Hidetoshi Nakata

To all you Pluckerz out there, my I present, my all time favourite football player, Hidetoshi Nakata (Nakata for short).

 A former national player for the Japanese Football team, Nakata was born on the 22nd of January 1977 in Yamanashi, Japan. He started out his footballing career with Hokushin Boys Soccer Club (1986). He then went on to play for Kofu Kita Jr. H.S (1987), followed by Nirasaki H.S in 1992. He finally made his breakthrough into professional football when he signed for Bellmare Hiratsuka in 1995. There he played as a midfielder (central most of the time) and went on to score 16 goals in 85 games. While at Bellmare, Hide made his senior national team debut on May 1997. He proceeded in helping Japan to the 1998 World Cup finals in France.

Nakata went on to sign for Perugia after the 1998 World Cup. There he went on to play 48 games and score 12 goals. After 1-and-a half season with Perugia, he then headed to A.S Roma with a fee of ₤15 million. With this move, it marked the highlight of his career when he went on to win the Seria A title with Roma in the 2000 / 01 season. His most important match with the team would come when they played Juventus on the 6th of May 2001. He was a substitute for that match and came on for Totti in the second half with Roma losing 2-0. Nakata, the came up with a screamer of a goal (30-yards) which curled beyond the reach of Juventus goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar. He then set up the second goal by driving in another long range shot that stung van der Sar's hands and fell for Vincenzo Montella to tap in for the equaliser. The match ended with the scores 2-2 and Roma stayed at the top spot with a 6-point margin. He played a total of 30 games and scored 5 goals for Roma.

 

Goal and assist from Nakata (AS Roma Vs Juventus)

After a season with Roma, Nakata signed for F.C Parma for ₤18.5 million in the summer of 2001. There, he went on to play for 2-and-a half seasons in which he won the Coppa Italia in the 2001 / 02 season. From 2001 - 2004 Nakata played 67 games and scored 5 goals for Parma. In the 2004 season however, he was loaned out to Bologna and finished of the season with them (playing 17 games with 2 goals). He then moved on to Fiorentina and played only 20 games for them in the 2004 / 05 season. In August 2005, Nakata made his final move to Bolton Wanderers in England on loan. He played most of their games (24 games with 1 goal scored). He went on to help Bolton finish 8th that season.

On the 3rd of July 2006, at the age of 29, Nakata announced his retirement from Football. He wrote 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. I will never again stand on the pitch as a professional player. But I will never give up football."

International Stats

Nakata played for Japan in all 3 of their World Cup finals (1998, 2002 and 2006). He was a key player in most of their matches and was with the national team for 9 years (1997 - 2006). In those 9 years, he has appeared for Japan a total of 77 games and has scored 11 goals.

Other then those 3 world cups, Nakata has also featured in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta and also the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

After Retirement

After his retirement from football, Nakata's plans are uncertain. He has been travelling around the world. It is stated how long he will be travelling but he does this in search of what to do for the rest of his life by meeting new people and going to new places. Nakata is also an Editor-at-Large at Monocle, a fashion magazine. He was invited by his close friend Tyler Brule (who is the Editor-in-Chief).

Other Fun Facts

• Nakata was the first ever Japanese footballer to play outside of his country.

• In the 1998 World Cup, he dyed his hair red to get noticed by scouts from Europe.

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

• Nakata is also a talented baseball player.

Awards

Asian Cup Winners Cup (Champions) - 1996

J-League Best Eleven - 1997

AFC Asian Player Of The Year Award - 1997, 1998

FIFA Confederations Cup Best Eleven - 2001

FIFA Confederations Cup (Runners-up) - 2001

Seria A Title (Champions with Roma) - 2001

Coppa Italia (Champions with Parma) - 2002

Selected into FIFA Top 100 Players - 2004

 

Comments

[gray hair remedy]

The Japanese government is very proud of him. He made his way to the international market,