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, rugb ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting ...

. He played for Japan national team.

Club career

After graduating from Nara Ikuei High School in 1995, Narazaki joined

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 ...

side

Yokohama Flügels was a Japanese football club that played in the J.League between 1993 and 1998. The club was an original member ("Original Ten") of the J.League in 1993. In 1999 the club was officially merged with local rivals Yokohama Marinos and the two te ...

. In August 1995, regular goalkeeper

Atsuhiko Mori is a former Japanese professional football player who played as a goalkeeper, most notably with Yokohama Flügels from 1991 to 1997. Playing career Yokohama Flugels (1991–1997) Mori was born in Hyogo Prefecture on May 31, 1972. After gr ...

was suspended for three months due to violence against referee. On 16 August 1995, Narazaki debuted against

Bellmare Hiratsuka is a Japanese professional football club based in Hiratsuka, in the west of Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Hiratsuka ...

instead Mori and Narazaki became a regular goalkeeper. In 1996 season, Flügels finished at the third place and he was also selected Best Eleven award. He contributed to the club winning the

1998 Emperor's Cup Statistics of Emperor's Cup in the 1998 season. Overview It was contested by 82 teams, and Yokohama Flügels won the championship. Results 1st Round *Omiya Ardija 1–0 Blaublitz Akita, TDK *Mitsubishi Nagasaki SC 0–4 Chuo University *FC Prime ...

. However Flügels was merged with cross-town

Yokohama 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 tim ...

and Flügels was dissolved end of 1998 season. In 1999, Narazaki moved to

Nagoya Grampus Eight (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 ...

(later ''Nagoya Grampus'') with teammate Motohiro Yamaguchi at Flügels. In 1999, Grampus won the champions in

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 ...

for two years in a row for him. In 2008, Grampus signed with new manager

Dragan Stojković Dragan Stojković ( sr-Cyrl, Драган Стојковић, ; born 3 March 1965), also known by the nickname Piksi (Пикси), is a Serbian former footballer who played as a midfielder, and the current manager of the Serbia national team. Wi ...

who was teammate in Grampus until 2001. Grampus under Stojković reached third place in

and Narazaki was selected Best Eleven award. In 2010, Grampus won the champions in

first time in the club history. Narazaki also became the first goalkeeper to receive the J.League Most Valuable Player award. In 2016 season, Grampus finished at the 16th place of 18 clubs and 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 Y ...

first time in the club history. In

2017 J2 League The 2017 Meiji Yasuda J2 League (2017 明治安田生命J2リーグ) season was the 46th season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 19th season since the establishment of J2 League. Clubs The participating clubs are listed in the ...

, the club became third place and was returned to J1. However his opportunity to play decreased behind Yohei Takeda until summer. In 2018, Narazaki could not play at all in the match behind new player Mitchell Langerak. Narazaki announced his retirement from football on 8 January 2019. He was 42 years old.

International career

On 15 February 1998, Narazaki made his international debut for Japan national team against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref> After the debut, he battles with

Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi , sometimes referred to as Yoshi Kawaguchi, is a former Japanese professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He is a former captain of the Japan national team. Career Early career Born in Fuji, Shizuoka Prefecture, Kawaguchi studie ...

for the position for 10 years. He was selected Japan for

1998 World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

. However, Kawaguchi played in Japan’s three matches at the tournament. In 2000, Narazaki was selected Japan U23 national team as over age for

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

and played full time in all 4 matches. Although he could hardly play in the match in 2001, he played many matches in 2002. At 2002 World Cup in Japan, he played all 4 matches and Japan qualified to the knockout stage first time in their history. Narazaki played many matches as regular goalkeeper until summer 2004. Although he was selected Japan for

2004 Asian Cup The 2004 AFC Asian Cup was the 13th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held from 17 July to 7 August 2004 in China. The defending champi ...

, he could not play for injury.kirin.co.jp
/ref> His rival Kawaguchi performed brilliantly at Asian Cup and Japan won the champions. After Asian Cup, Narazaki lost regular position behind Kawaguchi. Although Narazaki was selected Japan for

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, he did not play in a match. Although Narazaki could not play many matches until 2007, he became a regular goalkeeper because Kawaguchi was injured in 2008. Narazaki was named in the

2010 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 ...

squad as one of two Japanese players (the other being Kawaguchi) to be selected for 4 consecutive World Cups. However, despite performing impressively in the qualifiers, he was benched for the tournament in favour of his former understudy Eiji Kawashima. He would make one last appearance for Japan when he captained the team to a 2–1 victory over Guatemala on 7 September 2010 before retiring from international duty. He played 77 games for Japan.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honors

Yokohama Flügels *

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 s ...

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 ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

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 ...

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 celebrates ...

Japan *

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 ...

Individual * J.League Most Valuable Player:

* J.League Best Eleven:

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A ...

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; ...

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narazaki, Seigo 1976 births Living people Association football people from Nara Prefecture Japanese footballers Japan international footballers J1 League players J2 League players Yokohama Flügels players Nagoya Grampus players J1 League Player of the Year winners Olympic footballers of Japan Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 1996 AFC Asian Cup players 1998 FIFA World Cup players 1999 Copa América players 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2004 AFC Asian Cup players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players 2010 FIFA World Cup players AFC Asian Cup-winning players Association football goalkeepers