Akira Narahashi

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

Biography
Narahashi was born in Chiba on November 26, 1971. After graduating from Chiba Eiwa High School in 1990, he joined Fujita Industries (later Bellmare Hiratsuka, Shonan Bellmare) playing in the Japan Soccer League Division 2. In 1992, Japan Soccer League was folded and the club joined new league Japan Football League. The club won the champions in 1993 and was promoted to J1 League. In 1994, the club won the Emperor's Cup. In Asia, the club also won 1995 Asian Cup Winners' Cup.

Narahashi moved to Kashima Antlers in 1997. The presence of Jorginho at Kashima propelled his decision to move as he aspired to learn the trade under the Brazilian international full back. In 2000, the club won all three major title in Japan; J1 League, J.League Cup and Emperor's Cup first time in J1 League history. The club won J1 League 3 times, J.League Cup 3 times and Emperor's Cup 2 times. From the mid 2000s, his opportunities to play decreased. At the end of the 2006 season, Kashima announced that they wouldn't renew his contract.

Narahashi returned to Bellmare in February 2007 but was released in August 2007. On February 1, 2008, he announced his retirement from professional football.

On September 27, 1994, Narahashi debuted for the Japan national team against Australia. He competed with Hiroshige Yanagimoto to be the right side-back. When Yanagimoto got hurt in 1997, Narahashi became a regular. At 1998 World Cup qualification, Japan qualified for the first time in the country's history. He played in all 3 matches at the 1998 World Cup.

After the 2002 World Cup, in October, Narahashi was selected Japan by new manager Zico for the first time in 4 years. He was also selected for Japan for 2003 Confederations Cup, but he did not play in the competition. He played 38 games for Japan from 1994 to 2003.

Statistics

|-
|1990–91||rowspan="4"|Fujita Industries||rowspan="2"|JSL Division 2||25||5||||||1||0||colspan=2|-||26||5
|-
|1991–92||25||3||||||3||0||colspan="2"|-||28||3
|-
|1992||rowspan="2"|Football League||18||1||4||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||22||1
|-
|1993||17||5||1||0||5||0||colspan="2"|-||23||5
|-
|1994||rowspan="3"|Bellmare Hiratsuka||rowspan="3"|J1 League||39||2||4||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||44||2
|-
|1995||46||4||2||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||48||4
|-
|1996||29||1||3||0||14||1||colspan="2"|-||46||2
|-
|1997||rowspan="10"|Kashima Antlers||rowspan="10"|J1 League||17||1||5||0||7||1||colspan="2"|-||29||2
|-
|1998||33||5||4||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||38||5
|-
|1999||15||2||2||1||7||1||colspan="2"|-||24||4
|-
|2000||26||3||4||0||7||1||colspan="2"|-||37||4
|-
|2001||27||3||3||0||6||0||colspan="2"|-||36||3
|-
|2002||25||1||5||0||8||0||colspan="2"|-||38||1
|-
|2003||27||1||0||0||4||0||3||0||34||1
|-
|2004||12||0||0||0||4||0||colspan="2"|-||16||0
|-
|2005||11||0||3||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||14||0
|-
|2006||3||0||0||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||3||0
|-
|2007||Shonan Bellmare||J2 League||1||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||1||0
396||37||40||1||68||4||3||0||507||42
396||37||40||1||68||4||3||0||507||42
|}
Japan National Football Team Database

|-
|1994||1||0
|-
|1995||9||0
|-
|1996||0||0
|-
|1997||13||0
|-
|1998||9||0
|-
|1999||0||0
|-
|2000||0||0
|-
|2001||0||0
|-
|2002||2||0
|-
|2003||4||0
|-
!Total||38||0
|}

References

Other websites

Category:1971 births
Category:Living people
Category:Footballers from Chiba Prefecture
Category:Japan international footballers
Category:J1 League players
Category:J2 League players
Category:Japan Soccer League players
Category:Shonan Bellmare players
Category:Kashima Antlers players
Category:1998 FIFA World Cup players
Category:2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players