is a Japanese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. She plays for

INAC Kobe Leonessa INAC Kobe is a Japanese football club from Kobe, founded in 2001. INAC stands for International Athletic Club while Leonessa means Lioness in Italian. In 2006 INAC Leonessa was promoted to the Nadeshiko.League, where it has played since 2020. ...

and Japan national team.

Club career

Nakajima was born in Yasu on September 27, 1990. After graduating from high school, she joined

in 2009. The club won

L.League The , commonly known as the , is a semi-professional women's association football league in Japan. The Nadeshiko League consists of two divisions that correspond to the second and third levels of the Japanese women's football pyramid respective ...

championship for 3 years in a row (

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

). She was also selected Best Eleven in

and

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

National team career

Nakajima was included in

Norio Sasaki is a Japanese football coach and former player who is currently the general manager of Omiya Ardija Ventus. He is best known for leading the Japan women's national team to their first and only FIFA Women's World Cup win in 2011 over the Uni ...

's Japan U20 national team for the 2010 U20 World Cup in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. She appeared in all of Japan's three matches against

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, scoring one goal in a 3–1 win against England, as Japan were eliminated in the group stage. Nakajima received her first cap for the senior team against

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on May 14, 2011. On July 10, 2013, she was called up to the 2013 East Asian Cup in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. She scored her first goal on July 20 in a 2–0 win against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

in the first East Asian Cup final round match. In 2014, she played at 2014 Asian Cup and

2014 Asian Games The 2014 Asian Games ( ko, 2014년 아시아 경기대회/2014년 아시안 게임, Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asia gyeonggi daehoe/Icheon sip-sa nyeon Asian Geim), officially known as the 17th Asian Games ( ko, 제17회 아시아 경기대회/제17회 ...

. Japan won the championship at Asian Cup and 2nd place at Asian Games. In 2018, she played at 2018 Asian Cup and Japan won their second consecutive title.

Club statistics

National team statistics

List of match i
2011

at Japan Football Association

National team goals

Under–20

:''Scores and results list Japan U20's goal tally first.''

Senior team

:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

;INAC Kobe Leonessa *

(2):

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

Empress's Cup , since 2018 renamed "Empress's Cup JFA Japan Women's Football Championship" ( ja, 皇后杯 JFA 全日本女子サッカー選手権大会) or The Empress's Cup, is a Japanese Women's football competition. As an elimination tournament, it can be ...

(3):

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Japan and South Korea Women's League Championship Japan and South Korea Women's League Championship ( ja, 日韓女子リーグチャンピオンシップ, ko, 한일여자리그 챔피언십) was a women's association football competition between the clubs of Nadeshiko League ( Japan Women's Fo ...

(1):

References

External links

* * *
Japan Football Association

at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakajima, Emi 1990 births Living people Association football people from Shiga Prefecture Japanese women's footballers Japan women's international footballers Women's association football midfielders Nadeshiko League players INAC Kobe Leonessa players Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Asian Games silver medalists for Japan Asian Games medalists in football Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Japan