Shunsuke Nakamura

Shunsuke Nakamura

Born in 24 June 1978 in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture) is a Japanese footballer who currently plays for Yokohama F. Marinos in J. League Division 1.He is one of the most prominent and successful Asian players to have played in Scotland and on 13 September 2006 became the first Japanese player to score in the UEFA Champions League and the second Asian player to do so. He is also well known for his free kick-taking abilities. Asteroid 29986 Shunsuke is also named in his honour.

Club Career

Yokohama Marinos (1997-2002)



In 1997, 19-year-old Nakamura joined Yokohama Marinos of J. League Division 1 (later merged with Yokohama Flügels and renamed "Yokohama F. Marinos"), a club whose youth side he had played for when it was known as Nissan Motors FC. He made his début with Marinos on 16 April of that year against Gamba Osaka. Nakamura finished the season with 27 appearances and 5 goals.

In 2000, Nakamura had his best season in Yokohama, recording 5 goals and 11 assists, and winning the J League Most Valuable Player award.

Nakamura left Marinos during the 2002 season to join Reggina of Serie A, after the clubs agreed to a US$3.5 million transfer fee following a 6-month loan period.

Reggina (2002-2005)

Following the disappointment of being omitted from Japan's final World Cup squad, Nakamura joined Italian club Reggina, newly promoted to Serie A. Expectations for Nakamura were high, as he was given the prestigious number 10 shirt from the start, and he responded by scoring in three consecutive matches early in the season.

However, Nakamura struggled with injuries, appearing in just 18 matches in the 2003-04 season, while the club struggled to avoid relegation all three seasons he played there. After three seasons in Italy, he felt it was time to move on.

Celtic (2005-2009)

Nakamura expressed interest in playing in Spain and media reports linked him to Atlético Madrid and Deportivo La Coruña of La Liga as well as Bundesliga teams Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach in the summer of 2005,^[2] but Nakamura ultimately chose to join Scottish Premier League club Celtic.In his first season with Celtic, Nakamura won his first major club titles, the Scottish Premier League and Scottish League Cup. On 13 September 2006, he played his début Champions League game against Manchester United at Old Trafford. He scored from a free kick to bring the game level at 2-2, although Celtic eventually lost 3-2. On 14 October 2006, in a league game against Dundee United at Tannadice Nakamura scored the first hat-trick of his Celtic career and won the Man of the Match award. The game ended 4-1 in Celtic's favour. On 21 November 2006, Nakamura scored perhaps the most important goal of his career to date with a 30-yard free-kick against Manchester United at Celtic Park in a crucial Champions League game. The goal resulted in Celtic progressing to the Champions League knockout stage for the first time.On 26 December 2006, Nakamura chipped the ball over Dundee United's goalkeeper Derek Stillie at Celtic Park (He won the Goal of the Season award by this). It was Nakamura's performance in the final 20 minutes of the game which allowed Celtic to escape with a point, prompting Gordon Strachan to proclaim him "a genius".