Full name Masashi Nakayama Weight 72 kg Name Masashi Nakayama | Playing position Role Footballer Parents Gisuke Nakayama Number 39 Height 1.78 m | |
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Date of birth (1967-09-23) 23 September 1967 (age 48) Similar People Tomoko Ikuta, Kazuyoshi Miura, Hisato Sato, Hiroshi Nanami, Hajime Moriyasu | ||
J.League 1998 Season MVP Masashi Nakayama (Jubilo Iwata） Movie
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.
Contents
- JLeague 1998 Season MVPMasashi NakayamaJubilo Iwata Movie
- JLeague 2000 Season Top Scorer Masashi NakayamaJubilo Iwata Movie
- Career
- Statistics
- National team
- Team
- Individual
- Trivia
- References
J.League 2000 Season Top Scorer Masashi Nakayama(Jubilo Iwata) Movie
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 FIFA 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. As of 2009, he has scored 21 goals in 53 appearances for the Japanese national team, which places him 8th all-time among goalscorers for his country.
Nakayama also holds the world record fastest hat-trick at international level. He managed three goals in an AFC Asian Cup qualification match against Brunei on 16 February 2000 in only three minutes and three seconds, 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. 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 making J1 League's all-time leading scores of 157 goals. In September 2015, he began to train with Azul Claro Numazu and then he signed a contract with the Japan Football League's side. Despite the fact he didn't play any minute of JFL with Azul Claro, his contract was renewed for 2017 season, the first of club in professional football.
Statistics
Updated to 23 February 2017.