is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played for the Japan national team.

Club career

Ichikawa is a product of Shimizu S-Pulses youth system. He played as right side-back and right midfielder. He made his J1 League debut on March 21, 1998, against Consadole Sapporo. He scored his first league goal against on November 14, 1998, against JEF United Ichihara. He was still a high school student at that time. He was instrumental in Shimizu winning the second stage of 1999 J1 League, the

1999–2000 Asian Cup Winners' Cup The winners of the 1999–2000 Asian Cup Winners' Cup, the association football competition run by the Asian Football Confederation, are listed below. First round West Asia ''1 Al Arabi withdrew'' East Asia Second round West A ...

and the 2001 Emperor's Cup. The side attack from Ichikawa on the right and Alessandro Santos on the left was Shimizu's main weapon during the period. He left the club end of 2010 season. Toward end of his career, he played for Ventforet Kofu (2011), Mito HollyHock (2012), Fujieda MYFC (2013–14), FC Imabari (2015) and Vanraure Hachinohe (2016). He retired end of 2016 season.

International career

Ichikawa represented Japan national team at several underage levels. He made his first full international debut on April 1, 1998, against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

when he was 17 year and 322 days old, which made him the youngest player who represented Japan. Ichikawa was short-listed for the 1998 FIFA World Cup, but national coach Takeshi Okada dropped him together with Kazuyoshi Miura and Tsuyoshi Kitazawa at the final training camp in Nyon, Switzerland. In March 2002, he was elected Japan for the first time in four years by Philippe Troussier. He was also chosen for the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals and played three games. Against

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in the group stage, his cross was met by

Hidetoshi Nakata is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest Asian players of all time. Nakata began his professional career in 1995 and won the Asian Football Confederation Player ...

who headed home to score Japan's second goal. He was capped ten times without scoring between 1998 and 2002.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
* 1980 births Living people Association football people from Shizuoka Prefecture Japanese footballers Japan international footballers J1 League players J2 League players J3 League players Japan Football League players Shimizu S-Pulse players Ventforet Kofu players Mito HollyHock players Fujieda MYFC players Vanraure Hachinohe players Footballers at the 1998 Asian Games 2002 FIFA World Cup players Association football defenders Asian Games competitors for Japan {{Japan-footy-defender-1980s-stub