Yuji Nakazawa

is a former Japanese football player. He played for the Japan national team.

## Biography

Nakazawa was born in Yoshikawa on February 25, 1978. After graduating from Misato Technical High School, he moved to Brazil in 1996. In 1998, he returned to Japan and signed with J1 League club Verdy Kawasaki (later _Tokyo Verdy_) as a trainee. He signed professional contract in 1999. In 1999, he became a regular center back and was selected "Rookie of the Year award" and Best Eleven. In 2002, he moved to Yokohama F. Marinos. The club won the champions in the 2003 and 2004 J1 League. He was also selected "MVP award" and "Japanese Footballer of the Year" in 2004 season. He played as regular center back for long time. He retired end of the 2018 season at the age of 40.

On September 8, 1999, Nakazawa debuted for the Japan national team against Iran. In 2000, he was selected the Japan U-23 national team for 2000 Summer Olympics and played all 4 matches. He also played at 2000 Asian Cup and won the champions. However his opportunity to play decreased after the 2000 Asian Cup. From autumn 2003, he became a regular player as center back with Tsuneyasu Miyamoto. In 2004, he participated in the 2004 Asian Cup. He played all 6 matches and scored 3 goals, and Japan won the champions again. He also played at 2006 World Cup. In 2007, he played in the 2007 Asian Cup, but this time the team failed to defend the title and finished the 4th place. In 2010, he was selected Japan for 2010 World Cup. He played all 4 matches as center back with Marcus Tulio Tanaka. Nakazawa played 110 games and scored 17 goals for Japan until 2010.

### Club

|rowspan="2"|Club|rowspan="2"|Season|colspan="3"|League|colspan="2"|Emperor's Cup|colspan="2"|J.League Cup|colspan="2"|Asia|colspan="2"|Other|colspan="2"|Total|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="4"|Tokyo Verdy|1999|rowspan="3"|J1 League|28|1|3|1|2|0|–|–|33|2||
|2000|29|4|2|0|3|0|–|–|34|4||||||
|2001|26|0|0|0|2|0|–|–|28|0||||||
|rowspan="18"|Yokohama F. Marinos|2002|rowspan="17"|J1 League|27|1|2|0|0|0|–|–|29|1||
|2003|29|4|2|0|7|2|–|–|38|6||||||
|2004|27|1|1|0|0|0|2|0|3|0|33|1||||
|2005|27|3|1|0|3|0|4|0|1|0|36|3||||
|2006|23|1|3|0|2|0|–|–|28|1||||||
|2007|32|2|1|0|7|0|–|–|40|2||||||
|2008|33|4|3|1|3|0|–|–|39|5||||||
|2009|32|3|1|0|3|0|–|–|36|3||||||
|2010|22|0|0|0|2|1|–|–|24|1||||||
|2011|33|1|5|0|5|0|–|–|43|1||||||
|2012|33|3|5|0|3|0|–|–|41|3||||||
|2013|34|1|3|1|8|0|–|–|45|2||||||
|2014|34|2|0|0|2|1|5|0|1|0|39|3||||
|2015|34|0|3|0|3|0|–|–|40|0||||||
|2016|34|3|5|0|6|0|–|–|45|3||||||
|2017|34|1|2|0|0|0|–|–|36|1||||||
|2018|22|1|1|0|2|0|–|–|25|1||||||

### International

|National team|Year|Apps|Goals||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="12"|Japan|1999|1|0|
|2000|6|2|||
|2001|2|0|||
|2002|1|0|||
|2003|4|0|||
|2004|15|5|||
|2005|12|1|||
|2006|12|1|||
|2007|13|2|||
|2008|16|4|||
|2009|14|2|||
|2010|14|0|||

- _Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Nakazawa goal._

|scope="col"|No.|scope="col"|Date|scope="col"|Venue|scope="col"|Opponent|scope="col"|Score|scope="col"|Result|scope="col"|Competition|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|13 February 2000|Macau, China|||3–0|2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification||||||||
|2||||||||||||||
|3|9 June 2004|Saitama, Japan|||7–0|2006 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|4||||||||||||||
|5|24 July 2004|Chongqing, China|||4–1|2004 AFC Asian Cup||||||||
|6||||||||||||||
|7|3 August 2004|Jinan, China|||4–3|2004 AFC Asian Cup||||||||
|8|7 August 2005|Daegu, South Korea|||1–0|2005 East Asian Football Championship||||||||
|9|10 February 2006|San Francisco, United States|||2–3|Friendly||||||||
|10|1 June 2007|Fukuroi, Japan|||2–0|2007 Kirin Cup||||||||
|11|25 July 2007|Hanoi, Vietnam|||2–3|2007 AFC Asian Cup||||||||
|12|28 January 2008|Tokyo, Japan|||3–0|Friendly||||||||
|13|6 February 2008|Saitama, Japan|||4–1|2010 FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|14|2 June 2008|Yokohama, Japan|||3–0|FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|15|14 June 2008|Bangkok, Thailand|||3–0|FIFA World Cup qualification||||||||
|16|4 February 2009|Tokyo, Japan|||5–1|Friendly||||||||
|17|8 October 2009|Shizuoka, Japan|||6–0|2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification||||||||

## Honours

**Yokohama F. Marinos**
- J1 League: 2003, 2004
- Emperor's Cup: 2013

**Japan**
- AFC Asian Cup: 2000, 2004

**Individual**
- AFC Asian Cup Best Eleven – 2004
- J.League Most Valuable Player – 2004
- J.League Rookie of the Year – 1999
- J.League Best Eleven – 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2008, 2013
- J.League 20th Anniversary Team
- J.League 30th Anniversary Team
- Japanese Footballer of the Year – 2004
- Selected to AFC All Star Team – 1999
- East Asian Football Championship Best Defender – 2008
- AFC Asian Cup All-time XI: 2023

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Yuji Nakazawa
中澤 佑二
- **image**: Nakazawa 20080622.jpg
- **upright**: 0.9
- **caption**: Nakazawa with Japan national football team, Japan in 2008
- **full name**: Yuji Nakazawa
- **birth place**: Yoshikawa, Saitama, Yoshikawa, Saitama Prefecture, Saitama, Japan
- **height**: 1.87 m
- **position**: Defender (association football), Defender
- **youthyears1**: 1990–1992
- **youthclubs1**: Yoshikawa Higashi Junior High School
- **youthyears2**: 1993–1995
- **youthclubs2**: Misato Kogyo High School
- **youthyears3**: 1996–1997
- **youthclubs3**: América Futebol Clube (MG), América Mineiro
- **years1**: 1999–2001
- **clubs1**: Tokyo Verdy
- **caps1**: 83
- **goals1**: 5
- **years2**: 2002–2018
- **clubs2**: Yokohama F. Marinos
- **caps2**: 510
- **goals2**: 31
- **totalcaps**: 593
- **totalgoals**: 36
- **nationalyears1**: 1999–2000
- **nationalteam1**: Japan national under-23 football team, Japan U-23
- **nationalcaps1**: 12
- **nationalgoals1**: 0
- **nationalyears2**: 1999–2010
- **nationalteam2**: Japan national football team, Japan
- **nationalcaps2**: 110
- **nationalgoals2**: 17