Tomokazu Myojin
明神 智和
Personal information
Full name Tomokazu Myojin[1]
Date of birth (1978-01-24) 24 January 1978 (age 46)
Place of birth Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1993–1995 Kashiwa Reysol
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1996–2005 Kashiwa Reysol 252 (12)
2006–2015 Gamba Osaka 250 (14)
2016 Nagoya Grampus 15 (0)
2017–2019 Nagano Parceiro 38 (0)
Total 538 (26)
International career
1997 Japan U-20 5 (0)
2000 Japan U-23 4 (0)
2000–2002 Japan 26 (3)
Medal record
Kashiwa Reysol
Winner J.League Cup 1999
Gamba Osaka
Winner AFC Champions League 2008
Winner J1 League 2014
Runner-up J1 League 2010
Runner-up J1 League 2015
Winner J.League Cup 2007
Winner J.League Cup 2014
Runner-up J.League Cup 2015
Winner Emperor's Cup 2008
Winner Emperor's Cup 2009
Winner Emperor's Cup 2014
Winner Emperor's Cup 2015
Runner-up Emperor's Cup 2006
Runner-up Emperor's Cup 2012
Representing  Japan
FIFA Confederations Cup
Silver medal – second place 2001 Korea-Japan
AFC Asian Cup
Gold medal – first place 2000 Lebanon
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Tomokazu Myojin (明神 智和, Myōjin Tomokazu, born 24 January 1978) is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.[2] He played for the Japan national team.

Club career

Myojin was born in Kobe on 24 January 1978. He joined J1 League club Kashiwa Reysol from youth team in 1996. He played many matches as defensive midfielder from first season. He became a regular player under manager Akira Nishino in 1998. In 1999, Reysol won the champions in J.League Cup and the 3rd place in J1 League. In 2000, Reysol won the 3rd place in J1 League for two years in a row and he was selected Best Eleven award. However the club results were sluggish from 2002 and was relegated to J2 League end of 2005 season.

In 2006, Myojin moved to Gamba Osaka which was managed by Akira Nishino. He played as regular player with many Japan national team player and Gamba won the many title, 2007 J.League Cup, 2008 and 2009 Emperor's Cup. In Asia, Gamba also won the champions in 2008 AFC Champions League and the 3rd place in 2008 Club World Cup. This is the golden era in the club history and he was one of the central player under manager Nishino. However manager Nishino left Gamba end of 2011 season and the club performance deteriorated soon. In 2012, Gamba finished at the 17th place of 18 clubs and was relegated to J2 League. Although his opportunity to play decreased from 2013, Gamba won the champions in 2013 J2 League and was returned to J1. In 2014, Gamba won all three major title in Japan, J1 League, J.League Cup and Emperor's Cup. He resigned end of 2015 season.

In 2016, Myojin moved to Nagoya Grampus.[3] However he could not play many matches. Grampus also finished at the 16th place and was relegated to J2. In 2017, Myojin moved to J3 League club Nagano Parceiro; after three seasons, he opted to retire at the end of 2019.[4]

International career

In June 1997, Myojin was selected Japan U20 national team for 1997 World Youth Championship. At this tournament, he played full time in all 5 matches as defensive midfielder. In September 2000, he was selected Japan U23 national team for 2000 Summer Olympics. At this tournament, he played full time in all four matches as defensive midfielder with Junichi Inamoto.

He was capped 26 times and scored 3 goals for the Japan national team between 2000 and 2002. He played three games at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[5][6]
Club Season League Emperor's Cup J.League Cup Asia Other[a] Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Kashiwa Reysol 1996 J1 League 11 0 0 0 2 0 – – 13 0
1997 13 1 1 0 6 0 – – 20 1
1998 28 0 2 0 4 1 – – 34 1
1999 30 1 3 0 4 0 – – 37 1
2000 29 2 2 0 2 0 – – 33 2
2001 29 0 1 0 4 0 – – 34 0
2002 27 1 0 0 1 0 – – 28 1
2003 29 1 2 1 4 0 – – 35 2
2004 28 5 0 0 6 0 – – 34 5
2005 28 1 1 0 4 0 – – 33 1
Total 252 12 12 1 37 1 – – 301 14
Gamba Osaka 2006 J1 League 25 0 5 0 2 0 3 0 1 0 36 0
2007 33 2 2 0 10 0 – 1 0 46 2
2008 32 3 5 0 4 0 14 1 3[b] 0 58 4
2009 31 2 5 2 2 1 5 0 1 0 44 5
2010 29 4 3 0 1 0 6 0 – 39 4
2011 27 2 1 0 0 0 5 0 – 33 2
2012 31 1 5 1 2 0 5 0 – 43 2
2013 J2 League 20 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 – 21 0
2014 J1 League 12 0 4 0 5 0 – – 21 0
2015 10 0 1 0 3 0 4 0 2 0 20 0
Total 250 14 32 3 29 1 42 1 8 0 361 19
Nagoya Grampus 2016 J1 League 15 0 0 0 3 0 – – 18 0
Nagano Parceiro 2017 J3 League 16 0 1 0 – – – 17 0
2018 14 0 0 0 – – – 14 0
2019 8 0 2 0 – – – 10 0
Total 38 0 3 0 – – – 41 0
Career total 538 26 47 4 69 2 42 1 7 0 703 33
  1. ^ Appearances in Japanese Super Cup and Suruga Bank Championship
  2. ^ Appearances in FIFA Club World Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Japan 2000 9 2
2001 7 0
2002 10 1
Total 26 3
Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Myojin goal.
List of international goals scored by Tomokazu Myojin[7]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 24 October 2000 Beirut, Lebanon  Iraq 4–1 4–1 2000 AFC Asian Cup
2 26 October 2000 Beirut, Lebanon  China 3–2 3–2 2000 AFC Asian Cup
3 17 April 2002 Yokohama, Japan  Costa Rica 1–0 1–1 Friendly

Honors

Kashiwa Reysol

Gamba Osaka

Japan

Individual

References

  1. ^ "FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2008 Presented By TOYOTA – List Of Players" (PDF). FIFA. 5 December 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2008.
  2. ^ Tomokazu Myojin at J.League (archive) (in Japanese) Edit this at Wikidata
  3. ^ Gamba Osaka(in Japanese)
  4. ^ "【長野】日韓Ｗ杯代表の明神智和が引退". hochi.news (in Japanese). Minato: The Hochi Shimbun. 3 December 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2019.
  5. ^ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "J1&J2&J3選手名鑑ハンディ版 2018 (NSK MOOK)", 7 February 2018, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411529 (p. 255 out of 289)
  6. ^ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2017 J1&J2&J3選手名鑑 (NSK MOOK)", 8 February 2017, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411420 (p. 251 out of 289)
  7. ^ MYOJIN Tomokazu

External links

2000 J.League Team of the Year
Japan squads
Categories