title winners Kashiwa Reysol) and went on to win promotion back to the J1 League. After ten more appearances during the 2020 season, with his team finishing 15th in the table, during the 2021 season Nakamura played twelve more matches (plus one game each in the League Cup and the Emperor's Cup) as Yokohama finished bottom of the league and got relegated. However, on 22 December 2021, the club announced that the midfielder had just extended his contract with them for one more year. Retirement Shunsuke Nakamura announcement officially retirement from football after 25 years career as professional football activities in 2022. International career Youth national teams Nakamura's national team career with Japan started in 1996 as the only high school player selected to the Under-19 team for the Asia Youth Championship. The following year, he was a member of Japan's Under-20 team that finished in the final 8 of the 1997 World Youth Championship. In 1999, Nakamura was selected a member of Japan's Under-23 team that won all its Asian qualifying matches in the run up to the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney. Nakamura formed a lethal combination in the attacking midfield with Shinji Ono on a team that would form the core of the Japanese national team, and included Atsushi Yanagisawa, Junichi Inamoto and Naohiro Takahara. In Sydney, Japan reached the quarterfinal round. Under Troussier Nakamura made his senior national team debut on 13 February 2000, in an Asian Cup qualifier match against Singapore. He scored his first national team goal against Brunei in the very next match on 16 February 2000, also in Asian Cup qualifying. After playing a key role in Japan's championship at the 2000 Asian Cup, Nakamura appeared to have cemented his place in the national team, having played every match of the tournament. However, his national team career took a sharp turn in a friendly match on 25 March 2001, a humiliating 5–0 loss to France. He did not play for the team led by manager Philippe Troussier again until almost a year later, in a friendly match against Ukraine on 21 March 2002. Although Nakamura played in four friendly matches leading up to the 2002 World Cup Finals, he was left out of the 23-man squad to the disappointment of fans. In the second to last warm up match for the World Cup against Honduras, he scored two goals, one of them