25 Facts About Hidetoshi Nakata

Hidetoshi Nakata, OSSI is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Hidetoshi Nakata is widely considered to be one of the greatest Asian players of all time.

Hidetoshi Nakata has been involved in fashion, regularly attending runway shows and wearing designer clothing.

Hidetoshi Nakata announced his retirement at age 29 on 3 July 2006, after a ten-year career that included seven seasons in the Italian Serie A and a season in the English Premier League.

Hidetoshi Nakata was one of only two Asian footballers on the list.

Hidetoshi Nakata began his professional career at age 18 in 1995, with J1 League side Bellmare Hiratsuka.

Hidetoshi Nakata played many matches as offensive midfielder from first season and the club won the champions in 1995 Asian Cup Winners' Cup first Asian title in club history.

In January 2000, after one and a half seasons at Perugia, Hidetoshi Nakata moved to Roma for 42 billion lire, helping the team win the scudetto.

Hidetoshi Nakata then helped Roma score the equalizer when his fierce drive from outside the box was parried by Van der Sar into the path of Vincenzo Montella, who scored for Roma in the last minute.

Hidetoshi Nakata played there for two and a half seasons, where he scored a crucial goal after coming on as a substitute in the first leg of the 2002 Coppa Italia Final against Juventus, which Parma eventually won.

Hidetoshi Nakata was a key member of the Japanese side that qualified for the 1998 World Cup, scoring five goals in qualification matches and setting up all three Japanese goals in the qualification play-off against Iran.

Hidetoshi Nakata helped Japan reach the final of the 2001 Confederations Cup but left the national team before the final to join Roma for their final league matches.

At the 2006 World Cup, Hidetoshi Nakata played in all three matches for Japan, losing to Australia and Brazil, and drawing with Croatia.

Outside football, Hidetoshi Nakata has shown interest in fashion, attending runway shows, wearing designer clothing and sporting colorful haircuts.

Hidetoshi Nakata dyed his hair blond for the 1998 World Cup, hoping to attract the attention of European scouts.

Hidetoshi Nakata was featured in the July 2007 US version of GQ with a 12-page spread on fall fashion.

Hidetoshi Nakata was featured in GQ in his home country in December 2011.

Hidetoshi Nakata has cited the popular manga and anime series, Captain Tsubasa, as his primary inspiration in choosing football as a career.

Hidetoshi Nakata was named a Global Ambassador for Special Olympics in 2014.

Towards the end of 2015, Hidetoshi Nakata entered into a partnership with Kee Club in Hong Kong to open Koko, a Hong Kong-based restaurant that serves sakes created by Hidetoshi Nakata himself.

Hidetoshi Nakata has developed his own line of sake as well as creating his own mobile educational app, "Sakenomy".

Hidetoshi Nakata appeared alongside other star football players from around the world, including Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Luis Figo, Thierry Henry, Roberto Carlos and Francesco Totti, with former player Eric Cantona the tournament "referee".

Hidetoshi Nakata featured on the front cover of various Japanese editions of EA Sports' FIFA video game series, including FIFA Football 2002.

In 2018, Hidetoshi Nakata was added as an icon to the Ultimate Team in FIFA 19.

Hidetoshi Nakata then served an important story role in Inazuma Eleven 3 and its respective anime series, where Nakata would serve as the captain of the Italian team Orpheus.