Kōji Nakata

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Kōji Nakata
Personal information
Full name	Kōji Nakata
Date of birth	July 9, 1979 (1979-07-09) (age 28)
Place of birth	Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Height	1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Left Back, Centre Back, Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current club	Kashima Antlers
Youth clubs
1995-97	Teikyo H.S.
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998-04 2005-06 2006-2008 2008-	Kashima Antlers Olympique Marseille FC Basel Kashima Antlers	144 0(27) 009 00(0) 062 00(3)
National team2
2000-	Japan	057 00(2)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 20 May 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 20 May 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Kōji Nakata (中田浩二 Nakata Kōji; born 9 July 1979 in Shiga Prefecture, 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.

[edit] 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.

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 2008.

[edit] Honors and awards

[edit] Individual Honors

• J. League Best Eleven: 2001
• J. League Cup MVP: 2000

[edit] Team Honors

• FIFA Confederations Cup Runner-up: 2001
• FIFA World Youth Championship Runner-up: 1999
• Asian Cup Champions: 2004
• J. League Champions: 1998, 2000, 2001
• J. League Cup Champions: 2000, 2002
• Emperor's Cup Champions: 2000
• Swiss Super League Champions: 2008
• Swiss Cup Champions: 2007, 2008

[edit] Club Career Stats

Last update: 7 May 2007

Season	Club	Country	Div	League		Team Record	UEFA Cup		Team Record
				Apps	Goals		Apps	Goals
1998	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	5	1	Champions	-	-	-
1999	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	17	4	9th place	-	-	-
2000	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	29	4	Champions	-	-	-
2001	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	25	8	Champions	-	-	-
2002	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	29	6	4th place	-	-	-
2003	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	18	3	5th place	-	-	-
2004	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	21	1	6th place	-	-	-
2004-05	Olympique Marseille	France	1	5	0	5th place	-	-	-
2005-06	Olympique Marseille	France	1	4	0	5th place	3	0	1/8 Finals
	FC Basel	Switzerland	1	10	1	Runners-up	-	-	-
2006-07	FC Basel	Switzerland	1	34	1	Runners-up	9	0	Group Stage
2007-08	FC Basel	Switzerland	1	18	1	Champions	5	0	1/16 Finals
2008	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1				-	-	-

[edit] National team

• 2001 Confederations Cup
• 2002 FIFA World Cup
• 2003 Confederations Cup
• 2004 Asian Cup (Champions)
• 2005 Confederations Cup
• 2006 FIFA World Cup

[edit] International Goals

#	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 PR	3-1	Won	2004 AFC Asian Cup Final

[edit] External links

• Rising Sun News profile
• National Football Teams

v • d • e Japan squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Kawaguchi • 2 Akita • 3 Matsuda • 4 Morioka • 5 Inamoto • 6 Hattori • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Morishima • 9 Nishizawa • 10 Nakayama • 11 Suzuki • 12 Narazaki • 13 Yanagisawa • 14 Alex • 15 Fukunishi • 16 K. Nakata • 17 Miyamoto • 18 Ono • 19 Ogasawara • 20 Myojin • 21 Toda • 22 Ichikawa • 23 Sogahata • Coach: Troussier

v • d • e Japan squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Narazaki • 2 Moniwa • 3 Komano • 4 Endō • 5 Miyamoto • 6 K. Nakata • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Ogasawara • 9 Takahara • 10 Nakamura • 11 Maki • 12 Doi • 13 Yanagisawa • 14 Alex • 15 Fukunishi • 16 Oguro • 17 Inamoto • 18 Ono • 19 Tsuboi • 20 Tamada • 21 Kaji • 22 Nakazawa • 23 Kawaguchi • Coach: Zico