Paulo Roberto Corradi Nagamura (; born March 2, 1983) is a Brazilian former professional football player and coach. He spent most of his playing career in MLS, where he won two MLS Cups and three U.S. Open Cups.
Career
Youth
Born in São Paulo, Nagamura came up through the system of hometown club São Paulo. In 2001, he was sold to English powerhouse Arsenal, and played with the club's youth and reserve sides through 2004, helping them to the English U-19 championship, scoring a goal in the final against Liverpool. He also scored in a pre-season friendly for Arsenal against Stevenage in 2002.
Professional
Los Angeles Galaxy
On March 22, 2005, Nagamura signed with the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer. He made his Galaxy and MLS debut on April 2, playing the full 90 minutes in a 3–0 loss to the Columbus Crew. Nagamura ended the regular season with 25 appearances, 24 of them starts, and 2 assists, helping the Galaxy finish 4th in the Western Conference and qualify for the playoffs. He started all 4 of the Galaxy's playoff games, helping Los Angeles reach MLS Cup 2005, where they defeated the New England Revolution 1–0.
In the 2006 season, Nagamura made 29 appearances and had 4 assists during the regular season as the Galaxy finished 5th in the West, failing to qualify for the playoffs. He also played 3 times in the Open Cup, helping LA reach the final, where Nagamura and the Galaxy fell 1–0 to the Chicago Fire. He made his TFC debut on April 7, 2007, the first game in club history, in a 2–0 loss to Chivas USA. He made 4 appearances for Toronto prior to being traded. He made his debut for the Chivas USA on May 6, playing the full 90 in a 2–1 loss to D.C. United. Nagamura played in both of Chivas's playoff games, losing in the Conference Semifinals 1–0 to the Kansas City Wizards on aggregate. Nagamura made 24 appearances, scored 2 goals, and had 3 assists in regular season play, helping Chivas finish 2nd in the West. He played in both of Chivas's playoff games, with the Goats losing 3–2 on aggregate to Real Salt Lake in the Conference Semifinals. Chivas qualified for the playoffs again in 2009, finishing 4th in the conference, with Nagamura making 27 appearances, scoring 4 goals, and recording 2 assists in regular season play. Once again, Nagamura and Chivas would not advance past the first round, losing to the Galaxy 3–2 on aggregate in the Conference Semifinals.
Tigres UANL
In January 2010, Nagamura signed with Mexican Primera División club Tigres UANL. Nagamura appeared in 14 of Tigres's 17 games in the Clausura season, making 11 starts. Tigres failed to qualify for the Liguilla playoffs.
Return to Chivas USA
On June 25, 2010, Nagamura signed with Chivas USA for a second stint. He made his first appearance of the 2010 MLS season on July 24 in a 1–1 draw to Real Salt Lake. he scored his first goal of his 2nd stint with Chivas on September 10, helping Chivas beat the New England Revolution 2–0.
Nagamura missed the first 4 games of the 2011 season after he injured his calf in preseason. He made his season debut on April 16, coming off the bench in a 0–0 draw with the Vancouver Whitecaps FC. He aggravated his calf injury during the game and missed the following 6 matches.
Sporting Kansas City
On November 29, 2011, Nagamura was traded to Sporting Kansas City for a 2012 MLS Supplemental Draft pick. He missed the first game of the 2012 season due to a calf injury. On March 17, 2012, Nagamura made his SKC debut, coming off the bench in a 3–0 win against the New England Revolution. He scored his first goal for Kansas City on May 29 in a 3–2 win against Orlando City in the U.S. Open Cup 3rd round. He ended the regular season with 27 appearances, 1 goal, and 1 assist, helping SKC finish 1st in the Eastern Conference. He missed both of Kansas City's playoff games after hurting his ankle in the regular season finale. SKC lost 2–1 on aggregate to the Houston Dynamo in his absence.thumb|left|Paulo Nagamura, in blue, defends against three Houston Dynamo players at [[Children's Mercy Park|Livestrong Sporting Park on July 7, 2012]]
After starting 15 of Kansas City's first 16 MLS games of the 2013 season, Nagamura played just twice over the final 18 games due to an ankle injury. He ended the regular season with 17 appearances and 1 assist as Sporting finished 2nd in the East. Nagamura missed the first leg of the Conference Semifinals because of his ankle injury, but returned for the second leg, playing 97 minutes to help SKC defeat New England 3–1 in extra time, advancing 4–2 on aggregate. He played the full match in both legs of the Conference Finals as Sporting beat Houston 2–1 on aggregate. Nagamura ended the regular season with 21 appearances, 2 goals, and 3 assists, helping Kansas City finish 5th in the Eastern Conference. He played the full 90 minutes in SKC's one playoff game, a 2–1 loss to the New York Red Bulls. On August 15, Nagamura scored in the 87th and 94th minute to give SKC a 4–3 win over Vancouver Whitecaps FC, a performance that saw him named MLS Player of the Week. He suffered a quad strain in June that kept him out for 2 months. He would play the full 90 minutes in Kansas City's one playoff game, a 1–0 loss to Seattle Sounders FC in the opening round.
