I starred at World Cup and ended up in Premier League… I was lying to myself so quit at 29 to start booze and tea empire
HIDETOSHI NAKATA didn’t dream of becoming a legendary footballer.
The Japanese star, now 48, wasn’t one of those kids that felt a deep-rooted passion for the game.
But due to incredible talent and eye-catching flair, the skilful midfielder went on to become one of his nation’s best ever players.
Despite not loving every aspect of the beautiful game, Nakata wasn’t one to shy away from the limelight.
While still playing in the J.League, the silky dribbler was so desperate to be spotted at the 1998 World Cup by scouts from Europe that he dyed his hair before every game.
Nakata got his wish with a £3.1million move to Perugia in Serie A, then considered the best league in the world.
Why then, did he find himself quitting football aged 29 just eight years later? And how did he go on to create his own booze empire?
“I’m not a fan of football, I like to play football,” Nakata told The Athletic. “That’s the reason I left, I had lost the passion. If I didn’t have the passion, it was like I was lying to myself.”
Having moved to Roma after two years with Perugia, Nakata fell in love with Italian culture.
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“Italy is all about the fashion, music, design, architecture, food, so you can imagine how it influenced me,” he said.
On the pitch, Nakata managed to help Roma to the Serie A title, but there was one challenge that proved too much.
Displacing future club legend Francesco Totti.
Nonetheless, Nakata had more than quadrupled his value since his initial move to Perugia, with Parma willing to spend £18m on his services.
Nakata’s passion for fashion off the pitch drew comparisons with David Beckham at the time, while thousands of passionate Japanese fans would flock to his matches – creating a fever pitch as he became the poster boy of the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.
Following an underwhelming move to Fiorentina, the football trailblazer signed for Sam Allardyce‘s Bolton Wanderers on a season-long loan deal in 2005.
Mid-way through that season, despite still being in his 20s, he decided that enough was enough.
Like Zinedine Zidane, a player whose effortless skills Nakata couldn’t help but admire, the Japanese icon hung up his boots after playing at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Following three years of travelling the world, Nakata returned to to his homeland and started a sake business.
MASTER OF SAKE
“When I was living in Italy, in my spare time, I used to visit wineries in the country,” he revealed. “So I started liking not only wine itself, but the people making the wines and the environment.
“Then when I came back to Japan, thinking about Japanese culture, obviously it’s not about the wine. It’s sake, right?
“So then I said, ‘OK, it’s unique, because sake is only made in Japan’. And, at that time, the Japanese food scene was becoming known around the world, but no one knew about the sake, including myself, so I thought that was a great opportunity to know about Japanese sake because it’s also part of Japanese culture as well.”
Sake, an alcoholic drink likened to wine and made of fermented rice, went on to become Nakata’s new field of expertise, to a point where he even earned a “Master of Sake” qualification.
While he sometimes struggled with his lack of love for football, he found that passion in his businesses.
Nakata owns the Japan Craft Sake Company, as well as his Hanaahu luxury tea brand.
He also remains involved in fashion, having modelled the sort of Stone Island range worn by football fans across the globe.
Speaking to the brand’s website, Nakata revealed his next goal.
Ever the unorthodox former footballer, he said: “I want to change the farming industry.”
And you wouldn’t bet against him.