Naohiro Takahara
Personal information
Full name	Naohiro Takahara
Date of birth	June 4, 1979 (1979-06-04) (age 30)
Place of birth	Mishima, Japan
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	Urawa Red Diamonds
Number	19
Youth career
1995-1997	Shimizu Higashi High School
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1998-2002 2001-2002 2002-2006 2006-2007 2008-	Júbilo Iwata →Boca Juniors (loan) Hamburger SV Eintracht Frankfurt Urawa Red Diamonds	105 0(58) 006 00(1) 097 0(13) 038 0(12) 059 0(10)
National team2
1998-1999 1998-2000 2000-	Japan U-20 Japan U-23 Japan	016 0(16) 011 00(4) 057 0(23)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of December 30, 2009. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of December 30, 2009. * Appearances (Goals)

Naohiro Takahara (高原 直泰, Takahara Naohiro^?, born June 4, 1979) is a Japanese footballer. He currently plays for Urawa Red Diamonds as a striker

Takahara was born in Mishima, Shizuoka. He has previously played for Júbilo Iwata in Japan, Boca Juniors in Argentina, Hamburger SV and Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany. On December 3, 2006, he scored his first hat-trick in the German Bundesliga in a league game against Alemannia Aachen. In January 2008 he moved to Urawa Red Diamonds for a transfer fee of around ¥180 million (around $1.7 million).^[1]

Takahara had played for Japan in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney but missed the 2002 World Cup, co-hosted by his home country and South Korea, because of injury. He was a member of the Japan team for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup and played in all the six games involving Japan. He scored four goals and was a joint top scorer of the tournament.

[edit] Facts

• His goals and performances are celebrated by Eintracht supporters by singing to the melody of Gala's Freed from desire. After successful matches Takahara often joins the faithful to jump up and down the same way.
• Takahara was the first Japanese to play in the Argentine First Division league[1].
• Takahara is the third Japanese to play in Fußball-Bundesliga after Yasuhiko Okudera and Kazuo Ozaki.

[edit] Asian Cup 2007

Takahara finished top scorer after an impressive performance at the 2007 AFC Asian Cup. He scored against Qatar in the first match, who Japan tied 1-1. Japan won the next match, against United Arab Emirates and Takahara impressed coach Ivica Osim with two goals. In the quarterfinal match against rivals Australia, Takahara scored the tying goal and sent the game in PKs. Although Takahara missed his spot-kick, heroic saves from goalkeeper Yoshi Kawaguchi sent Japan through into the semifinals, where they lost to Saudi Arabia 2-3.

[edit] National team

• 2000 Asian Cup (Champions)
• 2003 Confederations Cup
• 2006 FIFA World Cup
• 2007 Asian Cup

[edit] Honors and awards

[edit] Individual Honors

• AFC Asian Cup Best Eleven: 2000
• J. League Most Valuable Player: 2002
• J. League Top Scorer: 2002
• J. League Best Eleven: 2002
• AFC Asian Cup Top Scorer: 2007

[edit] Team Honors

• FIFA World Youth Championship runner-up: 1999
• AFC Asian Cup Champions: 2000
• AFC Champions League Champions: 1999
• Asian Super Cup Champions: 1999
• J-League Champions: 1999, 2002
• DFB-Ligapokal Champions: 2003

[edit] Club Career Stats

[edit] International Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	February 16, 2000	Macau, China	Brunei	9-0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Qualification
2.	February 16, 2000	Macau, China	Brunei	9-0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Qualification
3.	February 20, 2000	Macau, China	Macau	3-0	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Qualification
4.	October 14, 2000	Sidon, Lebanon	Saudi Arabia	4-1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
5.	October 17, 2000	Sidon, Lebanon	Uzbekistan	8-1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
6.	October 17, 2000	Sidon, Lebanon	Uzbekistan	8-1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
7.	October 17, 2000	Sidon, Lebanon	Uzbekistan	8-1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
8.	October 24, 2000	Beirut, Lebanon	Iraq	4-1	Won	2000 AFC Asian Cup Quarter-Finals
9.	March 27, 2002	Łódź, Poland	Poland	2-0	Won	Friendly
10.	August 20, 2003	Tokyo, Japan	Nigeria	3-0	Won	Friendly
11.	August 20, 2003	Tokyo, Japan	Nigeria	3-0	Won	Friendly
12.	March 31, 2004	Jalan Besar, Singapore	Singapore	2-1	Won	2006 FIFA World Cup Qualification
13.	September 7, 2005	Rifu, Japan	Honduras	5-4	Won	Friendly
14.	October 8, 2005	Riga, Latvia	Latvia	2-2	Draw	Friendly
15.	February 28, 2006	Dortmund, Germany	Bosnia and Herzegovina	2-2	Draw	Friendly
16.	May 30, 2006	Leverkusen, Germany	Germany	2-2	Draw	Friendly
17.	May 30, 2006	Leverkusen, Germany	Germany	2-2	Draw	Friendly
18.	March 24, 2007	Yokohama, Japan	Peru	2-0	Won	Friendly
19.	June 1, 2007	Fukuroi, Japan	Montenegro	2-0	Won	Friendly
20.	July 9, 2007	Hanoi, Vietnam	Qatar	1-1	Draw	2007 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
21.	July 13, 2007	Hanoi, Vietnam	United Arab Emirates	3-1	Won	2007 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
22.	July 13, 2007	Hanoi, Vietnam	United Arab Emirates	3-1	Won	2007 AFC Asian Cup Group Stage
23.	July 21, 2007	Hanoi, Vietnam	Australia	1-1	Won	2007 AFC Asian Cup Quarter-Finals

