Tomokazu Myojin

Tomokazu Myojin
明神智和
Personal information
Full name	Tomokazu Myojin
Date of birth	24 January 1978 (age 48)
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
Men's football
Representing Japan
AFC Asian Cup
FIFA Confederations Cup
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Tomokazu Myojin (明神智和, Myojin Tomokazu; born January 24, 1978) is a former Japanese football player. He played for the Japan national team.

Biography

Myojin was born in Kobe on January 24, 1978. He joined J1 League club Kashiwa Reysol from their youth team in 1996. He played many matches as a defensive midfielder from his first season. He became a regular player under manager Akira Nishino in 1998. In 1999, Reysol were the champions in J.League Cup and got third place in the J1 League. Reysol were champions J1 League for two years in a row in 2000 and 2001. Myojin was selected for the Best Eleven award. The team was relegated to the J2 League at the end of the 2005 season.

In 2006, Myojin moved to Gamba Osaka, which was managed by Akira Nishino. He played with other players from the Japan national team and won lots of trophies, including the 2007 J.League Cup, and the 2008 and 2009 Emperor's Cup. Gamba were also the champions of the 2008 AFC Champions League and got third place in the 2008 Club World Cup. However when the team's manager left at the end of the 2011 season, the club struggled. In 2012, Gamba finished 17th out of 18 teams, and were relegated to the J2 League for the 2013 season.

Gamba won the J2 League in 2013 and returned to the J1 league for 2014, when the team won all three of the major titles in Japan – the J1 League, the J.League Cup, and the Emperor's Cup. Myojin left at the end of the 2015 season.

Myojin moved to Nagoya Grampus in 2016 but did not play many matches. Grampus finished in 16th place and were relegated to the J2 league. Myojin moved to the J3 League in 2017 to play for AC Nagano Parceiro. He retired in 2019.

Myojin was chosen to play for the Japan national under-20 football team at the 1997 World Youth Championship. He played in all five matches for the team in the tournament.

Myojin played for Japan 26 times and scored three goals between 2000 and 2002. He played three games at the 2002 World Cup.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[2]^[3]
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^[4]
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

Honors

Kashiwa Reysol

J.League Cup – 1999

Gamba Osaka

Japan

AFC Asian Cup – 2000

Individual

J.League Best Eleven – 2000

References

↑ "FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2008 Presented By TOYOTA – List Of Players" (PDF). FIFA. 5 December 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2008.
↑ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "J1&J2&J3選手名鑑ハンディ版 2018 (NSK MOOK)", 7 February 2018, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411529 (p. 255 out of 289)
↑ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2017 J1&J2&J3選手名鑑 (NSK MOOK)", 8 February 2017, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411420 (p. 251 out of 289)
↑ MYOJIN Tomokazu

Other websites

Tomokazu Myōjin at Soccerway.com

Tomokazu Myōjin at WorldFootball.net

Tomokazu Myōjin at National-Football-Teams.com

Tomokazu Myōjin at kicker (in German)

Tomokazu Myōjin at FBref.com

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[4] Appearances in Japanese Super Cup and Suruga Bank Championship

[5] Appearances in FIFA Club World Cup

[FCWC_2008-1] "FIFA Club World Cup Japan 2008 Presented By TOYOTA – List Of Players" (PDF). FIFA. 5 December 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 December 2008.

[2] Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "J1&J2&J3選手名鑑ハンディ版 2018 (NSK MOOK)", 7 February 2018, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411529 (p. 255 out of 289)

[3] Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2017 J1&J2&J3選手名鑑 (NSK MOOK)", 8 February 2017, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411420 (p. 251 out of 289)

[6] MYOJIN Tomokazu

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