Background
Nakata, Koji was born on July 9, 1979 in Shiga Prefecture, Japan.
中田浩二
Nakata, Koji was born on July 9, 1979 in Shiga Prefecture, Japan.
He announced that he will get married with Nao Nagasawa on February 22, 2014. 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, his normal position with.
In 2004, during the Asian Cup final versus China, Nakata gained notoriety amongst Chinese fans by scoring the second Japanese goal with his hand. Despite Chinese protests, the goal was still allowed.
The Chinese media refer to this incident as the "Hand of Koji" incident, alluding to Diego Maradona"s infamous hand of god goal. Nakata moved from Japanese giants to France at the start of 2005 when former Japan national team manager Philippe Troussier, then the coach, signed him in a deal.
After an understandably 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 where he played as a defender.
Kōji was highly rated by Japan coach Zico and is sometimes compared to Junichi Inamoto, also a defensive midfielder for Japan. He returned to J. League club in July 2008. In October 2008 Nakata underwent knee surgery, effectively ruling him out for the remainder of the 2008 J. League season after appearing in 12 games.
As of 1 January 2015 Appearances in major competitions Goals for Senior National Team Club J. J. International Individual J. J.