Naoya Kikuchi

Naoya Kikuchi

Personal information
Full name	Naoya Kikuchi
Height	1.81 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder / Defender
Team information
Current team	Albirex Niigata
Number	36
Youth career
1997-1999	Shimizu S-Pulse Junior Youth
2000-2002	Shimizu Commercial High School
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2003-2007	Júbilo Iwata	79	(5)
2005	→ Albirex Niigata (loan)	15	(1)
2008-2009	Carl Zeiss Jena	20	(0)
2009-2010	Oita Trinita	45	(0)
2011-	Albirex Niigata
International career‡
2001-2002	Japan U-17
2002-2004	Japan U-20
2004	Japan U-23
2010	Japan	1	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 28 January 2011 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 28 January 2011

Naoya Kikuchi (菊地 直哉, Kikuchi Naoya, born November 24, 1984 in Shimizu, Shizuoka) is a professional Japanese footballer currently playing for Albirex Niigata.

Career

Kikuchi played for the Shimizu S-Pulse junior youth team and Shimizu Commercial High School, which has a strong soccer tradition with players such as Shinji Ono among its alumni. After graduating the school, he joined Júbilo Iwata and briefly loaned to Albirex Niigata. In 2002, he was invited to have a try-out at Arsenal F.C. and later went on to have another trial with a Dutch team, Feyenoord.

On 13 June 2007, Kikuchi was arrested in Hamamatsu city for the charge of an statutory rape on a 15-year-old high school student. He was suspend an indictment and released some days later. On 29 June 2007 he was sacked by the club after the scandal. The Japan Football Association imposed one year suspension on him. After performing voluntary community service for some months, he moved to Germany and joined FC Carl Zeiss Jena.

In 2009 summer, Kikuchi left FC Carl Zeiss Jena and joined another German club FC Schalke 04 on trial and signed on 27 July 2009 for Oita Trinita.

Club team career statistics

Last update: 28 January 2011 Template:Football player statistics 1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2003||rowspan="3"|Júbilo Iwata||rowspan="6"|J. League Division 1||7||0||3||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||12||0 |- |2004||18||1||5||0||5||0||2||0||30||1 |- |rowspan="2"|2005||9||0||colspan="2"|-||1||1||4||0||14||1 |- |Albirex Niigata||15||1||2||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||17||1 |- |2006||rowspan="2"|Júbilo Iwata||32||3||3||0||8||0||colspan="2"|-||43||3 |- |2007||13||1||colspan="2"|-||4||0||colspan="2"|-||17||1 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2007-08||rowspan="2"|Carl Zeiss Jena||2. Fußball-Bundesliga||3||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||4||0 |- |2008-09||3rd Liga||17||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||18||0 Template:Football player statistics 2 |- |2009||rowspan="2"|Oita Trinita||J. League Division 1||10||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||12||0 |- |2010||J. League Division 2||35||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||36||0 |- |2011||Albirex Niigata||J. League Division 1||||||||||||||colspan="2"|-|||| Template:Football player statistics 5159||6||18||0||20||1||6||0||203||7 Template:Football player statistics end

International career statistics

Template:Football player national team statistics |- |2010||1||0 |- !Total||1||0 |}

National team

He was part of the 2004 Olympic football team for Japan that exited the tournament in the first round, having finished last in group B behind the teams from Paraguay, Italy, and Ghana. He also had an impressive World U-17 Championship tournament in 2001. He capped for Japan U-20 team at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship.

He made his full international debut for Japan on January 6, 2010 in a 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Yemen.

External links

• Profile at Oita Trinita Template:Ja icon
• FIFA Statistics
• transfermarkt