4131-224
Total 4812-4131-5514
Roma 1999–00 Serie A 153-1020-183
2000–01 152-0071-223
Total 305-1091-406
Parma 2001–02 Serie A 241-6281-384
2002–03 314-204010384
2003–04 120-2041-181
Total 675-10216210949
Bologna (loan) 2003–04 Serie A 172-00--172
Fiorentina 2004–05 Serie A 200-30--230
Bolton Wanderers (loan) 2005–06 Premier League 211302060-321
Career total 288411113864352038253

1Includes other competitive competitions, including the Asian Cup Winners' Cup, UEFA Intertoto Cup, UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League. 2Includes other competitive competitions, including the Japanese Super Cup and Supercoppa Italiana.

International
Japan national team[19]
YearAppsGoals
1997165
1998101
199930
200040
200171
200282
2003111
200420
2005100
200661
Total7711

Appearances in major competitions
Team Competition Category Appearances Goals Team Record
Start Sub
 Japan1993 FIFA U-17 World ChampionshipU-17301Quarterfinals
 Japan1994 AFC Youth ChampionshipU-19602Runner-up
 Japan1995 FIFA World Youth ChampionshipU-20402Quarterfinals
 Japan1996 Olympics qualificationU-22501Qualified
 Japan1996 OlympicsU-23200Round 1
 Japan1998 FIFA World Cup QualificationSenior1115Qualified
 Japan1998 Dynasty CupSenior202Champions
 Japan1998 FIFA World CupSenior300Round 1
 Japan2000 Olympics qualificationU-22201Qualified
 Japan2000 OlympicsU-23301Quarterfinals
 Japan2001 FIFA Confederations CupSenior401Runner-up
 Japan2002 FIFA World CupSenior401Round of 16
 Japan2003 FIFA Confederations CupSenior301Round 1
 Japan2005 FIFA Confederations CupSenior300Round 1
 Japan2006 FIFA World Cup qualificationSenior500Qualified
 Japan2006 FIFA World CupSenior300Round 1

International goals

[19]

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.22 June 1997Tokyo, Japan Macau1–010–01998 FIFA World Cup Qualification First round
2.8–0
3.28 June 1997Tokyo, Japan Oman1–01-1
4.7 September 1997Tokyo, Japan Uzbekistan3–06–31998 FIFA World Cup Qualification Final round
5.8 November 1997Tokyo, Japan Kazakhstan2–05–1
6.15 February 1998Adelaide, Australia Australia1–03–0Friendly
7.7 June 2001Yokohama, Japan Australia1–01–02001 FIFA Confederations Cup Semi-finals
8.27 March 2002Łódź, Poland Poland1–02–0Friendly
9.14 June 2002Osaka, Japan Tunisia2–02–02002 FIFA World Cup Group Stage
10.18 June 2003Saint-Denis, France New Zealand2–03–02003 FIFA Confederations Cup Group Stage
11.28 February 2006Dortmund, Germany Bosnia and Herzegovina2–22–2Friendly

Honours

Club

Bellmare Hiratsuka[41]

Roma[41]

Parma[41]

International

Japan[42]

