Naoko Kawakami

Naoko Kawakami
川上直子
Personal information
Full name	Naoko Kawakami
Date of birth	November 16, 1977 (age 43)
Place of birth	Akashi, Hyogo, Japan
Height	1.56 m (5 ft 1+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
National team
Tasaki Perule FC
Nippon TV Beleza
Representing Japan
AFC Women's Asian Cup
Asian Games
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Naoko Kawakami (川上直子, Kawakami Naoko, born November 16, 1977) is a former Japanese football player. She played for Japan national team.

Club career[]

Kawakami was born in Akashi on November 16, 1977. In 1990, she was 13 years old, she joined for Tasaki-Shinju Kobe (later Tasaki Perule FC). She previously played midfielder. However, when she entered Japan national team, she became a right back. After success at this position, she remained a defender when she transferred to Nippon TV Beleza. She had a lot of success with her two clubs, winning one L.League title with her first club in 2003 and three Empress's Cups, and two other titles with her second one. She was also selected Best Eleven 5 times (2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005).

National team career[]

On March 16, 2001, Kawakami debuted for Japan national team against Chinese Taipei. She played at 2001, 2003 AFC Championship and 2002 Asian Games. She was also a member of Japan for 2003 World Cup and the 2004 Olympic Games.^[1] She played 48 games for Japan until 2005.^[2]

After retirement[]

After retiring from international football in 2005 and from football the following year, Kawakami became a commentator for NBS at the 2007 World Cup qualification round. She then commented the final tournament for Fuji TV. In 2011, she was commentator for NHK during the Women's World Cup tournament, including when the Japan national team won the world title.