, 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.
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. 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.
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. He has scored 21 goals in 53 appearances for the Japan national team.
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, On 13 November 2022, Nakayama returned to J3 League club Azul Claro, where he was appointed manager.
Personal life
thumb|right|175px|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
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
|-
!rowspan="2"|Club
!rowspan="2"|Season
!colspan="3"|League
!colspan="2"|Emperor's Cup
!colspan="2"|J.League Cup
!colspan="2"|AFC
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="20"|Júbilo Iwata
|1990–91
|rowspan="2"|JSL Division 1
|13||4||||||2||1||colspan="2"|—||15||5
|-
|1991–92
|18||15||||||1||0||colspan="2"|—||19||15
|-
|1992
|rowspan="2"|Football League
|16||13||||||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||16||13
|-
|1993
|18||18||1||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||19||18
|-
|1994
|rowspan="16"|J1 League
|12||3||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||12||3
|-
|1995
|45||18||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||45||18
|-
|1996
|27||9||0||0||13||7||colspan="2"|—||40||16
|-
|1997
|27||18||4||2||11||6||colspan="2"|—||42||26
|-
|1998
|27||36||3||4||0||0||colspan="2"|—||30||40
|-
|1999
|23||6||1||2||1||1||colspan="2"|—||25||9
|-
|2000
|29||20||3||2||4||1||colspan="2"|—||36||23
|-
|2001
|30||16||1||0||8||4||colspan="2"|—||39||20
|-
|2002
|29||16||3||2||7||3||colspan="2"|—||39||21
|-
|2003
|12||3||5||0||2||1||colspan="2"|—||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||colspan="2"|—||17||2
|-
|2007
|15||1||2||0||5||1||colspan="2"|—||22||2
|-
|2008
|16||1||2||1||3||1||colspan="2"|—||21||3
|-
|2009
|1||0||1||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||3||0
|-
|rowspan="3"|Consadole Sapporo
|2010
|rowspan="2"|J2 League
|12||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||13||0
|-
|2011
|0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||0||0
|-
|2012
|J1 League
|1||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||1||0
|-
|rowspan="6"|Azul Claro Numazu
|2015
|rowspan="2"|Football League
|0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||0||0
|-
|2016
|0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||0||0
|-
|2017
|rowspan="4"|J3 League
|0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||0||0
|-
|2018
|0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||0||0
|-
|2019
|||||||||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||||
|-
|2020
|||||||||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||||
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!432!!207!!34!!12!!68!!27!!5!!1!!539!!247
|}
International
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Appearances and goals by national team and year
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
!rowspan="2"|Team !!rowspan="2"|From !!rowspan="2"|To !!colspan="5"|Record
|-
!G!!W!!D!!L!!Win %
|-
|align="left"|Azul Claro Numazu
|align="left"|13 November 2022 ||align="left"|present
|-
!colspan="3"|Total
|}
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
- Selected to AFC All Star Team: 1999
Notes
References
External links
- Japan National Football Team Database