is a Japanese

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 ...

. She plays for MyNavi Sendai Ladies and Japan national team.

Club career

Nakajima was born in Yasu on September 27, 1990. After graduating from high school, she joined

INAC Kobe Leonessa INAC Kobe(INAC神戸レオネッサ, Ainakku-Kōbe Reonessa) is a professional Japanese women's soccer, football club from Kobe, founded in 2001. INAC stands for International Athletic Club, while Leonessa means Lioness in Italian language, Ita ...

in 2009. The club won L.League championship for 3 years in a row (

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 ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

). She was also selected Best Eleven in

and

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 ...

National team career

Nakajima was included in Norio Sasaki's Japan U20 national team for the 2010 U20 World Cup in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. She appeared in all of Japan's three matches against

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, scoring one goal in a 3–1 win against England, as Japan were eliminated in the group stage. Nakajima received her first cap for the senior team against

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

on May 14, 2011. On July 10, 2013, she was called up to the 2013 East Asian Cup in

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. She scored her first goal on July 20 in a 2–0 win against

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

in the first East Asian Cup final round match. In 2014, she played at 2014 Asian Cup and 2014 Asian Games. Japan won the championship at Asian Cup and 2nd place at Asian Games. On 19 March 2018, she was called up to the

2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup was the 19th edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament in Asia competed by the women's national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was originally schedu ...

, where Japan won the championship. On 10 May 2019, Nakajima was included in the 23-player squad for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

. On 18 June 2021, she was included in the Japan squad for the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

Club statistics

National team statistics

List of match i
2011

at Japan Football Association

National team goals

Under–20

:''Scores and results list Japan U20's goal tally first.''

Senior team

:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first.''

Honours

Club

;INAC Kobe Leonessa * L.League (2):

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

* Empress's Cup (3):

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 ...

Japan and South Korea Women's League Championship Japan and South Korea Women's League Championship (, ) was a women's association football competition between the clubs of L. League, Nadeshiko League (Japan Football Association, Japan Women's Football League division 1) winners and WK-League (Kor ...

(1):

Japan

AFC Women's Asian Cup The AFC Women's Asian Cup (formerly known as the AFC Women's Championship) is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football ...

: ''Champion'':

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

References

External links

* * *
Japan Football Association

at

Emi Nakajima profile
at MyNavi Sendai Ladies {{DEFAULTSORT:Nakajima, Emi 1990 births Living people Association football people from Shiga Prefecture Japanese women's footballers Japan women's international footballers Women's association football midfielders Nadeshiko League players WE League players INAC Kobe Leonessa players Mynavi Sendai Ladies players Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Asian Games silver medalists for Japan Asian Games medalists in football Medalists at the 2014 Asian Games Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Japan Japan women's youth international footballers 21st-century Japanese sportswomen