Kōji Nakata

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Personal information
Kōji Nakata
Full name	Kōji Nakata
Date of birth	July 9, 1979 (age 27)
Place of birth	Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Height	182cm
Playing position	defender
Club information
Current club	FC Basel
Youth clubs
1995-97	Teikyo H.S.
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998-04 2005-06 2006-	Kashima Antlers Olympique Marseille FC Basel	144 (27) 9 (0) 28 (2)
National team²
2000-	Japan	56 (2)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19 February 2007. ² National team caps and goals correct as of 19 February 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Kōji Nakata (中田浩二 Nakata Kōji; born 9 July 1979 in Shiga Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese football (soccer) player who played at both the Football World Cup 2002, and the Football World Cup 2006.

The 'other Nakata', as he is known to most non-Japanese fans, is a left-footed midfielder. A very versatile player, Nakata has established himself as one of the best defensive midfielders for Japan. Although his preferred position is at defensive midfield, his versatility means he can also operate as left wing-back, where he has occasionally been used, most notably in the 2002 World Cup under coach Philippe Troussier's 3-5-2 formation.

Nakata moved from Japanese giants Kashima Antlers to France at the start of 2005 when former Japan national team manager Philippe Troussier, then the Olympique Marseille coach, signed him in a deal which (from Marseille's point of view ) was more about money than football.^{[citation needed]} After an understandbly unhappy season in France (Troussier was sacked just a few months later), the frozen-out Nakata jumped at the chance to leave and by early 2006 had moved to Switzerland's top team FC Basel where he is playing now as a defender. Kōji was highly rated by Japan coach Zico and is sometimes compared to Junichi Inamoto, also a defensive midfielder for Japan.

1 Honors and awards
- 1.1 Individual Honors
- 1.2 Team Honors
2 Club Career Stats
3 National team
4 International Goals
5 External links

[edit] Honors and awards

[edit] Individual Honors

J-League Best Eleven: 2001

[edit] Team Honors

FIFA Confederations Cup Runner-up: 2001
FIFA World Youth Championship runner-up: 1999
Asian Cup Champions: 2004

[edit] Club Career Stats

Last update: 19 March 2007

Season	Club	Country	Div	League		Team Record	UEFA Cup		Team Record
Season	Club	Country	Div	Apps	Goals	Team Record	Apps	Goals	Team Record
1998	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	5	1	Champions	-	-	-
1999	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	17	4	9th place	-	-	-
2000	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	29	4	Champions	-	-	-
2001	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	25	8	Champions	-	-	-
2002	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	29	6	4th place	-	-	-
2003	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	18	3	5th place	-	-	-
2004	Kashima Antlers	Japan	1	21	1	6th place	-	-	-
2004-05	Olympique Marseille	France	1	5	0	5th place	-	-	-
2005-06	Olympique Marseille	France	1	4	0	5th place	3	0	1/8 Finals
2005-06	FC Basel	Switzerland	1	10	1	Runners-up	-	-	-
2006-07	FC Basel	Switzerland	1	22	1		9	0	Group Stage

[edit] National team

[edit] International Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	August 3, 2004	Jinan, China	Bahrain	4-3	Won	2004 AFC Asian Cup Semi-Final
2.	August 7, 2004	Beijing, China	China PR	3-1	Won	2004 AFC Asian Cup Final

[edit] External links

	Japan squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup
1 Kawaguchi \| 2 Akita \| 3 Matsuda \| 4 Morioka \| 5 Inamoto \| 6 Hattori \| 7 H. Nakata \| 8 Morishima \| 9 Nishizawa \| 10 Nakayama \| 11 Suzuki \| 12 Narazaki \| 13 Yanagisawa \| 14 Santos \| 15 Fukunishi \| 16 K. Nakata \| 17 Miyamoto \| 18 Ono \| 19 Ogasawara \| 20 Myojin \| 21 Toda \| 22 Ichikawa \| 23 Sogahata \| Coach: Troussier

	Japan squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup
1 Narazaki \| 2 Moniwa \| 3 Komano \| 4 Endo \| 5 Miyamoto \| 6 K. Nakata \| 7 H. Nakata \| 8 Ogasawara \| 9 Takahara \| 10 Nakamura \| 11 Maki \| 12 Doi \| 13 Yanagisawa \| 14 Santos \| 15 Fukunishi \| 16 Oguro \| 17 Inamoto \| 18 Ono \| 19 Tsuboi \| 20 Tamada \| 21 Kaji \| 22 Nakazawa \| 23 Kawaguchi \| Coach: Zico

FC Basel - Current Squad
1 Costanzo \| 3 Džombić \| 5 Majstorovic \| 6 Nakata \| 8 Sterjovski \| 9 Carignano \| 10 Petrić \| 11 Chipperfield \| 12 Ba \| 15 Burgmeier \| 17 Rakitić \| 18 Crayton \| 19 Buckley \| 20 Caicedo \| 21 Pedro \| 22 Ergić \| 23 Eduardo \| 25 Sommer \| 26 Kavelashvili \| 27 Kuzmanović \| 28 Baumann \| 29 Grippo \| 30 Smiljanić \| 32 Zanni \| Coach: Gross