is a former Japanese

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er. He is the current manager of

J3 League or simply J3 is the third division of . It was established in 2013 as the third-tier professional association football league in Japan under the organization of J.League. The league is known as the for sponsorship reasons. The third-tier nation ...

club FC Ryukyu.

Playing career

Hirakawa was born in Shizuoka on 1 May 1979. After graduating from

University of Tsukuba is a List of national universities in Japan, national research university located in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Ibaraki, Japan. The university has 28 college clusters and schools with around 16,500 students (as of 2014). The main Tsukuba ca ...

, he joined

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 ...

club Urawa Reds in 2002. Although he is originally a right side player, he became a regular in the line-up as a left side midfielder from July. The Urawa Reds won the 2003 J.League Cup for the first time in the club history. In 2004, the Urawa Reds signed Alessandro Santos and Hirakawa lost his place in the team. So, Hirakawa played many positions, including three positions in defence, and as a right side midfielder in the 2004 season. However, his opportunity to play decreased following the summer of 2004. In 2006, he became a regular in the line-up as a right side midfielder and the Urawa Reds won the

for the first time in the club's history. In 2007, he failed to displace Nobuhisa Yamada, so he became a left side midfielder again, leading to the Urawa Reds winning the

2007 AFC Champions League The 2007 AFC Champions League was the 26th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament and the 5th edition under the current AFC Champions League title. Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds became champions for the first time, beating Se ...

. In 2008, he played many matches as a right and left side midfielder. Although he could not play many matches in 2009 because of injury, he played regularly as a right and left side back in 2010. From 2012, he played many matches as a right side midfielder. He then lost his place to young player Takahiro Sekine from 2015. He retired at the end of the 2018 season.

Manager career

Hirakawa took over manager duties for FC Ryukyu, who play in the J3 Legue competition, from the 2025 season.

Club statistics

Urawa Reds
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^*Includes other competitive competitions, including the J.League Championship,

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 ...

and

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

Awards and honours

Club

;Urawa Red Diamonds *

: 1 ::

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

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 ...

: 2 ::

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

* J.League Cup: 2 ::

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 ...

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 ...

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

: 2 ::

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 ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

: 1 ::

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hirakawa, Tadaaki 1979 births Living people University of Tsukuba alumni Japanese men's footballers J1 League players Urawa Red Diamonds players Men's association football defenders Association football people from Shizuoka (city) AFC Champions League Elite–winning players J3 League managers FC Ryukyu managers