Sōta Hirayama

Sota Hirayama
平山 相太
Hirayama in 2010
Personal information
Full name Sota Hirayama
Date of birth (1985-06-06) 6 June 1985 (age 38)
Place of birth Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Position(s) Forward
Youth career
2001–2003 Kunimi High School
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2004–2005 University of Tsukuba
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2005–2006 Heracles Almelo 32 (8)
2006–2016 FC Tokyo 169 (33)
2017 Vegalta Sendai 0 (0)
Total 201 (41)
International career
2003–2005 Japan U-20 8 (3)
2004 Japan U-23 1 (0)
2010 Japan 4 (3)
Medal record
FC Tokyo
Winner J.League Cup 2009
Winner Emperor's Cup 2011
Representing  Japan
AFC U-19 Championship
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Malaysia
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Sota Hirayama (平山 相太, Hirayama Sōta, born 6 June 1985) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.

Club career

As a teenager, Hirayama attended Kunimi High School in Nagasaki Prefecture. There, he won the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament all three years at the school, leading the tournament in scoring in 2002 and 2003. After graduation in 2004, he enrolled at University of Tsukuba instead of joining a professional club.

In July 2005, Hirayama joined the Eredivisie club Feyenoord on trial and a week later, he joined another Dutch side, the newly promoted Heracles Almelo. He made his professional debut with Heracles on 20 August 2005 against ADO Den Haag, playing 15 minutes and scoring 2 goals.[1] He finished the 2005–2006 season with 31 appearances and 8 goals. Although both Japan's senior side manager Zico and Japan Football Association chairman Saburo Kawabuchi praised Hirayama's progress with Heracles, he was not called up to Japan's squad for the 2006 World Cup. On 4 September 2006, after the transfer period ended Heracles Almelo announced that Hirayama left the club by mutual consent and after being released he returned to Japan to finish his study.[2] Only a few days later he signed a contract with FC Tokyo without informing Heracles as a free agent, while he still had a contract until 2008 before his release. Heracles appealed to this unexpected move by Hirayama.[3]

Hirayama debuted in J1 League on 30 September 2006. After debut, his opportunity to play increased and he became a regular player from 2009. At 2009 J.League Cup, he scored a goal at Final and the club won the champions. However the club was relegated to J2 League end of 2010 season. In April 2011, he also broke his leg and he could only play one game. In 2012, the club returned to J1 League, however in May, he broke his leg again and he could hardly play in the match. From 2013 he played many matches as substitute. He moved to Vegalta Sendai in 2017. However he got hurt on the day after the opening game. He could not play for the injury in this season. In January 2018, he announced his retirement for many injuries.

International career

In 2003, Hirayama played for Japan U-20 national team in the 2003 World Youth Championship as a 17-year-old and scored two goals, including the game winner against Egypt to put Japan through to the knockout stage. In 2004, he played for Japan U-23 national team in the 2004 Summer Olympics and the following year, played in his second 2005 World Youth Championship.

His debut for the senior team came on 6 January 2010 in a 2011 Asian Cup qualification against Yemen, and would be a game he would never forget. After 30 minutes, Japan were down 2–0, but Hirayama scored a hat trick to help Japan to a 3–2 victory. It was the first time in 80 years and the second time overall for a Japan player to score three goals on his debut. Takeo Wakabayashi last managed that in 1930.[4] He also played at 2010 East Asian Football Championship in February. He played 4 games and scored 3 goals for Japan in 2010.[5]

Club statistics

[6][7]

Club Season League Cup League Cup UEFA Other* Total
!Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Kunimi H.S. 2001 - 2 1 - - - 2 1
2002 - 3 3 - - - 3 3
Total - 5 4 - - - 5 4
Heracles Almelo 2005/06 31 8 0 0 - - 2 0 33 8
2006/07 1 0 0 0 - - - 1 0
Total 32 8 0 0 - - 2 0 34 8
FC Tokyo 2006 7 2 0 0 0 0 - - 7 2
2007 20 5 3 2 2 0 - - 25 7
2008 24 2 3 2 8 4 - - 35 8
2009 26 4 3 1 9 4 - - 38 9
2010 29 7 3 3 6 1 - 1 1 39 12
2011 1 0 0 0 - - - 1 0
2012 4 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 - 6 0
2013 21 5 3 1 3 0 - - 27 6
2014 19 3 2 2 6 1 - - 27 6
2015 2 0 0 0 2 0 - - 4 0
2016 15 5 2 1 2 0 2 0 - 21 6
Total 168 33 19 12 39 10 3 0 1 1 230 56
Vegalta Sendai 2017 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - 0 0
Career total 200 41 24 16 39 10 3 0 3 1 269 68

