Tomokazu Myojin

Tomokazu Myojin
明神智和
Personal information
Full name	Tomokazu Myojin
Date of birth	24 January 1978 (age 46)
Place of birth	Kobe, Hyogo, Japan
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1993–1995	Kashiwa Reysol
Senior career*
Years	Team
1996–2005	Kashiwa Reysol
2006–2015	Gamba Osaka
2016	Nagoya Grampus
2017–2019	Nagano Parceiro
Total
International career
1997	Japan U-20
2000	Japan U-23
2000–2002	Japan
Medal record
Kashiwa Reysol
Gamba Osaka
Representing Japan
FIFA Confederations Cup
AFC Asian Cup
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Tomokazu Myojin (明神智和, Myōjin Tomokazu, born 24 January 1978) is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.^[2] He played for the Japan national team.

Club career

Myojin was born in Kobe on 24 January 1978. He joined J1 League club Kashiwa Reysol from youth team in 1996. He played many matches as defensive midfielder from first season. He became a regular player under manager Akira Nishino in 1998. In 1999, Reysol won the champions in J.League Cup and the 3rd place in J1 League. In 2000, Reysol won the 3rd place in J1 League for two years in a row and he was selected Best Eleven award. However the club results were sluggish from 2002 and was relegated to J2 League end of 2005 season.

In 2006, Myojin moved to Gamba Osaka which was managed by Akira Nishino. He played as regular player with many Japan national team player and Gamba won the many title, 2007 J.League Cup, 2008 and 2009 Emperor's Cup. In Asia, Gamba also won the champions in 2008 AFC Champions League and the 3rd place in 2008 Club World Cup. This is the golden era in the club history and he was one of the central player under manager Nishino. However manager Nishino left Gamba end of 2011 season and the club performance deteriorated soon. In 2012, Gamba finished at the 17th place of 18 clubs and was relegated to J2 League. Although his opportunity to play decreased from 2013, Gamba won the champions in 2013 J2 League and was returned to J1. In 2014, Gamba won all three major title in Japan, J1 League, J.League Cup and Emperor's Cup. He resigned end of 2015 season.

In 2016, Myojin moved to Nagoya Grampus.^[3] However he could not play many matches. Grampus also finished at the 16th place and was relegated to J2. In 2017, Myojin moved to J3 League club Nagano Parceiro; after three seasons, he opted to retire at the end of 2019.^[4]

International career

In June 1997, Myojin was selected Japan U20 national team for 1997 World Youth Championship. At this tournament, he played full time in all 5 matches as defensive midfielder. In September 2000, he was selected Japan U23 national team for 2000 Summer Olympics. At this tournament, he played full time in all four matches as defensive midfielder with Junichi Inamoto.

He was capped 26 times and scored 3 goals for the Japan national team between 2000 and 2002. He played three games at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[5]^[6]
Club	Season	League			Emperor's Cup		J.League Cup		Asia		Other^[a]		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Kashiwa Reysol	1996	J1 League	11	0	0	0	2	0	–		–		13	0
	1997		13	1	1	0	6	0	–		–		20	1
	1998		28	0	2	0	4	1	–		–		34	1
	1999		30	1	3	0	4	0	–		–		37	1
	2000		29	2	2	0	2	0	–		–		33	2
	2001		29	0	1	0	4	0	–		–		34	0
	2002		27	1	0	0	1	0	–		–		28	1
	2003		29	1	2	1	4	0	–		–		35	2
	2004		28	5	0	0	6	0	–		–		34	5
	2005		28	1	1	0	4	0	–		–		33	1
	Total		252	12	12	1	37	1	–		–		301	14
Gamba Osaka	2006	J1 League	25	0	5	0	2	0	3	0	1	0	36	0
	2007		33	2	2	0	10	0	–		1	0	46	2
	2008		32	3	5	0	4	0	14	1	3^[b]	0	58	4
	2009		31	2	5	2	2	1	5	0	1	0	44	5
	2010		29	4	3	0	1	0	6	0	–		39	4
	2011		27	2	1	0	0	0	5	0	–		33	2
	2012		31	1	5	1	2	0	5	0	–		43	2
	2013	J2 League	20	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	–		21	0
	2014	J1 League	12	0	4	0	5	0	–		–		21	0
	2015	J1 League	10	0	1	0	3	0	4	0	2	0	20	0
	Total		250	14	32	3	29	1	42	1	8	0	361	19
Nagoya Grampus	2016	J1 League	15	0	0	0	3	0	–		–		18	0
Nagano Parceiro	2017	J3 League	16	0	1	0	–		–		–		17	0
	2018		14	0	0	0	–		–		–		14	0
	2019		8	0	2	0	–		–		–		10	0
	Total		38	0	3	0	–		–		–		41	0
Career total			538	26	47	4	69	2	42	1	7	0	703	33

^ Appearances in Japanese Super Cup and Suruga Bank Championship
^ Appearances in FIFA Club World Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Japan	2000	9	2
	2001	7	0
	2002	10	1
Total		26	3

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

List of international goals scored by Tomokazu Myojin^[7]
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	24 October 2000	Beirut, Lebanon	Iraq	4–1	4–1	2000 AFC Asian Cup
2	26 October 2000	Beirut, Lebanon	China	3–2	3–2	2000 AFC Asian Cup
3	17 April 2002	Yokohama, Japan	Costa Rica	1–0	1–1	Friendly