Akinori Nishizawa

Akinori Nishizawa (西澤 明訓, Nishizawa Akinori, born June 18, 1976) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.

Club career

Nishizawa was born in Shizuoka on June 18, 1976. After graduating from Shimizu Higashi High School, he joined Cerezo Osaka in 1995. He moved to Spanish club Espanyol in December 2000. In July 2001, He moved to English club Bolton Wanderers. During his brief spell playing Bolton Wanderers, he is best remembered for scoring a dramatic late equaliser against Walsall in the League Cup.^[1] In 2002, he returned to Cerezo Osaka was relegated to J2 League from 2002. The club won the 2nd place in 2002 and was promoted to J1 League. In 2006, the club was relegated to J2 League. He moved to his local club Shimizu S-Pulse in 2007. He returned to Cerezo Osaka in 2009 and he retired end of 2009 season.

National team career

On May 21, 1997, he debuted for Japan national team against South Korea. Although he played 4 games and scored 2 goals at 1998 World Cup qualification in 1997, he was not elected Japan for 1998 World Cup. In 2000, He played for Japan for the first time in 3 years. At 2000 Asian Cup in October, he played all 6 games and scored 5 goals. Japan won the champions. At 2001 Confederations Cup, he also played 4 games and scored 1 goals. Japan won the 2nd place. He was elected Japan for 2002 World Cup and played 1 game. This match was his last game for Japan. He played 29 games and scored 10 goals for Japan until 2002.^[2]

Club statistics

National team statistics

^[2]

National team

International Goal

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	1997			–
2.	1997			–
3.	5 June 2000	Casablanca, Morocco	France	2–2	Draw	Friendly
4.	17 October 2000	Sidon, Lebanon	Uzbekistan	8–1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
5.	17 October 2000	Sidon, Lebanon	Uzbekistan	8–1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
6.	17 October 2000	Sidon, Lebanon	Uzbekistan	8–1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
7.	20 October 2000	Beirut, Lebanon	Qatar	1–1	Draw	2000 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
8.	26 October 2000	Beirut, Lebanon	China PR	3–2	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Semifinal
9.	22 June 2006	Niigata, Japan	Canada	3–0	Won	2001 FIFA Confederations Cup Group Stage
10.	29 April 2002	Tokyo, Japan	Slovakia	1–0	Won	Kirin Cup 2002

Honours and awards

References

External links

• Akinori Nishizawa – FIFA competition record (archive)
• Akinori Nishizawa at National-Football-Teams.com
• Japan National Football Team Database
• Akinori Nishizawa at J.League (in Japanese)