Photo: 内閣官房内閣広報室 / CC BY 4.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)
Born on September 23, 1967, Masashi Nakayama is from Fujieda, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. Masashi Nakayama is an association football player, association football coach and soccer commentator. That works out to 58 years old in 2026. Schooling on record includes University of Tsukuba. The listed height is 178 cm.
My Take
Masashi Nakayama is the kind of striker whose numbers and whose image do not quite match, and that gap is what I find fascinating. On paper he is impeccable: J.League Most Valuable Player in 1998, top scorer in 1998 and 2000, Best XI selections in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2002. That is an elite goalscoring career by any measure. Yet what most people picture is not an elegant finisher. It is a man throwing his body at a loose ball in the six-yard box, half falling over, bundling it in. Born in Fujieda, Shizuoka, in 1967 and educated at the University of Tsukuba, he built a career on refusing to stop running long after it was reasonable to. He later moved into coaching and commentary, and even there the same quality shows: he talks about the game like someone who still smells the grass. Plenty of players are more technically gifted. Very few keep chasing lost causes for two decades. Nakayama belongs firmly in the second group, and I suspect that is the harder thing to be.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Masashi Nakayama
- Name (Japanese)
- 中山雅史
- Reading
- なかやま まさし
- Born
- September 23, 1967 (age 58)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Libra / Goat
- Origin
- Fujieda, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan
- Height
- 178 cm
- Occupation
- association football player / association football coach / soccer commentator
2. Background
- University
- University of Tsukuba
3. Links
- Wikipedia (English)https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Masashi%20Nakayama
- Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%AD%E5%B1%B1%E9%9B%85%E5%8F%B2
- Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q360595
4. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-08-07
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.
Frequently asked questions
When was Masashi Nakayama born?
Born September 23, 1967 (age 58).
Where is Masashi Nakayama from?
Masashi Nakayama is from Fujieda, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan.
What does Masashi Nakayama do?
Masashi Nakayama works as association football player, association football coach, soccer commentator.
How tall is Masashi Nakayama?
Masashi Nakayama is 178 cm.
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