Hidetoshi Nakata
Hidetoshi Nakata, OSSI (中田 英寿, Nakata Hidetoshi, born 22 January 1977) is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Considered one of the best talents to come from an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) country in the early late 1990s and early 2000s, Nakata became the first ever AFC player to be nominated for the Ballon d'Or; he also hold the record for most goals scored by an AFC player in the Serie A. He is widely considered to be one of the best Asian players of all time.
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Nakata in 2012 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Hidetoshi Nakata | ||
| Date of birth | 22 January 1977 | ||
| Place of birth | Kofu, Yamanashi, Japan | ||
| Height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1992–1994 | Nirasaki High School | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1995–1998 | Bellmare Hiratsuka | 85 | (16) |
| 1998–2000 | Perugia | 48 | (12) |
| 2000–2001 | Roma | 30 | (5) |
| 2001–2004 | Parma | 67 | (5) |
| 2004 | → Bologna (loan) | 17 | (2) |
| 2004–2006 | Fiorentina | 20 | (0) |
| 2005–2006 | → Bolton Wanderers (loan) | 21 | (1) |
| Total | 288 | (41) | |
| International career | |||
| 1991–1993 | Japan U-17 | 6 | (2) |
| 1994–1995 | Japan U-20 | 12 | (6) |
| 1995–2000 | Japan U-23 | 12 | (3) |
| 1997–2006 | Japan | 77 | (11) |
| *Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
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 the age of 29 on 3 July 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 one of only two Asian footballers on the list.