Naoki Yamada (山田 直輝) is a Japanese footballer who plays for Shonan Bellmare.

Early life

His father is a former football player who played for Mazda SC and Japan U-20 national team.

National team career

In August 2007, Yamada was elected Japan U-17 national team for 2007 U-17 World Cup. He wore the number 10 shirt for Japan and played full time in all 3 matches. Yamada made his senior national team debut on 27 May 2009, in a friendly match against Chile at Nagai Stadium in Osaka and assisted on a goal by Keisuke Honda.

Frequent injuries

Yamada has suffered from frequent injuries that kept him out for several matches. On 6 January 2010 in 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification between Yemen and Japan, Yamada was forced to go out after 21 minutes after his right leg was exposed to a violent break after the intervention of the Yemeni defender Ahmed Sadeq to miss the matches for a period of 3 months. On 20 March 2012, Yamada was exposed to yet another injury with a break in the anterior cruciate ligament in a match between Urawa Reds and Vegalta Sendai in the 2012 J. League Cup. Urawa Reds announced his absence from the matches for a period of 6 months. And deprived of participation in the 2012 Summer Olympics with Japan.

Career statistics

Club

Updated to 20 February 2019.

International

Honours

Japan