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, rugby lea ...

who played as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), 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 i ...

. He played for Japan national team. Narazaki is the second highest number of J.League all-time appearances in history with 631 appearances.

Club career

Yokohama Flügels

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

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

side

Yokohama Flügels The , also known as the AS 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 merged with local rivals Yokohama Ma ...

. In August 1995, regular goalkeeper Atsuhiko Mori 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 Hiratsuk ...

to replace Mori and Narazaki became the regular goalkeeper. In the 1996 season, Flügels finished in third place and Narazaki was also selected in the Best Eleven award. He contributed to the club winning the 1998 Emperor's Cup. However, Flügels was merged with cross-town team Yokohama Marinos and Flügels was dissolved at the end of the 1998 season.

Nagoya Grampus

In 1999, Narazaki moved to

Nagoya Grampus Eight ; formerly known as is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, and have for all but one season since the inauguration of the league, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture an ...

(later ''Nagoya Grampus'') with Flügels teammate Motohiro Yamaguchi. In 1999, Grampus were the champions of the

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formatio ...

for two years in a row, the second time in two years for Narazaki. In 2008, Grampus appointed new manager Dragan Stojković who played for Grampus until 2001. Grampus, under Stojković, reached third place in the

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

and were champions for the first time in the club's history. Narazaki also became the first goalkeeper to receive the J.League Most Valuable Player award. In 2016 season, Grampus finished in 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 Yasud ...

for the first time in the club history. In the

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 ...

season, the club finished third and were returned to the top flight. However, his opportunities to play decreased behind Yohei Takeda until summer. In 2018, Narazaki was effectively relegated to second choice behind new Australian signing

Mitchell Langerak Mitchell James Langerak ( ; born 22 August 1988) is an Australian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Melbourne Victory. Club career Melbourne Victory Langerak signed his first professional contract in February 2007, with A-Le ...

and did not make a single appearance. 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 country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref> After the debut, he battles with Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi for the position for 10 years. He was selected Japan for 1998 World Cup. 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, officially branded as Sydney 2000, and also known as the Games of the New Millennium, were an international multi-sport event held from 15 September to 1 October ...

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 The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

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, 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 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 event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

, 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 The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

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

Club

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 Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

Nagoya Grampus *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

Japanese Super Cup The , the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J.League and the Japan Football Association. This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the reigning J1 Leag ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

International

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 c ...

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 60 ...

Individual

* J.League Most Valuable Player:

* J.League Best Eleven:

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narazaki, Seigo 1976 births Living people Association football people from Nara Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Japan men's international footballers J1 League players J2 League players People from Kashiba, Nara Yokohama Flügels players Nagoya Grampus players Olympic footballers for 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 Men's association football goalkeepers