Kōji Nakata
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Kōji Nakata | ||
Height | 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) | ||
Position(s) | Defensive midfielder, Centre Back, Left Back | ||
Team information | |||
Current team | Kashima Antlers | ||
Number | 6 | ||
Youth career | |||
1995–1997 | Teikyo High School | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1998–2004 | Kashima Antlers | 144 | (27) |
2005–2006 | Olympique Marseille | 9 | (0) |
2006–2008 | FC Basel | 62 | (3) |
2008– | Kashima Antlers | 44 | (1) |
International career‡ | |||
2000–2007 | Japan | 57 | (2) |
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17 July 2010 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20 February 2010 |
Kōji Nakata (中田浩二 Nakata Kōji; born 9 July 1979 in Otsu, Shiga, Japan) is a Japanese football (soccer) player who played at both the Football World Cup 2002, and the Football World Cup 2006. He currently plays for Kashima Antlers in the J. League.[1]
Football career
The 'other Nakata', as he is known to most non-Japanese fans, is a left-footed midfielder. A very versatile player, Nakata has established himself as one of the best defensive midfielders for Japan. Although his preferred position is at defensive midfield, his versatility means he can also operate as left wing-back, his normal position with FC Basel.
In 2004, during the Asian Cup final versus China, Nakata gained notoriety amongst Chinese fans by scoring the second Japanese goal with his hand.[2] Despite Chinese protests, the goal was still allowed. The Chinese media refer to this incident as the "Hand of Koji" incident, alluding to Diego Maradona's infamous hand of god goal.
Nakata moved from Japanese giants Kashima Antlers to France at the start of 2005 when former Japan national team manager Philippe Troussier, then the Olympique Marseille coach, signed him in a deal. After an understandbly unhappy season in France (Troussier was sacked just a few months later), the frozen-out Nakata jumped at the chance to leave and by early 2006 had moved to Switzerland's top team FC Basel where he played as a defender. Kōji was highly rated by Japan coach Zico and is sometimes compared to Junichi Inamoto, also a defensive midfielder for Japan.[citation needed] He returned to J. League club Kashima Antlers in July 2008.
In October 2008 Nakata unerwent knee surgery, effectively ruling him out for the remainder of the 2008 J. League season after appearing in 12 games.
Club Team Career Stats
- As of 4 April 2010
Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |1998||rowspan="7"|Kashima Antlers||J. League||5||1||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||||||5||1 |- |1999||rowspan="6"|J. League Division 1||17||4||2||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||20||4 |- |2000||29||4||5||2||2||2||||||36||8 |- |2001||25||8||3||1||6||0||colspan="2"|-||34||9 |- |2002||29||6||5||0||3||0||||||37||6 |- |2003||18||3||colspan="2"|-||2||2||3||0||23||5 |- |2004||21||1||3||2||2||0||colspan="2"|-||26||3 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2004–05||rowspan="2"|Olympique Marseille||rowspan="2"|Ligue 1||5||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||5||0 |- |2005–06||4||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||*5||0||10||0 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2005–06||rowspan="3"|FC Basel||rowspan="3"|Swiss Super League||10||1||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||10||1 |- |2006–07||34||1||5||0||colspan="2"|-||9||0||48||1 |- |2007–08||18||1||2||1||colspan="2"|-||5||0||25||2 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2008||rowspan="3"|Kashima Antlers||rowspan="3"|J. League Division 1||9||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||2||0||12||0 |- |2009||22||1||4||0||1||0||2||0||29||1 |- |2010||32||3||6||1||1||0||6||2||45||6 Template:Football player statistics 3207||31||28||6||19||4||13||2||267||43 Template:Football player statistics 49||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0||5||0||15||0 Template:Football player statistics 462||3||7||1||colspan="2"|-||14||0||83||4 Template:Football player statistics 5278||34||35||7||20||4||32||2||365||47 Template:Football player statistics end * Includes Intertoto Cup
National Team Career Stats
Appearances in major competitions
Team | Competition | Category | Appearances | Goals | Team Record | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Start | Sub | |||||
Japan | AFC Youth Championship 1998 | U-19 | 2nd Place | |||
Japan | 1999 FIFA World Youth Championship | U-20 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2nd Place |
Japan | 2000 Summer Olympics | U-23 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Quarter-finals |
Japan | 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup | Senior | 2nd Place | |||
Japan | 2002 FIFA World Cup | Senior | 4 | 0 | 0 | Round of 16 |
Japan | 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup | Senior | 1 | 1 | 0 | Group Stage |
Japan | 2004 AFC Asian Cup | Senior | 1 | 3 | 2 | Champions |
Japan | 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup | Senior | 0 | 2 | 0 | Group Stage |
Japan | 2006 FIFA World Cup | Senior | 0 | 1 | 0 | Group Stage |
Goals for Senior National Team
# | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. | August 3, 2004 | Jinan, China | Bahrain | 4-3 | Won | 2004 AFC Asian Cup Semi-Final |
2. | August 7, 2004 | Beijing, China | China | 3-1 | Won | 2004 AFC Asian Cup Final |
Template:Football player national team statistics |- |2000||7||0 |- |2001||13||0 |- |2002||13||0 |- |2003||7||0 |- |2004||6||2 |- |2005||8||0 |- |2006||2||0 |- |2007||1||0 |- !Total||57||2 |}
Honors and awards
Teams
- Kashima Antlers
- A3 Champions Cup - 2003
- J. League Division 1 - 1998, 2000, 2001, 2008, 2009
- Emperor's Cup - 2000, 2010
- J. League Cup - 2000, 2002
- Olympique Marseille
- UEFA Intertoto Cup - 2005
- FC Basel
- Swiss Super League - 2007/08
- Swiss Super League - 2005/06, 2006/07 (Runner-up)
- Swiss Cup - 2006/07, 2007/08
- Japan National Team
- FIFA Confederations Cup - 2001 (Runner-up)
- FIFA World Youth Championship - 1999 (Runner-up)
- AFC Asian Cup - 2004
Individual
- J. League Best Eleven - 2001
- J. League Cup MVP - 2000
References
- ^ "Stats Centre: Koji Nakata Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-08-05.
- ^ Japan crush Chinese dreams to keep Asian crown
External links
- Japanese footballers
- Kashima Antlers players
- Olympique de Marseille players
- FC Basel players
- Japanese expatriate footballers
- Japanese expatriates in France
- Japanese expatriates in Switzerland
- Expatriate footballers in France
- Expatriate footballers in Switzerland
- Japan international footballers
- J. League players
- Ligue 1 players
- Swiss Super League players
- Olympic footballers of Japan
- Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics
- 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players
- 2002 FIFA World Cup players
- 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players
- 2004 AFC Asian Cup players
- 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players
- 2006 FIFA World Cup players
- AFC Asian Cup-winning players
- People from Ōtsu
- 1979 births
- Living people