Masashi Nakayama

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Masashi Nakayama
Personal information
Full name	Masashi Nakayama
Date of birth	September 23, 1967 (1967-09-23) (age 40)
Place of birth	Okabe, Shizuoka, Japan
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	forward
Club information
Current club	Júbilo Iwata
Youth clubs
1983-1986 1986-1990	Fujieda-Higashi H.S. Tsukuba University
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1990-	Yamaha / Jubilo Iwata	402 (206)
National team2
1992-2003	Japan	53 (21)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 January 2008. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 28 January 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Masashi Nakayama (中山 雅史, Nakayama Masashi^?, born September 23, 1967) is a professional footballer for Jubilo Iwata of the J. League, the top professional football league in Japan. Born in Shizuoka, Nakayama attended Fujieda Higashi High School and Tsukuba University before he joined Jubilo Iwata of the Japan Football League, a precursor to the J. League, which consisted of company sponsored teams.

Contents 1 Career 2 National team 3 Honors and awards 3.1 Individual Honors 3.2 Team Honors 4 Club Career Stats 5 Trivia 6 External links

[edit] Career

Playing as a forward, Nakayama made his J. League debut on March 11, 1994. Since that time, he has been an ever-present part of the Jubilo lineup as they have consistently been one of the top teams in the J. League since its inception. With a strikerate of more than a goal every two games throughout his career, Nakayama is the inspirational and talismanic leader for both Jubilo Iwata and the Japanese national team.

At the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals in France, Nakayama scored the only goal of the tournament and the first goal for Japan in the history of the World Cup against Jamaica on June 26, 1998. As of 2003, he has scored 21 goals in 53 appearances for the Japanese national team, which places him 5th all-time among goalscorers for his country.

Nakayama also holds the world record fastest hat-trick at international level. He managed three goals in a FIFA World Cup qualification match against Brunei on 16 February 2000 in only three minutes and three seconds, beating the previous record of Englishman George William Hall set in 1938 (against Ireland) by 27 seconds. This striker becomes a record-holder with other hat-tricks, that he did it in four successive games of J.League, from April 15 to April 29 in 1998. He scored 16 times in these games.

Affectionately known as Gon, Nakayama is a fan favorite among many casual Japanese football fans for his outspoken and humorous nature. Now in the twilight of his career, injuries and age have taken a toll on Nakayama's skills but he still remains a favorite of the Jubilo faithful, as evidenced by the fact that he draws the loudest cheers by far from the home crowd at Yamaha Stadium when his name is announced during warm-ups or when he comes on as a substitute.

[edit] National team

• 1992 Asian Cup
• 1998 FIFA World Cup
• 2001 Confederations Cup
• 2002 FIFA World Cup

[edit] Honors and awards

[edit] Individual Honors

• J. League Most Valuable Player: 1998
• J. League Top Scorer: 1998, 2000
• J. League Best Eleven: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002

[edit] Team Honors

• FIFA Confederations Cup Runner-up: 2001
• 1992 Asian Cup (Champions)
• AFC Champions League Champions: 1999
• Asian Super Cup Champions: 1999
• J. League Champions: 1997, 1999, 2002

[edit] Club Career Stats

Season	Team	Country	Division	Apps	Goals	Team Record
1990-91	Yamaha	Japan	1	13	4	8th / 12
1991-92	Yamaha	Japan	1	18	15	3rd / 12
1992	Yamaha	Japan	2	16	13	?
1993	Yamaha	Japan	2	18	18	?
1994	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	12	3	8th / 12
1995	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	45	18	6th / 14
1996	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	27	9	4th / 16
1997	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	27	18	Champions / 17
1998	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	27	36	Runners-up / 18
1999	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	23	6	Champions / 16
2000	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	29	20	4th / 16
2001	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	30	16	Runners-up / 16
2002	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	29	16	Champions / 16
2003	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	12	3	Runners-up / 16
2004	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	19	3	5th / 16
2005	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	29	6	6th / 18
2006	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	13	1	5th / 18
2007	Jubilo Iwata	Japan	1	15	1	9th / 18

[edit] Trivia

• Nakayama is currently the all time top goal scorer in J. League division 1 with 156 goals.

• Nakayama once portrayed himself on television, performing voice work for a guest role on the anime Hungry Heart: Wild Striker.

• Nakayama appeared on the front cover of the Japanese releases of Konami's Winning Eleven video game series (WE 6 and WE 6: Final Evolution) in 2002 and 2003.

• He married actress Tomoko Ikuta in 1996, and together they had a daughter. Ikuta did the voice-over for lead actress Lee Young Ae in the Japanese version of the popular South Korean TV series Dae Jang Geum.

[edit] External links

• National Football Teams

Preceded by Dunga	J. League Most Valuable Player 1998	Succeeded by Alex
Preceded by Patrick Mboma	J. League Top Scorer 1998	Succeeded by Hwang Sun-Hong
Preceded by Hwang Sun-Hong	J. League Top Scorer 2000	Succeeded by Will

v • d • e Júbilo Iwata – current squad 1 Kawaguchi • 2 Suzuki • 3 Chano • 4 Ohi • 5 Tanaka • 6 Kawamura • 7 Ohta • 8 Gilsinho • 9 Nakayama • 10 Naruoka • 11 Nishi • 13 Morishita • 14 Murai • 15 Kaga • 16 Nanami • 17 Inuzuka • 18 Maeda • 19 Okada • 20 Nakajima • 21 Matsui • 22 Cullen • 23 K. Yamamoto • 24 Matsuura • 25 Komano • 26 Morino • 27 Ueda • 28 Funatani • 29 Yamazaki • 30 Fujii • 31 Hatta • 32 Bandai • 33 Suzaki • 34 Oshitani • 36 Sato • Manager: Uchiyama

v • d • e Japan squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Kojima • 2 Narahashi • 3 Soma • 4 Ihara • 5 Omura • 6 Yamaguchi • 7 Ito • 8 Nakata • 9 Nakayama • 10 Nanami • 11 Ono • 12 Lopes • 13 Hattori • 14 Okano • 15 Morishima • 16 Saito • 17 Akita • 18 Jo • 19 Nakanishi • 20 Kawaguchi • 21 Narazaki • 22 Hirano • Coach: Okada

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