, nicknamed Atom, 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

Veikkausliiga Veikkausliiga () is a professional association football league in Finland and the highest level of the Finnish football league system. The league comprises the top 12 clubs of the country. Its main sponsor is the Finnish national betting agenc ...

club KTP. He was a participant at

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the scor ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and scored 1 goal in 3 appearances.

Club career

Albirex Niigata

Tanaka was educated at and played for Maebashi Ikuei High School in

Maebashi is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 335,352 in 151,171 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It was ...

Gunma is a landlocked prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Gunma Prefecture has a population of 1,937,626 (1 October 2019) and has a geographic area of . Gunma Prefecture borders Niigata Prefecture and Fukushima Prefecture to t ...

. While he was a high school student, he was registered as a J.League specially-designated player by

Albirex Niigata is a professional football club based in Niigata, Japan. Formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC, it was renamed Albireo Niigata FC in 1995, and Albirex Niigata in 1997. They currently play in J1 League after being promoted from J2 League as cha ...

. It meant that he was eligible to play and train with

, while he was still eligible to play for his high school football club. He played two league games for Albirex in the 2005 season. He made his debut on 27 November 2005 in a

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 ...

away match against

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 ...

. After graduating from his high school in 2006, he officially signed with Albirex Niigata. His first appearance as a professional player came on 5 March 2006 in a league match against

Kawasaki Frontale is a Japanese professional football club based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The club currently compete in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium i ...

. His first professional goal came on 8 April 2006 in a league match against

Ventforet Kofu is a Japanese professional football club from Kōfu in Yamanashi Prefecture. The team currently competes in the J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football, hosting their home matches in the JIT Recycle Ink Stadium, located in Kōf ...

HJK Helsinki

After scoring once in five matches for his new team

HJK Helsinki Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. Founded in 1907, the ...

in the 2015 Finnish League Cup, he scored on his

debut against

RoPS Rovaniemen Palloseura (RoPS) is a football club founded in 1950 and based in Rovaniemi, Finland. RoPS played in the Finnish Premier Division, (''Veikkausliiga'') for 32 years, from 1981 to 2021. In 2021, RoPS withdrew from professional football ...

in a 3–1 away win on 12 April. In October 2015 of the same year, HJK exercised their option of keeping Tanaka under contract for the 2016 season. Tanaka was voted as a best eleven member in 2015 and 2016 in the Finnish League. On 25 October 2017, it was announced that Tanaka would leave HJK at the end of the 2017 season.

Cerezo Osaka

He is playing for

Cerezo Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Osaka. The club currently plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Cerezo'' (Spanish for cherry blossom) is also the flower of the city of Osak ...

for the 2018 season.

Return to HJK

On 3 March 2020, Tanaka returned to

Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (), commonly known as HJK Helsinki (), or simply as HJK (), is a Finnish Association football, football club based in Helsinki. The club competes in Veikkausliiga, the top division of the Finnish football league system. ...

, after signing a contract until the end of July. In the

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

season Atom surpassed the 200th match mark in HJK. On 28 November 2023, Atom extended his contract with HJK, signing a new deal for the

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

season, which will be his eight season with the club in total. In December 2024, it was announced that Tanaka would leave HJK after the 2024 season.

KTP

In January 2025, Tanaka signed with newly promoted Veikkausliiga club

Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat (abbreviated as KTP) is a Finnish association football, football club based in Kotka, and currently competing in Finland's top-tier, the Veikkausliiga. The club was founded in 1927 and its colours are green and whi ...

(KTP).

International career

Tanaka was a U-20 international and took part in the

2006 AFC Youth Championship The 2006 AFC Youth Championship was the 34th instance of the AFC Youth Championship. It was held from 29 October to 12 November 2006 in India. It was the first time for India to host this tournament. Sixteen teams from the AFC qualified to the f ...

and 2007 U-20 World Cup. He scored 1 goal in 8 appearances for this tournament.

Personal life

Atom is a

Finnish sauna The Finnish sauna (, ) is a substantial part of Culture of Finland, Finnish and Culture of Estonia, Estonian culture. It was inscribed on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists at the 17 December 2020 meeting of the UNESCO Intergovernmen ...

enthusiast and he writes a sauna blog in Japanese. He has described

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

his second hometown.

Career statistics

Honours

Club

HJK Helsinki *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

Finnish Cup The Finnish Cup (; ) is Finland's main national cup competition in football. This yearly competition is open for all member clubs of the FA of Finland and has been played since 1955. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Europa Conference League ...

Finnish League Cup The Finnish League Cup (in Finnish: ''Liigacup''), is a knock-out football competition contested annually during the pre-season in winter by teams from Veikkausliiga. The competition is notably the only football competition in Europe which is most ...

: 2023

Individual

Team of the Year:

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Notes

References

External links

Profile at Cerezo Osaka
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tanaka, Atomu 1987 births Living people Japanese men's footballers Japan men's youth international footballers 21st-century Japanese sportsmen J1 League players Albirex Niigata players Veikkausliiga players Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi players Cerezo Osaka players Kotkan Työväen Palloilijat players Japanese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Finland Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Finland Men's association football midfielders Association football people from Niigata (city)