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born 16 April 1986 is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a forward. He is best known for winning the Premier League with Leicester City in 2016.
Internationally, he is Japan's third all-time top goalscorer with 50 goals.
Okazaki scored ten times in 27 matches during the 2008 J. League season and also represented S-Pulse in the J. League Cup Final, where the team lost 2–0 to Oita Trinita. He continued his promising goalscoring in the 2009 and 2010 seasons and, in January 2011, was signed by German side VfB Stuttgart of the Bundesliga.
Okazaki came on as a second-half substitute for Stuttgart in their first game of the 2011–12 Bundesliga season against Schalke 04. His side were up 2–0 and Okazaki added a goal scoring from long range in the 90th minute, sealing a 3–0 win. Okazaki's goal from a bicycle kick on 19 February 2012 in a Bundesliga match of VfB Stuttgart against Hannover 96 was selected Goal of the Month. After Yasuhiko Okudera in April 1978, Okazaki was the second player from Japan to win this award in Germany.
Okazaki had a poor 2012–13 season, scoring only once in the Bundesliga. However, he scored his first goals in European competition with two goals against Steaua București in the Europa League.
Okazaki became the most prolific Japanese player in Bundesliga history on 13 September 2014, scoring his 27th and 28th league goals in Mainz's 3–1 win over Hertha BSC.
He made his debut for the club on 8 August 2015 in Leicester City's 4–2 opening day win against Sunderland, and scored his first goal for the club the following week in a 2–1 win against West Ham United. On 19 December 2015, Okazaki scored the winner in a 3–2 win over Everton at Goodison Park, to ensure that Leicester City topped the table at Christmas.
On 10 January 2016, Okazaki scored Leicester's second goal in the FA Cup clash at White Hart Lane with Tottenham Hotspur despite drawing to a Harry Kane penalty in the 90th minute. On 14 March 2016, Okazaki scored in a league fixture against Newcastle United: a spectacular overhead strike that won Leicester City the game 1–0 and took them five points clear at the top of the Premier League table. Leicester City went on to win the league that year, making Okazaki the second Japanese player to win the Premier League after Shinji Kagawa.
His performances in the 2015–16 season earned him the Asian International Player of the Year award in December 2016.
On 25 July 2020, after scoring 12 times as his side achieved promotion to La Liga, Okazaki renewed his contract for a further year.
In October 2009, Okazaki scored in consecutive matches as Japan beat Hong Kong and Togo 6–0 and 5–0 respectively. He was named The World's Top Goal Scorer of 2009 by the IFFHS for his 15 goals with the national team.
Okazaki was included in the 2010 FIFA World Cup squads for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and appeared as a substitute in all four of Japan's matches. He scored once in the final Group E match, a 3–1 defeat of Denmark, to send Japan into the second round.
On 8 October 2010, Okazaki scored as Japan beat Argentina 1–0 in friendly match to record its first ever win over the 1978 and 1986 world champions.
Okazaki scored his third international hat-trick in a 5–0 Group B win against Saudi Arabia at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. He then scored his kick in the semi-final Penalty shootout win over South Korea and played all 120 minutes of the final as Japan beat Australia to win the trophy for a fourth time.
Okazaki finished as top goalscorer in the Asian section of qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup with eight goals.
Okazaki scored twice at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, against Italy and Mexico respectively. However, Japan lost all three of its matches and was eliminated at the end of the group stage.
In June 2014, Okazaki was selected in the Japan's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In the team's third group match, a 4–1 defeat to Colombia, he scored Samurai Blue's only goal with a header in the 45th minute.
Okazaki was included in Japan's squad for the 2015 AFC Asian Cup and scored in a 4–0 defeat of Palestine during the group stage.
In March 2016 Okazaki was presented with a commemorative shirt with 100 on the back in a presentation to celebrate his 100th international appearance for Japan.
Okazaki is currently the top active Japan national team goalscorer and third all-time in team history with 50 international goals.
Leicester City
SD Huesca
Japan
Individual
Managerial career
Okazaki co-founded the German football club Basara Mainz in the 2014–15 season when he was a player of Mainz 05. Now he serves as the club adviser. The club is run by the other co-founder, Takashi Yamashita, former player of Mainz's reserve team Mainz 05 II. Basara Mainz started in tier 11 of the German football league system. It was promoted to tier 6, Verbandsliga Südwest, in 2019.
Career statistics
Club
+ Appearances and goals by club, season and competition Shimizu S-Pulse 2005 J.League Division 1 0 2006 0 2007 5 2008 11 2009 17 2010 16 VfB Stuttgart 2010–11 Bundesliga 2 2011–12 7 2012–13 4 Mainz 05 2013–14 Bundesliga 15 2014–15 14 Leicester City 2015–16 Premier League 6 2016–17 6 2017–18 7 2018–19 0 SD Huesca 2019–20 Segunda División 12 2020–21 La Liga 1 FC Cartagena 2021–22 Segunda División 2 Sint-Truiden 2022–23 Belgian Pro League 1 2023–24 1
International
+ Appearances and goals by national team and year Japan 0 15 3 8 3 7 4 7 2 1 0 0
+ List of international goals scored by Shinji Okazaki [1] [2] 2–0 [3] 2–0 [4] [5] [6] [7] 5–0 6–0 [8] 2–0 4–0 [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] 2–0 5–0 [14] [15] 8–0 [16] 4–0 [17] [18] [19] [20] 3–0 [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] 4–0 [27] [28] [29] [30] [31] [32] [33] 5–0 [34] [35] [36] [37]
Honours
VfB Stuttgart
See also
External links
Categories: 1986 Births, Living People, Sportspeople From Takarazuka, Hyōgo, Association Football People From Hyōgo Prefecture, Japanese Men's Footballers, Men's Association Football Forwards, Shimizu S-pulse Players, Vfb Stuttgart Players, 1. Fsv Mainz 05 Players, Leicester City F.c. Players, Málaga Cf Players, Sd Huesca Footballers, Fc Cartagena Footballers, Sint-truidense V.v. Players, J1 League Players, Bundesliga Players, Premier League Players, La Liga Players, Segunda División Players, Best Footballer In Asia, Olympic Footballers For Japan, Japan Men's International Footballers, Footballers At The 2008 Summer Olympics, 2010 Fifa World Cup Players, 2011 Afc Asian Cup Players, 2013 Fifa Confederations Cup Players, 2014 Fifa World Cup Players, 2015 Afc Asian Cup Players, 2018 Fifa World Cup Players, 2019 Copa América Players, Afc Asian Cup–winning Players, Fifa Men's Century Club, Japanese Expatriate Men's Footballers, Japanese Expatriate Sportspeople In Germany, Japanese Expatriate Sportspeople In England, Japanese Expatriate Sportspeople In Spain, Japanese Expatriate Sportspeople In Belgium, Expatriate Men's Footballers In Germany, Expatriate Men's Footballers In England, Expatriate Men's Footballers In Spain, Expatriate Men's Footballers In Belgium
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