Hidetoshi Nakata

Hidetoshi Nakata, (中田 英寿, Nakata Hidetoshi, born 22 January 1977) is a former Japanese football player who played as a midfielder. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest Japanese players of all time.

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). 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. Nakata has also been involved in fashion, regularly attending runway shows and wearing designer clothing.

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 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. 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 4M US$, 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 ITL (€21.691 million) helping the team win the scudetto. 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.

Parma

In the summer of 2001, Nakata penned a four-year deal with Parma for a transfer fee of 55 billion lire (€28.4 million) a world record payment for an Asian player which would not be broken for 14 years. 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. 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. 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, which Parma eventually won.

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.

International career

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, and at the 2000 Olympics. His senior national team debut came in May 1997 against South Korea.

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. 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. After the 2006 FIFA World Cup, 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." 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.

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.

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.

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. 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." 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." 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.

Often regarded as a Japanese David Beckham, 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. Nakata has cited the popular manga and anime series, Captain Tsubasa, as his primary inspiration in choosing football as a career. In recent years, he has also been an active supporter of Special Olympics football and participated in the 2010 Special Olympics Unity Cup in South Africa during the World Cup. Nakata was named a Global Ambassador for Special Olympics in 2014.

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."

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. 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". 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. In the 2012 video game Inazuma Eleven 2: Firestorm and Blizzard Nakata was added as a player in game.

Career statistics

Club

International

• 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
  • World Cup appearances: 1998, 2002, 2006

Appearances in major competitions

Team	Competition	Category	Appearances		Goals	Team Record
			Start	Sub
Japan	1993 FIFA U-17 World Championship	U-17	3	0	1	Quarterfinals
Japan	1994 AFC Youth Championship	U-19	6	0	2	Runner-up
Japan	1995 FIFA World Youth Championship	U-20	4	0	2	Quarterfinals
Japan	1996 Olympics qualification	U-22	5	0	1	Qualified
Japan	1996 Olympics	U-23	2	0	0	Round 1
Japan	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification	Senior	11	1	5	Qualified
Japan	1998 Dynasty Cup	Senior	2	0	2	Champions
Japan	1998 FIFA World Cup	Senior	3	0	0	Round 1
Japan	2000 Olympics qualification	U-22	2	0	1	Qualified
Japan	2000 Olympics	U-23	3	0	1	Quarterfinals
Japan	2001 FIFA Confederations Cup	Senior	4	0	1	Runner-up
Japan	2002 FIFA World Cup	Senior	4	0	1	Round of 16
Japan	2003 FIFA Confederations Cup	Senior	3	0	1	Round 1
Japan	2005 FIFA Confederations Cup	Senior	3	0	0	Round 1
Japan	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification	Senior	5	0	0	Qualified
Japan	2006 FIFA World Cup	Senior	3	0	0	Round 1

International goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	June 22, 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Macau	10–0	Won	1998 FIFA World Cup Qualification
2.	June 22, 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Macau	10–0	Won	1998 FIFA World Cup Qualification
3.	June 28, 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Oman	1–1	Draw	1998 FIFA World Cup Qualification
4.	September 7, 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Uzbekistan	6–3	Won	1998 FIFA World Cup Qualification
5.	November 8, 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Kazakhstan	5–1	Won	1998 FIFA World Cup Qualification
6.	February 15, 1998	Adelaide, Australia	Australia	3–0	Won	Friendly
7.	June 7, 2001	Yokohama, Japan	Australia	1–0	Won	2001 FIFA Confederations Cup Semi-finals
8.	March 27, 2002	Łódź, Poland	Poland	2–0	Won	Friendly
9.	June 14, 2002	Osaka, Japan	Tunisia	2–0	Won	2002 FIFA World Cup Group Stage
10.	June 18, 2003	Saint-Denis, France	New Zealand	3–0	Won	2003 FIFA Confederations Cup Group Stage
11.	February 28, 2006	Dortmund, Germany	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2–2	Draw	Friendly

Honours

Club

Bellmare Hiratsuka

• Asian Cup Winners Cup: 1996

Roma

• Serie A: 2000–01

Parma

• Coppa Italia: 2001–02

International

Japan

• AFC U-19 Championship Runner-up: 1994
• Kirin Cup: 1997
• Dynasty Cup: 1998
• FIFA Confederations Cup Runner-up: 2001

Individual

• J. League All-Star Soccer: 1997
• J. League Best XI: 1997
• Japanese Footballer of the Year: 1997
• Japan Professional Sports Grand Prize: 1997
• Asian Footballer of the Year: 1997, 1998
• Dynasty Cup MVP: 1998
• AFC All Star Team: 1997, 1998, 1999
• FIFA Confederations Cup Bronze Ball: 2001
• FIFA Confederations Cup Best XI: 2001
• FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 2002 (Reserve)
• J.League 20th Anniversary Team
• FIFA 100
• Golden Foot Legends Award: 2014
• IFFHS Legends

Achievements

• Nominated for Ballon d'Or: 1998, 1999, 2001
• Nominated for FIFA World Player of the Year: 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002