Takahiro Yamada (footballer)

Takahiro Yamada (山田 隆裕, Yamada Takahiro, born April 29, 1972) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.

Takahiro Yamada
山田 隆裕
Personal information
Full name Takahiro Yamada
Date of birth (1972-04-29) April 29, 1972
Place of birth Takatsuki, Osaka, Japan
Height 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1988–1990 Shimizu Commercial High School
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1997 Yokohama Marinos 159 (18)
1998 Kyoto Purple Sanga 29 (1)
1999 Verdy Kawasaki 27 (1)
2000–2003 Vegalta Sendai 65 (3)
Total 280 (23)
National team
1994 Japan 1 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Yamada was educated at and played for Shimizu Commercial High School. At the high school, he won the national high school championship and the national youth championship with his team mates including Hiroshi Nanami, Go Oiwa and Shigeyoshi Mochizuki. Some scouts regarded him as the No. 1 high school player of his age.

After graduating in 1990, he joined Japan Soccer League side Nissan Motors where his powerful dribbling helped him quickly establish himself as a regular. When Japan's first-ever professional league J1 League started in 1992, Nissan Motors was transformed to Yokohama Marinos for whom he continued to play.

He moved to Kyoto Purple Sanga in 1998, and then to Verdy Kawasaki in 1999. He announced the retirement from the game after the 1999 season at the age of 29. However, Hidehiko Shimizu, the manager of J2 League side Vegalta Sendai, who had also managed Yamada at Yokohama Marinos, successfully persuaded him to come out of the retirement and help Sendai to gain the promotion to J1 League. Yamada played for Sendai for 3 years from June 2000 to June 2003 before finally hanging up his boots. He was the leader and the influential player for Sendai who were promoted to J1 League for the 2002 season.

National team career

Yamada was capped once for the Japanese national team when he played in a friendly against Australia on September 27, 1994 at the Tokyo National Stadium.[1] He was a member of the Japan team that won the 1992 Asian Cup but did not play in the tournament.

After retirement

After retiring from the game, Yamada started his own business, a franchise chain of bakeries specialising in melonpans, in Sendai. After exiting the business, he now runs an Irish pub in downtown Tokyo as of July 2018.[2]

Club statistics
Club performance League Cup League Cup Total
Season Club League AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals AppsGoals
Japan League Emperor's Cup J.League Cup Total
1990/91Nissan MotorsJSL Division 100000000
1991/929010100
1992Yokohama MarinosJ1 League-009191
19932733011314
19943211031362
199543710-447
19962310092323
19972560050306
1998Kyoto Purple SangaJ1 League2911000301
1999Verdy KawasakiJ1 League2713020321
2000Vegalta SendaiJ2 League1901100201
20012833020333
2002J1 League1802020220
200300001010
Total 2802315135533029

National team statistics

[1]

Japan national team
YearAppsGoals
199410
Total10

Honors and awards

Team honours

References
  1. Japan National Football Team Database
  2. "元マリノス・山田隆裕氏　メロンパン販売を経てバー経営者に". News Post Seven. June 15, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2018.


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