, known in Spain as Pipi, is a Japanese 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 lea ...

who plays as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for Spanish

Primera Federación The Primera Federación, officially the Primera Federación Versus e-Learning for sponsorship reasons (formerly known as Primera RFEF). is the third tier of the Spanish football league system beginning with the 2021–22 season. It is administe ...

club

Real Madrid Castilla Real Madrid Castilla Club de Fútbol is a Spanish football team that plays in . It is Real Madrid's reserve team. They play their home games at the Alfredo Di Stéfano Stadium with a capacity of 6,000 seats. Reserve teams in Spain play in the ...

Club career

Pipi was born in

Shiga is a landlocked prefecture of Japan in the Kansai region of Honshu. Shiga Prefecture has a population of 1,398,972 as of 1 February 2025 and has a geographic area of . Shiga Prefecture borders Fukui Prefecture to the north, Gifu Prefecture to t ...

, Japan, and was spotted by Spanish giants

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

while playing in one of their training camps in Japan. He was invited for a trial in Spain and impressed enough to sign a contract in 2014. Prior to his move to Spain, Pipi had been playing for Azul Shiga. After Real Madrid was sanctioned heavily in 2016 by the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

(CAS), it was Nakai's mother who offered testimony that prevented Madrid from suffering further punishment. Her testimony also meant that her son would avoid punishment, as his move to Madrid had been under investigation by the CAS. In October 2020, Pipi was called up to train with the Real Madrid senior squad for the first time. He was seen as one of Real Madrid's best prospects, and was named in English newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''s "Next Generation 2021", highlighting the best players born in 2003 worldwide. In February 2022, Pipi signed a contract extension with Real Madrid until 2025. Ahead of the 2022–23 season, Pipi was promoted to

from the club's under-19 side. Pipi made his debut for Castilla on 25 September 2022, coming on as a substitute in a 3–1 victory over

CD Badajoz Club Deportivo Badajoz is a Spanish football team based in Badajoz, in the autonomous community of Extremadura. Founded in 1905, it currently plays in , and holds home games at '' Estadio Nuevo Vivero'', with a 15,198-seat capacity. History Fo ...

International career

Pipi was called up for the Japan under-16 side in 2018. He featured in three friendly games for the under-16 side, before going on to make two appearances at under-20 level in 2022.

Career statistics

References

External links

Real Madrid profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakai, Takuhiro 2003 births Living people Sportspeople from Ōtsu, Shiga Association football people from Shiga Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Japan men's youth international footballers 21st-century Japanese sportsmen Men's association football midfielders Primera Federación players Real Madrid CF players Real Madrid Castilla footballers CF Rayo Majadahonda players SD Amorebieta footballers Japanese expatriate men's footballers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain