Shunsuke Nakamura arrived at Celtic twenty years ago

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The Celtic Star

·30 de julho de 2025

Shunsuke Nakamura arrived at Celtic twenty years ago

The King of Japan arrives in Glasgow…

Japanese international Shunsuke Nakamura arrives at Glasgow Airport/ (Photo IAN STEWART/AFP via Getty Images)

It was 20 years ago this week that a Japanese footballer, unfamiliar to most Celtic supporters I think it’s fair to say, arrived in the east end of Glasgow. In his four years at the club, Shunsuke Nakamura delivered some sensational, iconic moments in a Celtic shirt. One of the most technically gifted players it has been my pleasure to watch.

Vídeos OneFootball

In researching my 2023 publication Majic, Stan and the King of Japan, I delved into Naka’s background prior to his arrival at Celtic. Here is the relevant text covering his early career, which sees him cross paths with a number of former and future Celts. Hopefully by now Shunsuke has had the opportunity to see this for himself. A few weeks ago, my lovely friend Nobu Yamanaka presented the great man with a personal copy of the book on my behalf.

Majic, Stan and the King of Japan by Matt Corr. Order now in our summer sale and save £5. Click in image to order.

Shunsuke Nakamura had also cut his international teeth in a World Youth Cup, this time the Malaysian finals of 1997. He scored an early goal as the Japanese beat Costa Rica 6-2, securing his team’s passage from a group also containing Spain and Paraguay.

Japan would go on to beat Australia in the Last 16, before succumbing to an extra-time defeat by Ghana. At that same quarter-final stage, Uruguay beat a French side boasting Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet and Nicolás Anelka, 7-6 on penalty kicks.

Former Celtic coach Damien Duff had scored an extra-time winner for the Republic of Ireland in their Last 16 tie against Morocco, the Irish then memorably beating Spain before losing 1-0 to an Argentina side including the wonderful Joan Roman Riquelme and Pablo Aimar in the semi-final. The Argentinians beat neighbours Uruguay in the final, a rematch of the first World Cup Final, whilst Duff would again produce a winning goal in the Play-off with Ghana, to secure an excellent bronze medal for Ireland.

Bildnummer: 00583835 Datum: 15.08.2002 Copyright: imago/BuzziShunsuke Nakamura (Reggina); Vdig, hoch Serie A 2002/2003, Saisonvorbereitung, Reggina Calcio, 1. Italienische Liga Reggina Fußball Herren Mannschaft Italien Porträt Randmotiv Personen

On his return from Malaysia, Shunsuke signed for Yokohama F Marinos, a club from his birthplace owned by Nissan Motors and where he had commenced his early career as a youth. In February 2000, he was given his international debut by Philippe Troussier, later being named Most Valuable Player in the J-League.

Nakamura was an ever-present as Japan won the Asian Cup in Lebanon that October, before falling out of favour with the Frenchman after a crushing 5-0 defeat from the coach’s home country. Despite regaining his place shortly before the 2002 World Cup, to be held in his native Japan and South Korea, a combination of injury and competition for places saw Shunsuke miss out on a dream appearance on home soil.

A disillusioned Nakamura then decided to ply his trade abroad and, despite interest from Real Madrid, his next destination was Italy’s Serie A with newly-promoted Reggina. A productive first season there, where his goals and assists were vital in ‘gli amaranto’ retaining its top-flight status, was capped by a strong performance in the 2003 Confederations Cup, held in France.

Bildnummer: 00583827 Datum: 15.08.2002 Copyright: imago/BuzziShunsuke Nakamura (Reggina); Vdig, hoch Serie A 2002/2003, Saisonvorbereitung, Reggina Calcio, 1. Italienische Liga Reggina Dynamik, Fußball Herren Mannschaft Italien Einzelbild Randmotiv Personen

Nakamura’s double in the Stade de France helped the Japanese to a 3-0 first-game victory over New Zealand, the playmaker on target again in his side’s 2-1 defeat by the hosts in St Etienne. Injury caused him to miss the single-goal defeat to Columbia which marked the end of Japan’s participation, however his three goals were enough to earn him the Bronze Boot behind Thierry Henry and Turkey’s Tuncay, missing out on the Silver award by a solitary assist.

The tournament will be remembered for the saddest of reasons, as Olympique Lyonnais star Marc-Vivien Foe, at that time on loan to Manchester City, collapsed and died on his home pitch during Cameroon’s semi-final victory over Colombia, the same Stade de Gerland in Lyon where Henrik Larsson had suffered a horrific double leg-break four years earlier. In a lovely tribute, Foe was posthumously awarded the Bronze Ball, Henry and Tuncay again filling the top two places.

