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

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

Club career

Born in

Palmeira d'Oeste Palmeira d'Oeste is a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The city has a population of 9,227 inhabitants and an area of 319.2 km2. Palmeira d'Oeste belongs to the Mesoregion of São José do Rio Preto The Mesoregion of São Jos ...

, Brazil to an

Italian Brazilian Italian Brazilians ( it, italo-brasiliani, pt, ítalo-brasileiros) are Brazilians of full or partial Italian descent. Italian Brazilians are the largest number of people with full or partial Italian ancestry outside Italy, with São Paulo being ...

mother and second generation Japanese Brazilian father, Tulio moved to Japan at age 15 to complete his high school studies. After graduation from Shibuya Makuhari High School in

Chiba Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Chiba Prefecture has a population of 6,278,060 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Chiba Prefecture borders Ibaraki Prefecture to the north, Saitama Prefecture to the ...

in 2001, Tulio joined 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 ...

club

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima ( ja, サンフレッチェ広島, translit=''Sanfuretche Hiroshima'') is a Japanese professional football club based in Asaminami-ku, Hiroshima. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the coun ...

. In the opening game of the 2001 season on 11 March, he debuted as substitute defender in the tenth minute replacing the injured

Tony Popovic Tony Popovic (born 4 July 1973) is an Australian association football manager and former player. He is the current manager of A-League club Melbourne Victory. As a player Popovic's usual position was centre-back. Starting in 1989 at Sydney Unit ...

, and scored a goal in the 16th minute. After the debut, he played many matches as centre-back in two seasons. Sanfrecce 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 2002 season. In 2003, Tulio moved to fellow

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 ...

. On 10 October 2003, he received approval to naturalise as a Japanese citizen. Playing as a centre-back, he scored ten goals in the

2003 season 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious or cultural significance in many societie ...

. In 2004, after a season at Mito, Tulio returned to the J1 League, joining

Urawa Red Diamonds , 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 ...

. After the strong performance in 2006 season, which led Urawa to win their first ever J1 League title, he received J.League Most Valuable Player. In 2007, Urawa won their first Asian champions in

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

. On 22 December 2009, after falling out with the management at Urawa as he was deployed in an unfamiliar position at the back, Tulio joined

Nagoya Grampus (formerly known as ) is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture and founded as the company team of the Toyota Motor Corp. in 1939, the c ...

. He played 168 games and scored 37 goals in 6 seasons and was selected in the team's Best Eleven every season. In his first season in Nagoya, Nagoya won the champions in 2010 J1 League first time in the club history. Nagoya also won the 2nd place in 2011 season. On 9 January 2016,

announced that the club and Tulio were parting ways. Nearly nine months later, on 28 August 2016, Tulio re-signed for Nagoya Grampus under new manager

Boško Gjurovski Boško Gjurovski ( mk, Бошко Ѓуровски; ; born 28 December 1961) is a North Macedonia, Macedonian professional Association football, football former player who played as a midfielder and a current Manager (association football), manag ...

, before leaving Nagoya Grampus at the end of the 2016 season upon the expiration of his contract. In the off-season of the 2016–17 season, at the age of 35, Tulio signed with J2 club

Kyoto Sanga FC is a Japanese professional football club based in Kyoto. "Sanga" comes from the Sanskrit word ''sangha'', a term meaning "group" or "club" and often used to denote the Buddhist priesthood, associating the club with Kyoto's many Buddhist templ ...

International career

Tulio obtained his Japanese citizenship on 10 October 2003. He played for the Japan U23 national team at the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. He played as centre-back in full time in all three matches. Tulio made his debut for the Japan's senior national team on 9 August 2006, against

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref> He scored his first goal for Japan on 15 November 2006 in a 2007 Asian Cup qualifier against

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. He missed

2007 AFC Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its h ...

finals due to an injury. His absence was a big blow to the Japan national team. He was selected Japan for

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. On 30 May, he scored for Japan against

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 ...

in the 7th minute of a World Cup warm-up, and also scored for England against Japan in the form of an own goal 67 minutes later. As Japan's captain

Yuji Nakazawa is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a centre back for J1 League side Tokyo Verdy and Yokohama F. Marinos. He was the formerly the captain of the Japan national team. His nickname is "Bomber" because of his distinctive ha ...

later did the same thing, the game finished 2–1 for England. On 4 June, he scored for

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

against Japan in the form of an own goal in the 13th minute of a friendly match. Three minutes later, he injured Côte d'Ivoire attacker

Didier Drogba Didier Yves Drogba Tébily (; born 11 March 1978) is an Ivorian retired professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the all-time top scorer and former captain of the Ivory Coast national team. He is best known for his career at ...

's elbow which was fractured by a high challenge from Tulio. At the 2010 FIFA World Cup, he played full time in all four matches as center back with

. Japan qualified to the knockout stage. This tournament is his last match for Japan. He played 43 games and scored 8 goals for Japan.

Career statistics

Club

Kyoto Sanga FC
/ref>

International

:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Tulio goal.''

Honours

Urawa Red Diamonds *

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

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 ...

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

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 ...

Nagoya Grampus *

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 ...

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 ...

Japan *

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (International competition which national ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

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 ...

Individual * Japanese Footballer of the Year: 2006 * J.League Most Valuable Player:

J.League Best Eleven The J.League Best XI is an acknowledgement of the best eleven players in J.League. J1 League (1993–present) Multiple appearances Appearances by club Appearances by country * Only in two occasions there was a full-Japanese Best XI (20 ...

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 ...

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 ...

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
*
Profile at Kyoto Sanga FC
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Marcus Tulio 1981 births Living people Japanese footballers Japan international footballers J1 League players J2 League players Sanfrecce Hiroshima players Mito HollyHock players Urawa Red Diamonds players Nagoya Grampus players Kyoto Sanga FC players Olympic footballers of Japan Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2010 FIFA World Cup players Japanese Footballer of the Year winners J1 League Player of the Year winners Expatriate footballers in Japan Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian footballers Japanese people of Italian descent Brazilian emigrants to Japan Brazilian people of Italian descent Footballers from São Paulo Brazilian people of Japanese descent Association football defenders Naturalized citizens of Japan