Naoya Kikuchi

Naoya Kikuchi (菊地 直哉, Kikuchi Naoya, born November 24, 1984 in Shimizu, Shizuoka) is a professional Japanese footballer currently playing for Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo.
Kikuchi is naturally a central midfielder, but is also able to operate as a central defender and a left back.

Kikuchi played for the Shimizu S-Pulse junior youth team and Shimizu Commercial High School, which has a strong soccer tradition with players such as Shinji Ono among its alumni. After graduating the school, he joined Júbilo Iwata and briefly loaned to Albirex Niigata. In 2002, he was invited to have a try-out at Arsenal F.C. and later went on to have another trial with a Dutch team, Feyenoord.

On June 13, 2007, Kikuchi was arrested in Hamamatsu city for the charge of a statutory rape on a 15-year-old high school student. He was suspended on indictment and released some days later. On June 29, 2007, he was sacked by the club after the scandal. The Japan Football Association imposed one-year suspension on him. After performing voluntary community service for some months, he moved to Germany and joined FC Carl Zeiss Jena.

In summer 2009, Kikuchi left FC Carl Zeiss Jena and joined another German club, FC Schalke 04, on trial and signed on July 27, 2009, for Oita Trinita.

In the winter of 2010, Kikuchi transferred from Oita to Albirex Niigata.

He was part of the 2004 Olympic football team for Japan that exited the tournament in the first round, having finished last in group B behind the teams from Paraguay, Italy, and Ghana. He also had an impressive World U-17 Championship tournament in 2001. He capped for Japan U-20 team at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship.

He made his full international debut for Japan on January 6, 2010 in a 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Yemen.

Last update: 1 March 2015