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Masashi Nakayama (中山 雅史, Nakayama Masashi ^?, born 23 September 1967) is a professional footballer currently playing for Consadole Sapporo of the J. League Division 2, the top professional football league in Japan. Born in Shizuoka, Nakayama attended Fujieda Higashi High School and Tsukuba University before he joined Jubilo Iwata of the Japan Football League, a precursor to the J. League, which consisted of company sponsored teams.

Career

Playing as a Forward, Nakayama made his J. League debut on March 11, 1994. Since that time, he has been an ever-present part of the Jubilo lineup as they have consistently been one of the top teams in the J. League since its inception. With a strikerate of more than a goal every two games throughout his career, Nakayama is the inspirational and talismanic leader for both Jubilo Iwata and the Japanese national team.

At the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals in France, Nakayama scored the only goal of the tournament and the first goal for Japan in the history of the World Cup against Jamaica on June 26, 1998. As of 2009, he has scored 21 goals in 53 appearances for the Japanese national team, which places him 8th all-time among goalscorers for his country.

Nakayama also holds the world record fastest hat-trick at international level. He managed three goals in a FIFA World Cup qualification match against Brunei on 16 February 2000 in only three minutes and three seconds, beating the previous record of Englishman George William Hall set in 1938 (against Ireland) by 27 seconds. This striker becomes a record-holder with other hat-tricks, that he did it in four successive games of J.League, from April 15 to April 29 in 1998. He scored 16 times in these games. The record is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records

Affectionately known as 'Gon', Nakayama is a fan favorite among many casual Japanese football fans for his outspoken and humorous nature. Now in the twilight of his career, injuries and age have taken a toll on Nakayama's skills but he still remains a favorite of the Jubilo faithful, as evidenced by the fact that he draws the loudest cheers by far from the home crowd at Yamaha Stadium when his name is announced during warm-ups or when he comes on as a substitute.

National team

• 1992 Asian Cup
• 1998 FIFA World Cup
• 2001 Confederations Cup
• 2002 FIFA World Cup

Honors and awards

Individual

• J. League Most Valuable Player: 1998
• J. League Top Scorer: 1998, 2000
• J. League Best Eleven: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2002
• Japanese Footballer of the Year: 1998

Team

• FIFA Confederations Cup Runner-up: 2001
• 1992 Asian Cup (Champions)
• AFC Champions League Champions: 1999
• Asian Super Cup Champions: 1999
• J. League Champions: 1997, 1999, 2002

Career statistics

International Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	August 29, 1992	Beijing, China PR	Korea Republic	2-2	Draw	Dynasty Cup 1992
2.	November 1, 1992	Hiroshima, Japan	Korea DPR	1-1	Draw	1992 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
3.	November 6, 1992	Hiroshima, Japan	China PR	3-2	Won	1992 AFC Asian Cup Semi-finals
4.	May 5, 1993	Dubai, United Arab Emirates	Sri Lanka	5-0	Won	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
5.	October 18, 1993	Doha, Qatar	Iran	1-2	Lost	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
6.	October 21, 1993	Doha, Qatar	Korea DPR	3-0	Won	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
7.	October 28, 1993	Doha, Qatar	Iraq	2-2	Draw	1994 FIFA World Cup qualification
8.	May 28, 1995	Tokyo, Japan	Ecuador	3-0	Won	Friendly
9.	November 8, 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Kazakhstan	5-1	Won	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification
10.	November 16, 1997	Johor Bahru, Malaysia	Iran	3-2	Won	1998 FIFA World Cup qualification AFC Play-off
11.	March 1, 1998	Yokohama, Japan	Korea Republic	2-1	Won	Dynasty Cup 1998
12.	April 1, 1998	Korea Republic	Korea Republic	1-2	Lost	Friendly
13.	June 26, 1998	Lyon, France	Jamaica	1-2	Lost	1998 FIFA World Cup Group Stage
14.	October 28, 1998	Osaka, Japan	Egypt	1-0	Won	Friendly
15.	February 13, 2000	Macau	Singapore	3-0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
16.	February 16, 2000	Macau	Brunei	9-0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
17.	February 16, 2000	Macau	Brunei	9-0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
18.	February 16, 2000	Macau	Brunei	9-0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
19.	February 20, 2000	Macau	Macau	3-0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
20.	February 20, 2000	Macau	Macau	3-0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification
21.	August 15, 2001	Fukuroi, Japan	Australia	3-0	Won	AFC/OFC Cup Challenge

Trivia

• Nakayama is currently the all time top goal scorer in J. League division 1 with 157 goals.

• Nakayama once portrayed himself on television, performing voice work for a guest role on the anime Hungry Heart: Wild Striker.

• Nakayama appeared on the front cover of the Japanese releases of Konami's Winning Eleven video game series (WE 6 and WE 6: Final Evolution) in 2002 and 2003.

• He married actress Tomoko Ikuta in 1996, and together they had a daughter. Ikuta did the voice-over for lead actress Lee Young Ae in the Japanese version of the popular South Korean TV series Dae Jang Geum.

External links

• National Football Teams

Japan Squads Japan squad – 1988 AFC Asian Cup 1 Tsuchida • 3 Horiike • 4 Taguchi • 5 Sakakura • 6 Motoyoshi • 7 Ihara • 8 Otake • 9 Shirasawa • 10 Oenoki • 11 Ikenoue • 12 Nakayama • 13 Kurosaki • 14 Noda • 15 Minoguchi • 16 Maeda • 18 Matsuyama • 19 Sanada • 20 Takagi • Coach: Yokoyama Japan squad – 1992 AFC Asian Cup Champions (1st Title) 1 Matsunaga • 2 Otake • 3 Katsuya • 4 Horiike • 5 Hashiratani • 6 Tsunami • 7 Ihara • 8 Fukuda • 9 Takeda • 10 Ramos • 11 Miura • 12 Yamada • 13 Sakakura • 14 Kitazawa • 15 Yoshida • 16 Nakayama • 17 Moriyasu • 18 Jinno • 19 Maekawa • 20 Takagi • Coach: Ooft 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 Japan squad – 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup Runners-Up 1 Kawaguchi • 2 Uemura • 3 Matsuda • 4 Morioka • 5 Inamoto • 6 Hattori • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Morishima • 9 Nishizawa • 10 Miura • 11 Nakayama • 12 Narazaki • 13 Yamashita • 14 Ito • 15 Fujita • 16 K. Nakata • 17 Myojin • 18 Toda • 19 Kubo • 20 Hato • 21 Ono • 22 Suzuki • 23 Tsuzuki • Coach: Troussier 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