Yutaka Akita

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Yutaka Akita (秋田豊 Akita Yutaka; born 6 August 1970 in Nagoya, Aichi) is a Japanese former football player who was on the Japanese national football team at the 1998 Football World Cup in France and the 2002 Football World Cup in South Korea/Japan.

Akita is a strong and physical centre-back, who is also arguably one of the best headers of the ball within the J-League. One of the best defenders of his generation and a 10-year stalwart for the Kashima Antlers since 1993, Akita left Kashima in early 2004 to move back to his native Nagoya, signing for hometown team Nagoya Grampus Eight, where his years of experience will be valued by Grampus's defence. He moved to J. League division 2 side Kyoto Sanga F.C. at the beginning of the 2007 season. In November 2007, he announced his retirement from the game.

[edit] National team

• 1996 Asian Cup
• 1998 FIFA World Cup
• 2002 FIFA World Cup
• 2003 Confederations Cup

[edit] Honors and awards

[edit] Individual Honors

• J-League Best Eleven: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001

[edit] Team Honors

[edit] External links

• National Football Teams

v • d • e Japan squad - 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Kojima • 2 Narahashi • 3 Soma • 4 Ihara • 5 Omura • 6 Yamaguchi • 7 Ito • 8 Nakata • 9 Nakayama • 10 Nanami • 11 Ono • 12 Lopes • 13 Hattori • 14 Okano • 15 Morishima • 16 Saito • 17 Akita • 18 Jo • 19 Nakanishi • 20 Kawaguchi • 21 Narazaki • 22 Hirano • Coach: Okada

v • d • e 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 Alex • 15 Fukunishi • 16 K. Nakata • 17 Miyamoto • 18 Ono • 19 Ogasawara • 20 Myojin • 21 Toda • 22 Ichikawa • 23 Sogahata • Coach: Troussier

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