# Marcus Tulio Tanaka

Marcus Túlio Tanaka (田中 マルクス 闘莉王, Tanaka Marukusu Tūrio, born Marcus Túlio Lyuji Murzani Tanaka on 24 April 1981) is a former professional footballer who played as a centre-back. Born in Brazil, he represented Japan at international level.

## Club career

Born in Palmeira d'Oeste, Brazil to an Italian Brazilian mother and second generation Japanese Brazilian father, Tulio moved to Japan at age 15 to complete his high school studies. After graduation from Shibuya Makuhari High School in Chiba Prefecture in 2001, Tulio joined the J1 League club Sanfrecce Hiroshima. In the opening game of the 2001 season on 11 March, he debuted as substitute defender in the tenth minute, replacing the injured Tony Popovic, and scored a goal in the 16th minute. After the debut, he played many matches as centre-back in two seasons. Sanfrecce was relegated to J2 League end of 2002 season.
In 2003, Tulio moved to fellow J2 League side Mito HollyHock. On 10 October 2003, he received approval to naturalise as a Japanese citizen. Playing as a centre-back, he scored ten goals in the 2003 season.
In 2004, after a season at Mito, Tulio returned to the J1 League, joining Urawa Red Diamonds. After the strong performance in 2006 season, which led Urawa to win their first ever J1 League title, he received J.League Most Valuable Player. In 2007, Urawa won their first Asian champions in AFC Champions League. On 22 December 2009, after falling out with the management at Urawa as he was deployed in an unfamiliar position at the back, Tulio joined Nagoya Grampus. He played 168 games and scored 37 goals in 6 seasons and was selected in the team's Best Eleven every season.
In his first season in Nagoya, Nagoya won the champions in 2010 J1 League first time in the club history. Nagoya also won the 2nd place in 2011 season. On 9 January 2016, Nagoya Grampus announced that the club and Tulio were parting ways. Nearly nine months later, on 28 August 2016, Tulio re-signed for Nagoya Grampus under new manager Boško Gjurovski, before leaving Nagoya Grampus at the end of the 2016 season upon the expiration of his contract.
In the off-season of the 2016–17 season, at the age of 35, Tulio signed with J2 club Kyoto Sanga FC.

## International career

Tulio obtained his Japanese citizenship on 10 October 2003. He played for the Japan U23 national team at the 2004 Olympic Games. He played as centre-back in full time in all three matches.
Tulio made his debut for the Japan's senior national team on 9 August 2006, against Trinidad and Tobago. He scored his first goal for Japan on 15 November 2006 in a 2007 Asian Cup qualifier against Saudi Arabia.
He missed the 2007 AFC Asian Cup finals due to injury. His absence was a big blow to the Japan national team.
He was selected for the Japan national team for 2010 FIFA World Cup. On 30 May, he scored for Japan against England in the 7th minute of a World Cup warm-up, and also scored for England against Japan in the form of an own goal 67 minutes later. As Japan's captain Yuji Nakazawa later also scored an own goal, the game finished 2–1 for England. On 4 June, he scored for Ivory Coast against Japan in the form of an own goal in the 13th minute of a friendly match. Three minutes later, he injured Côte d'Ivoire attacker Didier Drogba's elbow which was fractured by a high challenge from Tulio.
At the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he played full time in all four matches as center back with Yuji Nakazawa. Japan qualified to the knockout stage. This tournament was his last performance for Japan. He played 43 games and scored 8 goals for Japan.

## Career statistics
### Club

    As of end of 2019 season
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition :
| Club | Season | League | League | League | Emperor's Cup | Emperor's Cup | J.League Cup | J.League Cup | AFC | AFC | Total | Total |
| Club | Season | Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 2001 | J1 League | 17 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | – | 22 | 1 |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 2002 | J1 League | 22 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | – | 27 | 1 |
| Mito HollyHock | 2003 | J2 League | 42 | 10 | 3 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 45 | 10 |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | 2004 | J1 League | 21 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | – | – | 28 | 4 |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | 2005 | J1 League | 26 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 1 | – | – | 35 | 10 |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | 2006 | J1 League | 33 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 1 | – | – | 41 | 8 |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | 2007 | J1 League | 26 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 37 | 3 |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | 2008 | J1 League | 31 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 37 | 12 |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | 2009 | J1 League | 31 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | – | – | 32 | 5 |
| Nagoya Grampus | 2010 | J1 League | 29 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 6 |
| Nagoya Grampus | 2011 | J1 League | 31 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 38 | 8 |
| Nagoya Grampus | 2012 | J1 League | 33 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 2 | 43 | 15 |
| Nagoya Grampus | 2013 | J1 League | 27 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | – | – | 31 | 4 |
| Nagoya Grampus | 2014 | J1 League | 31 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 3 | – | – | 39 | 12 |
| Nagoya Grampus | 2015 | J1 League | 30 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | – | – | 36 | 7 |
| Nagoya Grampus | 2016 | J1 League | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 7 | 0 |
| Kyoto Sanga FC | 2017 | J2 League | 31 | 15 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 31 | 15 |
| Kyoto Sanga FC | 2018 | J2 League | 31 | 4 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 31 | 4 |
| Kyoto Sanga FC | 2019 | J2 League | 30 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – | 30 | 0 |
| Career total | Career total | Career total | 529 | 104 | 16 | 5 | 51 | 13 | 24 | 3 | 620 | 125 |
* ↑ Two appearances at FIFA Club World Cup

### International

Appearances and goals by national team and year :
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
| Japan | 2006 | 5 | 1 |
| Japan | 2007 | 4 | 1 |
| Japan | 2008 | 10 | 2 |
| Japan | 2009 | 13 | 2 |
| Japan | 2010 | 11 | 2 |
| Total | Total | 43 | 8 |
    Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tulio goal.
List of international goals scored by Marcus Tulio Tanaka :
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1 | 15 November 2006 | Sapporo Dome, Sapporo, Japan | Saudi Arabia | 1–0 | 3–1 | 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification |
| 2 | 22 August 2007 | Kyushu Sekiyu Dome, Ōita, Japan | Cameroon | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly match (2007 Kirin Challenge Cup) |
| 3 | 14 June 2008 | Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand | Thailand | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 4 | 19 November 2008 | Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar | Qatar | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 5 | 17 June 2009 | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Melbourne, Australia | Australia | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification |
| 6 | 8 October 2009 | Outsourcing Stadium, Shizuoka, Japan | Hong Kong | 4–0 | 6–0 | 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification |
| 7 | 11 February 2010 | National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan | Hong Kong | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2010 East Asian Football Championship |
| 8 | 30 May 2010 | UPC-Arena, Graz, Austria | England | 1–0 | 1–2 | Friendly match |

## Honours

Urawa Red Diamonds
* AFC Champions League: 2007
* J1 League: 2006
* Emperor's Cup: 2005, 2006
* Japanese Super Cup: 2006
Nagoya Grampus
* J1 League: 2010
* Japanese Super Cup: 2011
Japan
* Kirin Cup: 2007, 2008, 2009
Individual
* Japanese Footballer of the Year: 2006
* J.League Most Valuable Player: 2006
* J.League Best Eleven: 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012
* J.League 30th Anniversary Team