Sōta Hirayama

Sota Hirayama (平山 相太, Hirayama Sōta, born 6 June 1985) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.

Sota Hirayama
平山 相太
Personal information
Full name Sota Hirayama
Date of birth (1985-06-06) 6 June 1985
Place of birth Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
2001–2003 Kunimi High School
2004–2005 University of Tsukuba
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2006 Heracles Almelo 32 (8)
2006–2016 FC Tokyo 169 (33)
2017 Vegalta Sendai 0 (0)
Total 201 (41)
National team
2003–2005 Japan U-20 8 (3)
2004 Japan U-23 1 (0)
2010 Japan 4 (3)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career
Hirayama for FC Tokyo

As a teenager, Hirayama attended Kunimi High School in Nagasaki Prefecture. There, he won the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament all three years at the school, leading the tournament in scoring in 2002 and 2003. After graduation in 2004, he enrolled at University of Tsukuba instead of joining a professional club.

In July 2005, Hirayama joined the Eredivisie club Feyenoord on trial and a week later, he joined another Dutch side, the newly promoted Heracles Almelo. He made his professional debut with Heracles on 20 August 2005 against ADO Den Haag, playing 15 minutes and scoring 2 goals.[1] He finished the 2005–2006 season with 31 appearances and 8 goals. Although both Japan's senior side manager Zico and Japan Football Association chairman Saburo Kawabuchi praised Hirayama's progress with Heracles, he was not called up to Japan's squad for the 2006 World Cup. On 4 September 2006, after the transfer period ended Heracles Almelo announced that Hirayama left the club by mutual consent and after being released he returned to Japan to finish his study.[2] Only a few days later he signed a contract with FC Tokyo without informing Heracles as a free agent, while he still had a contract until 2008 before his release. Heracles appealed to this unexpected move by Hirayama.[3]

Hirayama debuted in J1 League on 30 September 2006. After debut, his opportunity to play increased and he became a regular player from 2009. At 2009 J.League Cup, he scored a goal at Final and the club won the champions. However the club was relegated to J2 League end of 2010 season. In April 2011, he also broke his leg and he could only play one game. In 2012, the club returned to J1 League, however in May, he broke his leg again and he could hardly play in the match. From 2013 he played many matches as substitute. He moved to Vegalta Sendai in 2017. However he got hurt on the day after the opening game. He could not play for the injury in this season. In January 2018, he announced his retirement for many injuries.

International career

In 2003, Hirayama played for Japan U-20 national team in the 2003 World Youth Championship as a 17-year-old and scored two goals, including the game winner against Egypt to put Japan through to the knockout stage. In 2004, he played for Japan U-23 national team in the 2004 Summer Olympics and the following year, played in his second 2005 World Youth Championship.

His debut for the senior team came on 6 January 2010 in a 2011 Asian Cup qualification against Yemen, and would be a game he would never forget. After 30 minutes, Japan were down 2–0, but Hirayama scored a hat trick to help Japan to a 3–2 victory. It was the first time in 80 years and the second time overall for a Japan player to score three goals on his debut. Takeo Wakabayashi last managed that in 1930.[4] He also played at 2010 East Asian Football Championship in February. He played 4 games and scored 3 goals for Japan in 2010.[5]

Club statistics

[6][7]

Club Season League Cup League Cup UEFA Other* Total
!AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Kunimi H.S. 2001 -21---21
2002 -33---33
Total -54---54
Heracles Almelo 2005/06 31800--20338
2006/07 1000---10
Total 32800--20348
FC Tokyo 2006 720000--72
2007 2053220--257
2008 2423284--358
2009 2643194--389
2010 2973361-113912
2011 1000---10
2012 40001010-60
2013 2153130--276
2014 1932261--276
2015 200020--40
2016 155212020-216
Total 1683319123910301123056
Vegalta Sendai 2017 000000--00
Total 000000--00
Career total 2004124163910303126968

*Includes other competitive competitions, including the UEFA Intertoto Cup Play-offs and Suruga Bank Championship.

Career statistics

International

[5]

Japan national team
YearAppsGoals
201043
Total43

National team goals
Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first.

Under-20
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.19 October 2003Sendai Stadium, Sendai Chinese Taipei2–07–0AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification
2.23 October 2003Sendai Stadium, Sendai Macau2–07–0AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification
3.23 October 2003Sendai Stadium, Sendai Macau3–07–0AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification
4.23 October 2003Sendai Stadium, Sendai Macau5–07–0AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification
5.23 October 2003Sendai Stadium, Sendai Macau6–07–0AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification
6.23 October 2003Sendai Stadium, Sendai Macau7–07–0AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification
7.5 December 2003Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai Egypt1–01–02003 FIFA World Youth Championship
8.12 December 2003Al-Rashid Stadium, Dubai Brazil1–41–52003 FIFA World Youth Championship
9.25 September 2004Larkin Stadium, Johor Bahru   Nepal2–03–02004 AFC Youth Championship
10.6 October 2004Cheras Stadium, Kuala Lumpur South Korea2–22–22004 AFC Youth Championship
11.10 June 2005Parkstad Limburg Stadion, Kerkrade Netherlands1–21–22005 FIFA World Youth Championship

Under-23
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.8 February 2004Saitama Stadium, Saitama Iran1–01–1Friendly Match (2004 Kirin Challenge Cup)
2.30 July 2004National Stadium, Tokyo Venezuela2–04–0Friendly Match (2004 Kirin Challenge Cup)
3.3 December 2006Qatar SC Stadium, Doha Syria1–01–02006 Asian Games

Senior team
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.6 January 2010Ali Muhesen Stadium, Sana'a Yemen1–23–22011 AFC Asian Cup qualification
2.6 January 2010Ali Muhesen Stadium, Sana'a Yemen2–23–22011 AFC Asian Cup qualification
3.6 January 2010Ali Muhesen Stadium, Sana'a Yemen3–23–22011 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Awards and honours

Club
FC Tokyo
2009
2010
2011
2011

References
  1. "ADO Den Haag 1–2 SC Heracles Almelo". ESPNsoccernet. 20 August 2005. Retrieved 20 July 2006.
  2. "Sota Hirayama verlaat Heracles Almelo". HeraclesAlmelo.nl. 4 September 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 4 September 2006.
  3. "Hirayama nog niet van Heracles af". NOS.nl. 12 September 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 12 September 2006.
  4. Japan rally past Yemen, qualify for 2011 Asian Cup
  5. Japan National Football Team Database
  6. Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2017 J1&J2&J3選手名鑑 (NSK MOOK)", 8 February 2017, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411420 (p. 97 out of 289)
  7. Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2016J1&J2&J3選手名鑑", 10 February 2016, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411338 (p. 35 out of 289)
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