*Includes other competitive competitions, including the UEFA Intertoto Cup Play-offs and Suruga Bank Championship.

Career statistics

International

[5]

Japan national team
Year Apps Goals
2010 4 3
Total 4 3

National team goals

Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first.

Under-20

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 19 October 2003 Sendai Stadium, Sendai  Chinese Taipei 2–0 7–0 AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification
2. 23 October 2003 Sendai Stadium, Sendai  Macau 2–0 7–0 AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification
3. 23 October 2003 Sendai Stadium, Sendai  Macau 3–0 7–0 AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification
4. 23 October 2003 Sendai Stadium, Sendai  Macau 5–0 7–0 AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification
5. 23 October 2003 Sendai Stadium, Sendai  Macau 6–0 7–0 AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification
6. 23 October 2003 Sendai Stadium, Sendai  Macau 7–0 7–0 AFC Youth Championship 2004 qualification
7. 5 December 2003 Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai  Egypt 1–0 1–0 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship
8. 12 December 2003 Al-Rashid Stadium, Dubai  Brazil 1–4 1–5 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship
9. 25 September 2004 Larkin Stadium, Johor Bahru    Nepal 2–0 3–0 2004 AFC Youth Championship
10. 6 October 2004 Cheras Stadium, Kuala Lumpur  South Korea 2–2 2–2 2004 AFC Youth Championship
11. 10 June 2005 Parkstad Limburg Stadion, Kerkrade  Netherlands 1–2 1–2 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship

Under-23

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 8 February 2004 Saitama Stadium, Saitama  Iran 1–0 1–1 Friendly Match (2004 Kirin Challenge Cup)
2. 30 July 2004 National Stadium, Tokyo  Venezuela 2–0 4–0 Friendly Match (2004 Kirin Challenge Cup)
3. 3 December 2006 Qatar SC Stadium, Doha  Syria 1–0 1–0 2006 Asian Games

Senior team

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. 6 January 2010 Ali Muhesen Stadium, Sana'a  Yemen 1–2 3–2 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification
2. 6 January 2010 Ali Muhesen Stadium, Sana'a  Yemen 2–2 3–2 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification
3. 6 January 2010 Ali Muhesen Stadium, Sana'a  Yemen 3–2 3–2 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification

Awards and honours

Club

FC Tokyo
2009
2010
2011
2011

References

  1. ^ "ADO Den Haag 1–2 SC Heracles Almelo". ESPNsoccernet. 20 August 2005. Retrieved 20 July 2006.
  2. ^ "Sota Hirayama verlaat Heracles Almelo". HeraclesAlmelo.nl. 4 September 2006. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 4 September 2006.
  3. ^ "Hirayama nog niet van Heracles af". NOS.nl. 12 September 2006. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 12 September 2006.
  4. ^ Japan rally past Yemen, qualify for 2011 Asian Cup
  5. ^ a b Japan National Football Team Database
  6. ^ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2017 J1&J2&J3選手名鑑 (NSK MOOK)", 8 February 2017, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411420 (p. 97 out of 289)
  7. ^ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2016J1&J2&J3選手名鑑", 10 February 2016, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411338 (p. 35 out of 289)

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sota Hirayama.
  • Sōta Hirayama – FIFA competition record (archived)
  • Sōta Hirayama at National-Football-Teams.com
  • Japan National Football Team Database
  • Sōta Hirayama at J.League (archive) (in Japanese)
  • Profile at Vegalta Sendai
  • Rising Sun News profile at the Wayback Machine (archived 11 May 2006)
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