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• footballdatabase.com
• Yahoo! Sports UK
• National Football Teams

Awards v • d • e J. League Most Valuable Player 1993: Miura | 1994: Pereira | 1995: Stojković | 1996: Jorginho | 1997: Dunga | 1998: Nakayama | 1999: Alex | 2000: Nakamura | 2001: Fujita | 2002: Takahara | 2003: Emerson | 2004: Nakazawa | 2005: Araújo | 2006: Tulio | 2007: Ponte | 2008: Marquinhos | 2009: Ogasawara v • d • e J. League Division 1 top scorers 1993: Díaz | 1994: Ordenewitz | 1995: Fukuda | 1996: Miura | 1997: Mboma | 1998: Nakayama | 1999: Hwang Sun-Hong | 2000: Nakayama | 2001: Will | 2002: Takahara | 2003: Ueslei | 2004: Emerson | 2005: Araújo | 2006: Washington / Magno Alves | 2007: Juninho | 2008: Marquinhos | 2009: Maeda Awards Preceded by A'ala Hubail Ali Karimi Asian Cup Top scorer 2007 Shared with Younis Mahmoud Yasser Al-Qahtani Succeeded by Incumbent

Japan Squad v • d • e Japan squad – 2000 Summer Olympics 1 Narazaki • 2 Nakazawa • 3 Matsuda • 4 Morioka • 5 Miyamoto • 6 Inamoto • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Myojin • 9 Hirase • 10 Nakamura • 11 Miura • 12 Sakai • 13 Yanagisawa • 14 Motoyama • 15 Nishi • 16 K. Nakata • 17 Takahara • 18 Tsuzuki • Coach: Troussier v • d • e Japan squad – 2000 AFC Asian Cup Champions (2nd Title) 1 Kawaguchi • 3 Matsuda • 4 Morioka • 6 Hattori • 8 Mochizuki • 9 Nishizawa • 10 Nanami • 11 Miura • 12 Morishima • 13 Yanagisawa • 14 Nakamura • 15 Oku • 17 Inamoto • 19 Kubo • 20 Takakuwa • 21 Shimoda • 22 Nakazawa • 24 Myojin • 26 Kaimoto • 27 Kitajima • 29 Takahara • 30 Ono • Coach: Troussier v • d • e Japan squad – 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Narazaki • 2 Narahashi • 3 Akita • 4 Morioka • 5 Inamoto • 6 Hattori • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Ogasawara • 9 Ōkubo • 10 Nakamura • 11 Matsui • 12 Doi • 13 Oku • 14 Alex • 15 Myojin • 16 K. Nakata • 17 Miyamoto • 18 Nagai • 19 Endō • 20 Takahara • 21 Tsuboi • 22 Yamada • 23 Kawaguchi • Coach: Zico v • d • e Japan squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Narazaki • 2 Moniwa • 3 Komano • 4 Endō • 5 Miyamoto • 6 K. Nakata • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Ogasawara • 9 Takahara • 10 Nakamura • 11 Maki • 12 Doi • 13 Yanagisawa • 14 Alex • 15 Fukunishi • 16 Oguro • 17 Inamoto • 18 Ono • 19 Tsuboi • 20 Tamada • 21 Kaji • 22 Nakazawa • 23 Kawaguchi • Coach: Zico v • d • e Japan squad – 2007 AFC Asian Cup Fourth Place 1 Kawaguchi • 2 Konno • 3 Komano • 5 Tsuboi • 6 Abe • 7 Endō • 8 Hanyu • 9 Yamagishi • 10 S. Nakamura • 11 Satō • 12 Maki • 13 Suzuki • 14 K. Nakamura • 15 Mizuno • 18 Narazaki • 19 Takahara • 20 Yano • 21 Kaji • 22 Nakazawa • 23 Kawashima • 24 Hashimoto • 28 Ota • 29 Inoha • Coach: Osim

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