Background
Takahara, Naohiro was born on June 4, 1979 in Mishima, Shizuoka.
高原 直泰
Takahara, Naohiro was born on June 4, 1979 in Mishima, Shizuoka.
He last played for South Carolina Sagamihara as a striker, being released in November 2015. In December 2015, with legendary Japanese judoka Tadahiro Nomura, established Okinawa SV. He has previously played for Júbilo Iwata in Japan, Boca Juniors in Argentina, Hamburger SV and Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany. On December 3, 2006, he scored his first hat-trick in the German Bundesliga in a league game against Alemannia Aachen.
In January 2008 he moved to Urawa Red Diamonds for a transfer fee of around ¥180 million (around $17 million).
Takahara had played for Japan in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney but missed the 2002 World Cup, co-hosted by his home country and South of Korea, because of lung disease. He scored four goals and was a joint top scorer of the tournament.
His goals and performances were celebrated by Eintracht supporters by singing to the melody of Gala"s Freed from desire. After successful matches Takahara often joined the faithful to jump up and down the same way.
Takahara was the first Japanese player to play in the Argentine First Division league.
Takahara is the third Japanese to play in Fußball-Bundesliga after Yasuhiko Okudera and Kazuo Ozaki. Takahara finished top scorer after an impressive performance at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. He scored against Qatar in the first match, who Japan tied 1-1.
In the quarterfinal match against rivals Australia, Takahara scored the tying goal and sent the game in PKs.
Although Takahara missed his spot-kick, heroic saves from goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi sent Japan through into the semifinals, where they lost to Saudi Arabia 2-3. Individual Honors J. J. J. Team Honors.
He was a member of the Japan team for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup and played in all the six games involving Japan.
