is a retired

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

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 who last played for

Albirex Niigata is a professional football club based in Niigata, Japan. Formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC, it was renamed Albireo Niigata FC in 1995, and Albirex Niigata in 1997. From 2023, Albirex will be playing on the J1 League, coming back to the f ...

. He played for Japan national team.

Club career

When he was at Shūyō Junior High School, he represented

Yamaguchi Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region of Honshu. Yamaguchi Prefecture has a population of 1,377,631 (1 February 2018) and has a geographic area of 6,112 Square kilometre, km2 (2,359 Square mile, sq mi). Y ...

with future international teammate Seiichiro Maki. He went on to football powerhouse Teikyo High School. While at Teikyo, Tanaka was chosen as one of the Designated Players for Development by J.League and JFA. Because of this status, he was able to register as a FC Tokyo player while he was still eligible to play for his high school club. After graduating Teikyo, he joined

Urawa Reds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

. His first league appearance came on 29 April 2001 against

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 ...

. His first professional goal came on 21 May 2001 against

Tokyo Verdy is a Japanese professional football club based in Inagi, Tokyo. The club plays in the J2 League, the second tier of football in the country. Founded as Yomiuri F.C. in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the most decorated clubs in the J.League, with ...

. He played many matches as forward from 2001 season. In 2003, Reds won the champions in

J.League Cup The is a Japanese football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or (Levain is one of Y ...

. He was selected MVP award and New Hero award. However he suffered for repeated injuries from late 2005 while the club won many title, 2005 Emperor's Cup, 2006 J1 League, 2006 Emperor's Cup and 2007 AFC Champions League. In 2012, he could not play many matches and let the club end of 2012 season. In 2013, Tanaka signed with

. He played 32 matches in 2013 season, the most in his career. Although he played many matches every season, Albirex was relegated to

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 ...

end of 2017 season. After nine years in Niigata, Tanaka officially retired on December 5th, 2021, when he left the pitch after 40 minutes into the home match against Machida Zelvia. Tanaka immediately joined Niigata's coaching staff for the youth sector.

National team career

Tanaka represented Japan at several underage levels. He was part of the Japanese 2004 Olympic football team eliminated in the first round after finishing fourth in group B, below group winners

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, and

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. He made his international debut on 31 July 2005 in an East Asian Championship against

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

when he replaced

Keiji Tamada is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a forward for V-Varen Nagasaki. Club career Tamada joined Kashiwa Reysol from Narashino High School in 1999. His debut was the game against Avispa Fukuoka on 13 March 1999. Kashiwa Reysol won ...

in the 67th minute. He scored his first international goal on 3 August 2005 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 same tournament. His most recent goal came against Qatar on 19 November 2008. He played 16 games and scored 3 goals for Japan until 2009.Japan National Football Team Database
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Club statistics

''Updated to January 1st, 2022''.

¹Includes AFC Champions League and

A3 Champions Cup A3 Champions Cup (also known as East Asian Champions Cup) was an annual football (soccer) tournament jointly organized by the China PR, Japan and Korea Republic football Association. It began in 2003, involving the league champions of China, Japan ...

²Includes

J.League Championship The J.League Championship is a two-legged championship series which determined the season champion for the first 12 J.League seasons (1993–2004) excluding the 1996 season. In the early years, the J.League seasons were divided into two halve ...

and

Japanese Super Cup The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J. League and the Japan Football Association (JFA). This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the r ...

National team statistics

Awards and honours

Club

;Urawa Red Diamonds *

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 ...

(1):

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or also Japan FA Cup is a Japanese football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football match in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formation of the J.League, Japan Football League and their predecessor, J ...

(2): 2005,

(1): 2003 * AFC Champions League (1): 2007 *

(1):

Individual

* J.League Cup MVP (1): 2003 * J.League Cup New Hero Award (1): 2003

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
*
Tatsuya Tanaka
–

Yahoo! Japan is a Japanese internet company originally formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! (later divested by Verizon into Altaba) and the Japanese company SoftBank. It is headquartered at Kioi Tower in the Tokyo Garden Te ...

sports {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Tatsuya 1982 births Living people Association football people from Yamaguchi Prefecture Japanese footballers Japan international footballers J1 League players J2 League players Urawa Red Diamonds players Albirex Niigata players Olympic footballers of Japan Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Asian Games medalists in football Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games silver medalists for Japan Association football forwards Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games