Masashi Nakayama

Masashi Nakayama (中山 雅史, Nakayama Masashi; born 23 September 1967), nicknamed "Gon" during his playing career, is a Japanese professional football manager and former player. He was the J.League Most Valuable Player in 1998, J.League Top Scorer in 1998 and 2000, and J.League Best XI in 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002.

Masashi Nakayama
中山 雅史

Nakayama in 2014
Personal information
Date of birth	(1967-09-23) 23 September 1967 (age 57)
Place of birth	Fujieda, Shizuoka, Japan
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Azul Claro Numazu (head coach)
Youth career
1983–1985	Fujieda Higashi High School
College career
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1986–1989	University of Tsukuba
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1990–2009	Júbilo Iwata	419	(207)
2010–2012	Consadole Sapporo	13	(0)
2015–2020	Azul Claro Numazu	0	(0)
Total		432	(207)
International career
1990–2003	Japan	53	(21)
Managerial career
2021–2022	Júbilo Iwata (assistant manager)
2023–	Azul Claro Numazu
Medal record Men's football Representing  Japan AFC Asian Cup Winner 1992 Japan FIFA Confederations Cup Runner-up 2001 Korea/Japan
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

He is currently head coach of J3 League club Azul Claro Numazu.

Club career

Born in Shizuoka, Nakayama attended Fujieda Higashi High School and University of Tsukuba before he joined Yamaha Motors (currently; Júbilo Iwata) of the Japan Soccer League, a precursor to the J1 League, which consisted of company sponsored teams. Playing as a forward, Nakayama made his J1 League debut on 11 March 1994. From then until 2009, he was an ever-present part of the Júbilo Iwata line-up as they were consistently one of the top teams in the J1 League since its inception. With a strike-rate of more than a goal every two games throughout his career, Nakayama was the inspirational and talismanic leader for both Júbilo Iwata and the Japan national team. He holds a record by scoring four hat-tricks in four successive J1 League games, from 15 to 29 April in 1998. He scored 16 times in these games.^[1] The record is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records. He also holds the record for top scorer in a single season, scoring 36 goals in 1998.

On 4 December 2012, he announced his retirement at the age of 45, citing injuries to his both knees, after being J1 League's all-time leading scorer with 157 goals.^[1] At the time of his retirement, he had played three seasons for Consadole Sapporo. In September 2015, he began to train with Azul Claro Numazu, later signing for the team as a player.^[2] Two years later, having still not made his début for Azul Claro in league or cup competition, his contract was renewed for 2017 season, a first for a professional football club.^[3]

International career

At the 1998 FIFA World Cup, Nakayama scored the only goal of the tournament and the first goal for the Japan national team in the history of the World Cup against Jamaica on 26 June 1998.^[1] He has scored 21 goals in 53 appearances for the Japan national team.^[4]

Nakayama also holds the world record fastest hat-trick at international level. He managed three goals in a 2000 Asian Cup qualification match against Brunei on 16 February 2000 in only three minutes and three seconds,^[1] beating the previous record of Englishman Willie Hall set in 1938 (against Northern Ireland) by 27 seconds.

Managerial career

On 13 January 2020, Nakayama announced his retirement as a player at the age of 53. Having been the U-18 coach for Azul Claro Numazu for the prior two years, Nakayama revealed he was appointed the assistant manager of J2 League club Júbilo Iwata.^[5] On 13 November 2022, Nakayama returned to J3 League club Azul Claro, where he was appointed manager.^[6]

Personal life

Masashi Nakayama's autograph

Nakayama married actress Tomoko Ikuta in 1996, and together they have a daughter. Ikuta did the voice-over for lead actress Lee Young-ae in the Japanese version of the popular South Korean TV series Jewel in the Palace.

Nakayama portrayed himself on television, performing voice work for a guest role on the anime Hungry Heart: Wild Striker; a fictionalized version of himself also appeared in the manga version of its sister series, Captain Tsubasa. He also portrayed himself in episode 19 of HappinessCharge PreCure!. This episode corresponded with the opening of the World Cup. He appeared on the front cover of the Japanese releases of Konami's Winning Eleven video game series (World Soccer: Winning Eleven 6 and World Soccer: Winning Eleven 6 - Final Evolution) in 2002 and 2003.

