Sōta Hirayama

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Personal information
Sota Hirayama
Full name	Sota Hirayama
Date of birth	June 6, 1985 (age 21)
Place of birth	Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan
Height	190cm
Playing position	Striker
Club information
Current club	F.C. Tokyo
Youth clubs
2001-2003 2004-2005	Kunimi High School Tsukuba University
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2005-2006 2006-	Heracles Almelo F.C. Tokyo	32 (8) 7 (2)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of January 11, 2007. ² National team caps and goals correct as of July 20, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Sōta Hirayama (平山相太, Hirayama Sōta^?, born June 6, 1985 in Kitakyushu, Fukuoka, Japan), is a Japanese footballer who　currently plays for FC Tokyo. He has represented Japan's U-20 team at the 2003 and 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, and the U-23 team at the 2004 Olympics.

1 Career
2 Club Career Statistics
- 2.1 In Domestic Competitions
3 National Team Career Stats
- 3.1 Major International Tournament Appearances
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Career

As a teenager, Hirayama attended Kunimi High School in Nagasaki Prefecture. There, he won the All-Japan National High School Championship all three years at the school, leading the tournament in scoring in 2002 and 2003. In 2003, he played in the U-20 FIFA 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.^[1]

After graduation in 2004, he enrolled at Tsukuba University instead of joining a professional club. That summer, Hirayama played in the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and the following year, played in his second FIFA World Youth Championship.

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.^[2] He made his professional debut with Heracles on August 20, 2005 agaist ADO Den Haag, playing 15 minutes and scoring 2 goals.^[3] 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 FIFA World Cup.

On September 4, 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.^[4] 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.^[5]