On December 4, 2017, Nagamura was promoted to head coach for Swope Park. In his first season as a head coach, Nagamura led Swope Park to the playoffs. They would not return to the playoffs in the other 3 years of his tenure. Prior to the 2020 season, Swope Park rebranded as Sporting Kansas City II.
Nagamura left SKC II following the 2021 season. His tenure as Dynamo coach only lasted 29 matches, as he was fired on September 5.
Chicago Fire
On January 19, 2024, Nagamura was named as an assistant coach for the Chicago Fire.
Tacoma Defiance
Nagamura was named the head coach of the Tacoma Defiance, the reserve team of Seattle Sounders FC, on February 3, 2026.
Personal life
Nagamura holds a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes. Born in Brazil, he is of Japanese and Italian descent.
Career statistics
{| 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"|National cup
!colspan="2"|League cup
!colspan="2"|Continental
!colspan="2"|Total
|-
!Division!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals!!Apps!!Goals
|-
|rowspan="3"|Los Angeles Galaxy
|2005
|rowspan="2"|MLS
|25||0||3||0||4||0||colspan="2"|—||32||0
|-
|2006
|29||0||3||0||colspan="2"|—||0||0||32||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!54!!0!!6!!0!!4!!0!!0!!0!!64!!0
|-
|Toronto FC
|2007
|MLS
|4||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||4||0
|-
|rowspan="4"|Chivas USA
|2007
|rowspan="3"|MLS
|22||2||0||0||2||0||colspan="2"|—||24||2
|-
|2008
|24||2||1||0||2||0||4||0||31||2
|-
|2009
|27||4||1||0||2||0||3||0||33||4
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!73!!8!!2!!0!!6!!0!!7!!0!!88!!8
|-
|Tigres UANL
|2009–10
|Primera División
|14||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||14||0
|-
|rowspan="3"|Chivas USA
|2010
|rowspan="2"|MLS
|15||1||1||0||colspan="2"|—||1||0||17||1
|-
|2011
|11||0||0||0||colspan="2"|—||colspan="2"|—||11||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!26!!1!!1!!0!!0!!0!!1!!0!!28!!1
|-
|rowspan="6"|Sporting Kansas City
|2012
|rowspan="5"|MLS
|27||1||3||1||0||0||colspan="2"|—||30||2
|-
|2013
|17||0||1||0||4||0||1||0||23||0
|-
|2014
|21||2||2||0||1||0||4||0||28||2
|-
|2015
|21||3||3||0||1||0||colspan="2"|—||25||3
|-
|2016
|9||0||0||0||1||0||3||0||13||0
|-
!colspan="2"|Total
!95!!6!!9!!1!!7!!0!!8!!0!!119!!7
|-
|Swope Park Rangers (loan)
|2016
|USL
|1||0||colspan="2"|—||0||0||colspan="2"|—||1||0
|-
!colspan="3"|Career total
!267!!15!!18!!1!!17!!0!!16!!0!!318!!16
|}
Managerial statistics
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center"
|+ Managerial record by team and tenure
|-
! rowspan="2" |Team
! rowspan="2" |Nat
! rowspan="2" |From
! rowspan="2"|To
! colspan="8" |Record
|-
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
!
|-
|align=left|Sporting Kansas City II
|
|align=left|December 4, 2017
|align=left|November 18, 2021
|-
|Houston Dynamo
|
|align=left|January 3, 2022
|align=left|September 5, 2022
|-
!colspan="4"|Total
|}
Honors
Arsenal
- Premier League U-19 championship: 2001
Los Angeles Galaxy
- Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup: 2005
- MLS Cup: 2005
Sporting Kansas City
- Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup: 2012, 2015
- MLS Cup: 2013