Masashi Nakayama

Masashi Nakayama (中山 雅史, Nakayama Masashi, born 23 September 1967) is a Japanese football player. Born in Shizuoka, Gon 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. He retired in December 2012 at age 45 after playing 3 seasons for Consadole Sapporo, then he came back almost three years later with Azul Claro Numazu in Japan Football League.

Career

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 lineup 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 Japanese national team.

At the 1998 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 26 June 1998.^[1] He has scored 21 goals in 53 appearances for the Japanese national team.^[2]

Nakayama also holds the world record fastest hat-trick at international level. He managed three goals in an 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 George William Hall set in 1938 (against Northern Ireland) by 27 seconds. This striker becomes a record-holder with other hat-tricks, that he did it in four successive games of J1 League, 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

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.

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 scores of 157 goals.^[1] In September 2015, he began to train with Azul Claro Numazu and then he signed a contract with the Japan Football League team Azul Claro.^[3] Despite the fact he didn't play any minute of JFL with Azul Claro, his contract was renewed for 2017 season, a first for a professional football club.^[4]

Club statistics

Updated to December 31, 2017.^[5][6]

National team statistics

^[2]

National team goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	29 August 1992	Beijing, China PR	South Korea	2–2	Draw	Dynasty Cup 1992
2.	1 November 1992	Hiroshima, Japan	North Korea	1–1	Draw	1992 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
3.	6 November 1992	Hiroshima, Japan	China PR	3–2	Won	1992 AFC Asian Cup Semi-finals
4.	5 May 1993	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Sri Lanka	5–0	Won	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
5.	18 October 1993	Doha, Qatar	Iran	1–2	Lost	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
6.	21 October 1993	Doha, Qatar	North Korea	3–0	Won	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
7.	28 October 1993	Doha, Qatar	Iraq	2–2	Draw	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
8.	28 May 1995	Tokyo, Japan	Ecuador	3–0	Won	Friendly
9.	8 November 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Kazakhstan	5–1	Won	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
10.	16 November 1997	Johor Bahru, Malaysia	Iran	3–2	Won	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification AFC Play-off
11.	1 March 1998	Yokohama, Japan	South Korea	2–1	Won	Dynasty Cup 1998
12.	1 April 1998	Korea Republic	South Korea	1–2	Lost	Friendly
13.	26 June 1998	Lyon, France	Jamaica	1–2	Lost	1998 FIFA World Cup Group Stage
14.	28 October 1998	Osaka, Japan	Egypt	1–0	Won	Friendly
15.	13 February 2000	Macau	Singapore	3–0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
16.	16 February 2000	Macau	Brunei	9–0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
17.	16 February 2000	Macau	Brunei	9–0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
18.	16 February 2000	Macau	Brunei	9–0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
19.	20 February 2000	Macau	Macau	3–0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
20.	20 February 2000	Macau	Macau	3–0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
21.	15 August 2001	Fukuroi, Japan	Australia	3–0	Won	AFC/OFC Cup Challenge

Honours

Trivia

• Nakayama is currently the all-time top goal scorer in J1 League with 157 goals. He holds the record for top scorer in a single season, scoring 36 goals in 1998.
• 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 (World Soccer: Winning Eleven 6 and World Soccer: Winning Eleven 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.
• Nakayama Will Be a Special Guest Appearance in The HappinessCharge PreCure! as Himself This episode corresponds with the opening of the World Cup.

References

External links

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