Individual

Achievements

Notes and references
  1. Junko Ogura; Matthew Ponsford (28 May 2014). "Hidetoshi Nakata: Japan's misunderstood son returns from exile". CNN. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  2. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Hidetoshi Nakata". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 4 December 2016.
  3. "Arise, Sir Nak!". This Is Lancashire. 14 October 2005. Archived from the original on 14 February 2009. Retrieved 3 July 2006.
  4. RSSSF
  5. Paddy Agnew. "The Hidetoshi Nakata story in Serie A | Football". The Guardian. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  6. "BILANCIO D'ESERCIZIO E CONSOLIDATO DI GRUPPO AL 30 GIUGNO 2000" (PDF). A.S. Roma (in Italian). Borsa Italiana Archive. 28 June 2001. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 December 2016. Retrieved 24 March 2015.
  7. "17 giugno 2001: e Roma impazzì per lo scudetto" (in Italian). sport.sky.it. 17 June 2017. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  8. "la Repubblica/campionato_partite: Montella e Nakata rimontano la Juve". Repubblica.it. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  9. "Nakata joins Parma". BBC. 6 July 2001. Retrieved 5 January 2013.
  10. AS Roma SpA bilancio 30.06.2001 [AS Roma SpA Report and Accounts on 30 June 2001]. A.S. Roma (PDF, require login and purchase) |format= requires |url= (help) (in Italian). CCIAA] (Italian company filing office).
  11. "Parma, non solo Nakata". La Gazzetta dello Sport (in Italian). 6 July 2001. Retrieved 13 April 2013.
  12. "Koreans hit the big time". Korea Joongang Daily. 30 August 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  13. Evans, Simon (9 August 2001). "Parma rocked by determined Lille". ESPN Soccernet. ESPN. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  14. "Nakata salva il Parma e la panchina di Ulivieri" [Nakata saves Parma and the bench of Ulivieri]. La República (in Italian). 23 September 2001. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  15. "Coppa Italia delicately poised". UEFA.com. Union of European Football Associations. 25 April 2002. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  16. "Parma deny Juventus double". Dawn. Reuters. 12 May 2002. Retrieved 9 June 2016.
  17. "Bolton 2-0 West Brom". BBC. 23 October 2005. Retrieved 15 September 2009.
  18. "Japan in need of miracle". 2006 FIFA World Cup. 21 June 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2006.
  19. "NAKATA Hidetoshi". Japan National Football Team Database. Archived from the original on 15 May 2013.
  20. "Just making the final was a triumph for cup co-host". Sports Illustrated. Associated Press. 11 June 2001. Retrieved 3 July 2006.
  21. "Japan 0-0 Croatia". BBC News. 18 June 2006. Retrieved 7 July 2008.
  22. "Japan and Bolton midfielder Nakata to retire". Reuters. 3 July 2006. Retrieved 3 July 2006.
  23. "To live is to journey, and to journey is to live". Hidetoshi Nakata. 3 July 2006. Archived from the original on 17 May 2007. Retrieved 22 January 2007.
  24. Guerri, Cristina (January 2014). "In viaggio con Nakata" [On the road with Nakata]. TMW Magazine (in Italian). p. 10. Retrieved 1 September 2014. Hidetoshi Nakata ha scelto di appendere le scarpette al chiodo ancora giovanissimo. "Il motivo? Non mi divertivo più. Ho preferito scoprire cosa c'è nel mondo, e devo dire che ho imparato molto". (Hidetoshi Nakata chose to hang up his boots while still very young. "The reason? I wasn't enjoying it any more. I preferred to find out what was going on in the world, and I must say I learnt a lot".
  25. "Dal Giappone con furore" [From Japan, with furor] (in Italian). Football Magazine Italia. 13 May 2014. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  26. "Calcio, Bologna; Signori: Nakata ci darà quel che ci manca" [Football, Bologna; Signori: Nakata will give us what we are missing]. La Repubblica (in Italian). Retrieved 1 October 2015.
  27. James Burton. "NAKATA RETURNING TO ROMA". www.skysports.com. Retrieved 3 November 2017.
  28. Sodje, Efe (2002). "Footballers ... haircuts. Not always the best combination!". BBC. Retrieved 4 July 2006.
  29. Martin, J. J. (1 July 2002). "Feast for marketers: It's all about soccer". International Herald Tribune. Archived from the original on 27 August 2006. Retrieved 4 July 2006.
  30. Wilson, Eric (22 June 2006). "BLEACH IT LIKE BECKHAM: World Cup of hair style". New York Times. Archived from the original on 16 July 2006. Retrieved 4 July 2006.
  31. "GQ – December 2011 Japan free download in PDF". Storemags.com. Retrieved 25 September 2016.
  32. Archived 18 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  33. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 12 June 2008.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  34. '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, 1 January 2006.
  35. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 December 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  36. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 25 March 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  37. "Q&A: Hidetoshi Nakata on his new Wyndham Street izakaya, Koko". Time Out Hong Kong. Retrieved 31 December 2015.
  38. "A lighter shoe, cooler kits, a faster ball, a Secret Tournament – every touch counts". NikeBiz. Nike. Archived from the original on 2 June 2002. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  39. Cozens, Claire (3 April 2002). "Cantona hosts World Cup with a difference". The Guardian. Guardian News and Media. Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  40. "FIFA 19 Ultimate Team: What Icons are in the new game and how do you get them?". Goal. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
  41. "Hidetoshi Nakata". Eurosport. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  42. "H. Nakata". Soccerway. Retrieved 10 December 2015.
  43. "Rising star Nakata wins prize after debut". Asian Football Confederation. 18 October 1997.
  44. "Top for Nakata". Asian Football Confederation. 9 February 1999.
  45. "FIFA Confederations Cup Korea/Japan 2001 | Awards". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  46. "2002 FIFA World Cup Korea/Japan: Report and Statistics" (PDF). FIFA.com. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  47. "Jリーグが開幕20周年を迎える" (PDF). J League. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  48. "Legends". Golden Foot. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015. Retrieved 23 September 2015.
  49. "IFFHS announce the 48 football legend players". IFFHS. 25 January 2016. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
  50. "Calcio News 1998–1999 (data of 2/1)" (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  51. "Calcio News 1999–2000 (data of 1/26)" (in Japanese). Retrieved 25 July 2011.
  52. "FIFA World player 2002". Retrieved 25 July 2011.
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