Aug 17

Aug 17 The 5 Greatest Football Players From Japan

The 5 Greatest Japanese Footballers of All Time

Japan is one of the biggest footballing nations in the Asian federation, winning the AFC Asian Cup four times.

The land of the rising sun, and very good football players.

The Samurai Blue currently remains one of the best teams on the continent as they are one of the only teams from Asia that are heading to Qatar in November 2022 for the FIFA World Cup.

The World Cup stage at the end of this career presents the opportunity for some to cement their legacies and others to kickstart their football story.

In this article, we will look back at the top football players from Japan.

5. Yasuhito Endo

Caps: 152

Goals: 15

Endo, Japan's all-time appearance leader, spent his entire club career in his home country.

Following stints with Yokohama Flugels and Kyoto Purple Sanga, this player has been with Gamba Osaka since 2001. Endo has been named in the J-League Team of the Season ten times for Osaka.

Endo, a two-time Asian Cup champion in 2004 and 2007, also scored one of the goals in the 2010 World Cup victory over Denmark.

Endo is one of the greats of the modern era, a mainstay for the Samurai Blue from 2002 to 2015.

4. Hidetoshi Nakata

Caps: 77

Goals: 11

Hidetoshi Nakata scored almost half of his national team goals in the 1998 World Cup, with his tally of five helping Japan reach their first-ever World Cup.

Nakata was nominated for the Ballon d’Or that year, and he was nominated a further two times in his career, as well as competing for the FIFA World Player of the Year four times.

The Japanese playmaker was also listed in Pele’s top 100 players of the 20th century.

Nakata had his biggest impact on European football in Italy, winning the Serie A with AS Roma and defeating Juventus while at Parma to win the Coppa Italia.

Nakata’s final season of football was on loan with the Bolton Wanderers in the Premier League.

He retired at its conclusion, as he had fallen out of love with the game and he felt that money dominated it, rather than true love for the sport.

3. Shinji Kagawa

Caps: 97

Goals: 31

Shinji Kagawa was vital for Jurgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund side which won the Bundesliga twice. He was a magical, creative player. He was tireless, an invaluable asset on and off the ball.

Kagawa scored a goal and created another in his final appearance for Dortmund against Bayern as they won the DFB Pokal.

Kagawa won the Premier League after moving to Manchester United, but ultimately his move to England was a failure and he never managed to regain the heights of his Dortmund days.

His return to Dortmund in 2014 improved his career, but his peak was long gone.

The 2011 Asian Footballer of the Year played a huge role with the Japanese national team. Despite being surprisingly left out of the 2010 World Cup squad, he reacted by leading his nation to an Asian Cup win in 2011.

Kagawa has an impressive goalscoring record for his country, averaging just under one goal every three games from midfield.

The Japanese playmaker is still active, playing for Sint-Truiden in Belgium, following a brief spell at PAOK in Greece.

2. Kazuyoshi Miura

Caps: 89

Goals: 55

Miura, who was born in 1967, is still playing professional football at the age of 47. He leads the attack on loan for Suzuka Point Getters in the Japanese Football League.

The goalscoring ability Miura demonstrated early in his career enticed Genoa to sign him in Italy in 1994, making him the first Japanese footballer to feature in Serie A.

Despite failing to adapt to Europe, he is an icon of Japanese football.

The fact that he remains part of the game well into his 50s is amazing- and his ability to threaten opposing defences is remarkable.

Miura's national team goalscoring record is very impressive, managing well over a goal every two games.

He played a huge part in the 1998 World Cup qualification, scoring 14 goals. He was controversially left out of the squad for the finals.

Miura retired from the squad in 2000, 2nd on Japan's all-time goalscoring list.

1. Kunishige Kamamoto

Caps: 84

Goals: 80

It would be impossible for Kunishige Kamamoto not to top the list, with one of the greatest international goalscoring records in the World, not just for Japan.

Kamamoto spent his entire career at Yanmar Diesel. Over the course of his 17-year tenure with the club, the centre-forward scored over 250 goals.

Kamamoto was also a productive player for Japan, and he is still the country's greatest goal scorer, with just four fewer goals than caps collected.

His goals aided the Samurai Blue's bronze medal finish at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. He also collected the golden boot award at the tournament

The Yanmar legend is one of the finest forwards at international level of all time, and he is without a doubt the best player that Japan has ever produced.