29.09.2002 Photo imago/BuzziShunsuke Nakamura (li. Reggina) gegen Stjepan Tomas (Como) Vdig, quer, Zweikampf, Duell, Ball, Serie A 2002/2003, 1. Italienische Liga, Como Calcio – Reggina Calcio 1:1 Como Dynamik, Kampf, Fußball Herren Mannschaft Italien Gruppenbild Aktion Personen

An injury-plagued domestic 2003/04 season concluded on a high, Nakamura voted the Most Valuable Player as Japan retained the Asian Cup in China, beating their hosts and fierce rivals 3-1 in the final. Nakamura now sported the famous No.10 jersey once worn by his new national coach, the Brazilian superstar Zico.

Lining up against him in Beijing was future Celt, Zheng Zhi. He would succeed Du Wei as national captain and become the second Chinese player to sign for Celtic, making his debut at Ibrox under Tony Mowbray in a 2-1 defeat in October 2009. Incredibly, the then 38-year-old Zhi was still the captain of China and earning his 108th cap in the 2019 Asian Cup, held in the United Arab Emirates whilst I was over there preparing for the Tokyo Marathon and sharing a Dubai hotel with a Celtic squad enjoying their own winter training camp in what would prove to be the final weeks of the first Brendan Rodgers regime.

15.08.2002 Photo: imago/Buzzi – Shunsuke Nakamura

Zheng Zhi opened his country’s 2004 account from the spot in the opening 2-2 draw with Bahrain, whilst Shunsuke Nakamura did likewise, with the only goal against Oman, the Japanese playmaker then scoring the equaliser in their second game, a 4-1 win over Thailand. Zheng went one better with a late penalty double in China’s 3-0 quarter-final victory over Iraq, whilst Nakamura surprisingly missed the first shootout spot-kick then heaved a sigh of relief as Japan edged past Jordan by 4-3.

Zheng converted the opening penalty as China won their semi-final by the same margin against Iran, however, the Final say went to Nakamura, a man-of-the-match performance securing a third Asian title for Japan. A third future Celtic star was also on the scoresheet in this competition, stocky Eintracht Frankfurt defender Cha Du-ri plying his trade with his hometown team, thus becoming the first player to represent South Korea having not been born in the country. His moment of glory came in first-half stoppage time in the final group game against Kuwait, the third in a 4-0 victory to secure qualification.

Shunsuke Nakamura began his third season on Italy’s ‘big toe’ under a fifth coach, Walter Mazzarri, the Japanese midfielder’s only two goals of 2004/05 both securing vital 1-0 wins as Reggina escaped relegation by just two points. Frustrated by constant managerial change and annual survival dogfights, Nakamura sought a move elsewhere.

Bildnummer: 01277540 Datum: 03.10.2004 Copyright: imago/BuzziShunsuke Nakamura (Reggina, re.) gegen Gennaro Gattuso (Milan); hoch, Zweikampf, Duell, Ball Serie A 2004/2005, 1. Italienische Liga, AC Mailand – Reggina Calcio 3:1, Vdig Mailand Dynamik, Fußball Herren Mannschaft Italien Gruppenbild Aktion Personen

First though, there was the small matter of the 2005 Confederations Cup, to be held in Germany in the second fortnight of June, Japan again representing Asia in their role as continental champions. The hosts featured future Celt Andreas Hinkel, plus a young defender who had a trial at Celtic Park under Martin O’Neill in July 2000, before joining Aston Villa from Bayern Munich’s youth academy, Thomas Hitzlsperger. ‘Der Hammer’ would go on to have a fine career in the Midlands then with VfB Stuttgart, winning the Bundesliga and the majority of his 52 senior caps with the latter.

Hitzlsperger appeared in the home World Cup of 2006, where the Germans took bronze, then Euro 2008, when they lost to Spain in the final in Vienna, but he then missed the final cut for the 2010 squad bound for South Africa. Following less productive spells at Lazio, West Ham, Wolfsburg and Everton, Thomas retired in 2013, later becoming the highest-profile professional footballer yet to ‘come out’ as gay.

Celtic’s Shunsuke Nakamura runs with the ball during his match against the Scottish Premiership opposing Hibernian to the Glasgow Celtic 18 September 2005 in Edinburgh. (Photo GLENN CAMPBELL/AFP via Getty Images)

In the Germans’ group back in 2005 was Australia, featuring former Celtic striker Mark Viduka, by then approaching his 30th birthday and playing at Middlesbrough. His tournament would comprise just the second half of the Socceroos’ 4-2 defeat by Argentina in Nuremberg, then the first half of a 2-0 loss to Tunisia in Leipzig.