Career statistics

Club

As of the end 2020 season after retirement as player^[7][8]

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Emperor's Cup		J.League Cup		AFC		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Júbilo Iwata[a]	1990–91	JSL Division 1	13	4			2	1	—		15	5
	1991–92		18	15			1	0	—		19	15
	1992	Football League	16	13			—		—		16	13
	1993		18	18	1	0	0	0	—		19	18
	1994	J1 League	12	3	0	0	0	0	—		12	3
	1995		45	18	0	0	—		—		45	18
	1996		27	9	0	0	13	7	—		40	16
	1997		27	18	4	2	11	6	—		42	26
	1998		27	36	3	4	0	0	—		30	40
	1999		23	6	1	2	1	1	—		25	9
	2000		29	20	3	2	4	1	—		36	23
	2001		30	16	1	0	8	4	—		39	20
	2002		29	16	3	2	7	3	—		39	21
	2003		12	3	5	0	2	1	—		19	4
	2004		19	3	4	1	5	0	4	1	32	5
	2005		29	6	2	0	2	0	1	0	34	6
	2006		13	1	1	0	3	1	—		17	2
	2007		15	1	2	0	5	1	—		22	2
	2008		16	1	2	1	3	1	—		21	3
	2009		1	0	1	0	1	0	—		3	0
Consadole Sapporo	2010	J2 League	12	0	1	0	—		—		13	0
	2011		0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0
	2012	J1 League	1	0	0	0	0	0	—		1	0
Azul Claro Numazu	2015	Football League	0	0	—		—		—		0	0
	2016		0	0	—		—		—		0	0
	2017	J3 League	0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0
	2018		0	0	0	0	—		—		0	0
	2019						—		—
	2020						—		—
Career total			432	207	34	12	68	27	5	1	539	247

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[4]

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Japan	1990	1	0
	1991	0	0
	1992	6	3
	1993	8	4
	1994	0	0
	1995	4	1
	1996	0	0
	1997	2	2
	1998	10	4
	1999	1	0
	2000	7	6
	2001	8	1
	2002	3	0
	2003	3	0
Total		53	21

Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nakayama goal.

List of international goals scored by Masashi Nakayama

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	29 August 1992	Beijing, China	South Korea	1–1	2–2	1992 Dynasty Cup
2	1 November 1992	Hiroshima, Japan	North Korea	1–1	1–1	1992 AFC Asian Cup
3	6 November 1992		China	3–2	3–2
4	5 May 1993	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Sri Lanka	6–0	6–0	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
5	18 October 1993	Doha, Qatar	Iran	1–2	1–2
6	21 October 1993		North Korea	2–0	3–0
7	28 October 1993		Iraq	2–1	2–2
8	28 May 1995	Tokyo, Japan	Ecuador	1–0	3–0	1995 Kirin Cup
9	8 November 1997		Kazakhstan	3–0	5–1	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
10	16 November 1997	Johor Bahru, Malaysia	Iran	1–0	3–2
11	1 March 1998	Yokohama, Japan	South Korea	1–0	2–1	1998 Dynasty Cup
12	1 April 1998	Seoul, South Korea	South Korea	1–1	1–2	Friendly
13	26 June 1998	Lyon, France	Jamaica	1–2	1–2	1998 FIFA World Cup
14	28 October 1998	Osaka, Japan	Egypt	1–0	1–0	Friendly
15	13 February 2000	Macau	Singapore	2–0	3–0	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
16	16 February 2000		Brunei	1–0	9–0
17				2–0
18				3–0
19	20 February 2000		Macau	1–0	3–0
20				3–0
21	15 August 2001	Fukuroi, Japan	Australia	3–0	3–0	2001 AFC–OFC Challenge Cup

Managerial statistics

Update; as of 16 April 2023^[9]

Team	From	To	Record
			G	W	D	L	Win %
Azul Claro Numazu	13 November 2022	present	7	2	3	2	028.57
Total			7	2	3	2	028.57

Honours

Júbilo Iwata

• AFC Champions League: 1998–99
• Asian Super Cup: 1999
• J1 League: 1997, 1999, 2002
• Emperor's Cup: 2003
• Japanese Super Cup: 2000, 2003, 2004

Japan

• AFC Asian Cup: 1992
• FIFA Confederations Cup Runner-up: 2001

Individual

• J.League Most Valuable Player: 1998
• J.League Top Scorer: 1998, 2000
• J.League Best XI: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002
• J.League 20th Anniversary Team
• Japanese Footballer of the Year: 1998
• AFC Player of the Month: April 1998^[10]
• Selected to AFC All Star Team: 1999

Notes

1. "Yamaha Motors" until 1994