is a Japanese former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He made over 50 appearances for the Japanese national team and he played professionally for two decades in Japan, Brazil, Belgium, Serbia and the United States.

Club career

Suzuki has spent the majority of his playing career with

Kashima Antlers are a football club in Kashima, Ibaraki, currently playing in the J1 League, top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The name ''Antlers'' is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island". The club has fi ...

, playing six stints for the team over the course of ten years, in between short periods playing in Brazil and Belgium. Suzuki played 87 games in the

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

for Kashima, scoring 17 goals, and helping the team win the J1 Championship in

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

and

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

. Takayuki Suzuki had not scored for 1790 minutes/46 games consecutive, until he scored a goal against RSC Anderlecht in September 2003. On 28 January 2006, Suzuki signed with

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

during the 2005–06 season winter break at the period

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

was the main sponsor of the club. However, Suzuki's time in Serbia was a disappointment and his move back to J1 League to join

Yokohama F. Marinos is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club competes in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Having won the J-League title four times an ...

was announced on 19 January 2007. On 28 March 2008, it was revealed that he signed a one-year contract with

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

of the

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system b ...

, joining on a free transfer. On 8 June 2011, Suzuki agreed to join

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yas ...

side

Mito HollyHock is a Japanese professional football (soccer) club, currently playing in the J2 League. The team's hometown is located in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture. Its nickname "HollyHock" derives from the family crest of the Tokugawa clan who governed from Mit ...

. With the club and city in financial difficult following the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

, he promised to play for free in the 2011 season. After one season with

JEF United Chiba , full name and also known as , is a Japanese professional football club that plays in the J2 League. On 1 February 2005, the club changed its name from ''JEF United Ichihara'' to the current name after Chiba city had joined Ichihara, Chiba as ...

, he announced his retirement from football at the age of 39.

International career

Suzuki made his international debut for Japan national team in 2001, and scored his first international goal on 2 June 2001, in a 2001 Confederations Cup game against

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref> He played all four of Japan's games at the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

on home soil, starting the first three and scoring in the 2–2 tie against

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

; Japan were eliminated in the round of 16 following a 1–0 defeat to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. He was also part of the Japanese team which won the 2004 Asian Cup. He played 55 games and scored 11 goals for Japan until 2005.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honors

Kashima Antlers *

: 1996, 1998, 2000, 2001 Genk *

Belgian Supercup The Belgian Super Cup ( nl, Belgische Supercup, ; french: Supercoupe de Belgique; german: Belgischer Fußball-Super Cup), ''Pro League Supercup'', is a Belgian club competition played as a single match between the Belgian First Division A champion ...

runner-up: 2002 Red Star Belgrade *

Serbian Superliga The Serbian Super League ( sr, Супер лига Србије / Super liga Srbije), referred to as the Mozzart Bet Super League ( sr, Моцарт Бет Супер лига / Mozzart Bet Super liga) for sponsorship reasons, is a Serbian profes ...

: 2005–06, 2006–07 *

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије, Kup Srbije) is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. From 2006 to 2010, the competition was known as the Lav Cup ...

: 2006–07 Portland Timbers *

Commissioner's Cup:

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Japan *

FIFA Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

runner-up:

Silver Shoe:

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Trivia

* Takayuki Suzuki is featured on the 2001

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

game cover "Jikkyou J-League Perfect Striker 4" together with

Shunsuke Nakamura is a Japanese former professional footballer. He is the only person to have been named J.League Most Valuable Player more than once, receiving the award in 2000 and 2013. Steve Perryman once remarked that Nakamura "could open a tin of beans w ...

and

Atsuhiro Miura is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team. He is not related to fellow footballer and who is also from Japan Kazuyoshi Miura. Club career Miura was born in Oita on 24 July 1974. After dropped out from Aoyama Gak ...

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
*

Suzuki's USL Goal of the Week from 4/26/08
at YouTube {{DEFAULTSORT:Suzuki, Takayuki 1976 births Living people AFC Asian Cup-winning players Japanese footballers Association football people from Ibaraki Prefecture Association football forwards Japan international footballers Belgian Pro League players J1 League players J2 League players Serbian SuperLiga players USL First Division players USSF Division 2 Professional League players JEF United Chiba players Kashima Antlers players Kawasaki Frontale players K.R.C. Genk players Mito HollyHock players Portland Timbers (2001–2010) players Red Star Belgrade footballers Yokohama F. Marinos players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2004 AFC Asian Cup players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players Japanese expatriate footballers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Brazil Expatriate footballers in Brazil Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate footballers in Serbia Expatriate footballers in Serbia and Montenegro Japanese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States