The Japanese were paired with World Champions Brazil in Group B, and they got off to the worst possible start as Mexico recovered from a goal down to win 2-1 in Hanover, Shunsuke Nakamura having been substituted after an hour with the sides locked at 1-1. However, they bounced back immediately with a single-goal victory over Greece in Frankfurt, Nakamura turning in a man-of-the-match performance before leaving the field in the last minute.

Shunsuke Nakamura, Celtic. Photo: imago/AFLOSPORT

He took the star man honours again in the final group game, against the Brazilians in Cologne, Nakamura scoring the first equaliser as Japan fought back twice for a 2-2 draw, the Samurai Blue losing out on qualification to the brilliant South American stars and eventual winners only on goal difference.

With Japan’s interest in the Confederations Cup over, Shunsuke weighed up his options. New Celtic manager Gordon Strachan had been impressed with the performances of the Japanese playmaker in Germany and, despite interest from the Bundesliga, Spain, Italy and England, Strachan would win the prized signature, and for less than half the reported £2.5m fee. Over the next few seasons, that would be up there with the Henrik Larsson deal in terms of value for money.

Barcelona’s Lionel Messi is challenged by Celtic’s Shunsuke Nakamura during the first leg of their European Champions League round-of-16 tie in Glasgow, Scotland, on Feb. 20, 2008. Photo IMAGO.

It also raised the profile of Celtic in his native Japan beyond all expectations, as I observed first-hand on a visit there in 2019. Then 41 years of age, Nakamura was still playing in the Japanese top-flight with Jubilo Iwata and he would then spend a further three seasons with hometown club Yokohama FC, before retiring in October 2022. A truly wonderful footballer, respected, revered and adored by supporters from Tokyo to Tollcross.

Earlier this summer, I had the opportunity to speak twice with Gordon Strachan about Shunsuke’s time at Celtic, once at a private event and the second when I formally interviewed him for The Celtic Star. There is no doubting the former Celtic manager’s admiration for his Japanese star. Here is the transcript of that interview so you can read it for yourself.

Photo:imago AFLOSPORT – Shunsuke Nakamura, Glasgow Celtic

“To be fair, nobody knew who he was when I was there. We didn’t have a real recruitment [department]that spread its wings beyond the UK in those days. It didn’t go any further than that. It was the manager’s knowledge. That was it.

I had seen Naka on my travels, on the sabbatical I had between Southampton and Manchester City. I went to a lot of different games, and I saw this fellow playing with Reggina. Their owner at that time was a bit eccentric to say the least. I think he had signed Colonel Gaddafi’s son, that’s the kind of guy he was.

It was quite simple. When I got in there [to Celtic], we looked about. We were short of midfield players. The game was changing a wee bit. It wasn’t easy at that time. It wasn’t like now when you can put in a player’s name and all his information comes at you. We had to go and pick out different games on video. Get them taped. And then I gave one to Tommy [Burns], gave one to Garry Pendrey and I gave one to Jim Blyth. I said, “Listen have a look at this tonight, lads, and tell me what you think. I’ve seen this fella. I think he’s terrific. He’s left-footed but he can play in a lot of different positions.”

12 11 2008. Photo imago AFLOSPORT Shunsuke Nakamura Celtic Glasgow

Ok so we went away and the next again day they all come along and said, “Woah. Where did you see him?”

So I told them, and we all agreed that we’ll go for this fella. And that was our recruitment thing at the time.

So we did that, and we got him on board. The fee was just over one million pounds, I think. He wasn’t highly paid. He wasn’t a big earner at that time. We had to cut the wage bill. The club had decided that was no longer viable, so we had to look at people in that price range.

It was about one of the best things we ever did. Not only for his ability on the pitch but his professionalism on and off the pitch spread through the club. To the Gary Caldwells, Stephen McManus, Aiden, Sean…they all joined in with his professionalism.

And that was without the aid of sports science. It was just people looking at a good player on the pitch and saying, “Right I’ll try to emulate some of that.” It’s the same when you see a good player off the pitch, you go, “I’ll emulate some of that.”

So that’s what he did. He was different to anybody else we had seen.

Talking about good professionals. We all thought we were good professionals, even myself, until we had seen this fella. He was dedicated to the game. He went on to play until he was 43 or something like that? Something crazy.”

Hail, Hail!

Matt Corr

Follow Matt on X/Twitter @Boola_vogue

Majic, Stan & The King of Japan available on Celticstarbooks.com

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