Takashi Hirano

Takashi Hirano
平野孝
Personal information
Date of birth	July 15, 1974 (age 50)
Place of birth	Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1990–1992	Shimizu Shogyo High School
Senior career*
Years	Team
1993–2000	Nagoya Grampus Eight
2000	Kyoto Purple Sanga
2001	Júbilo Iwata
2002	Vissel Kobe
2003–2005	Tokyo Verdy
2006	Yokohama F. Marinos
2007	Omiya Ardija
2008–2010	Vancouver Whitecaps
Total
International career
1997–2000	Japan
Medal record
Nagoya Grampus Eight
Júbilo Iwata
Tokyo Verdy
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Takashi Hirano (平野孝, Hirano Takashi, born July 15, 1974) is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He played for the Japan national team.

Club career

Hirano attended Shimizu Shogyo High School, where he won the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament in 1991.

Hirano began his professional career in the J1 League in 1993, with Nagoya Grampus Eight, winning the Emperor's Cup in 1995 and 1999 and the Japanese Super Cup in 1996, and scoring 43 goals in 213 appearances for the team. He transferred to Kyoto Purple Sanga in 2000, and although his team won promotion from the J2 League in 2001, he played just 5 league games before moving on to Júbilo Iwata.

After brief and largely unremarkable stints at Vissel Kobe, Tokyo Verdy, Yokohama F. Marinos and Omiya Ardija, Hirano moved to North America and signed for Vancouver Whitecaps in the USL First Division in 2008.

On September 30, 2008, Hirano was called up to the USL First Division All-League Team,^[1] and on October 12, 2008, helped the Whitecaps capture their second USL First Division Championship by beating the Puerto Rico Islanders 2–1 in the USL1 Championship game.^[2]

On January 20, 2009 the Whitecaps announced a contract extension for Hirano for the 2009 season.^[3]

Hirano announced his retirement from the game in January 2011.

International career

Hirano played for the Japan U-20 national team, which competed at the 1992 AFC Youth Championship.

On June 8, 1997, he debuted and scored a goal for Japan national team against Croatia. He also participated in the 1998 World Cup qualification in 1997. In 1998, he was selected for Japan's squad in the 1998 World Cup, playing two games as a substitute. He played 15 games and scored 4 goals for Japan until 2000.^[4]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			National cup^[a]		League cup^[b]		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Nagoya Grampus Eight	1993	J1 League	19	4	3	1	3	1	25	6
	1994		36	4	2	0	1	0	39	4
	1995		50	9	5	2	–		55	11
	1996		29	7	0	0	14	5	43	12
	1997		21	4	1	0	6	3	28	7
	1998		30	8	4	0	0	0	34	8
	1999		28	7	5	1	6	2	39	10
	2000		9	0	0	0	0	0	9	0
	Total		222	43	20	4	30	11	272	58
Kyoto Purple Sanga	2000	J1 League	7	1	1	0	4	0	12	1
Júbilo Iwata	2001	J1 League	3	0	1	0	0	0	4	0
Vissel Kobe	2002	J1 League	28	1	1	0	5	0	34	1
Tokyo Verdy	2003	J1 League	25	4	3	1	5	0	33	5
	2004		28	4	1	0	7	1	36	5
	2005		27	0	1	1	6	0	34	1
	Total		80	8	5	2	18	1	103	11
Yokohama F. Marinos	2006	J1 League	9	0	0	0	6	0	15	0
Omiya Ardija	2007	J1 League	3	1	1	0	0	0	4	1
Vancouver Whitecaps	2008	USL First Division	22	1					22	1
	2009	USL First Division	28	0					28	0
	2010	D2 Pro League	15	0					15	0
	Total		65	1					65	1
Career total			417	55	29	6	63	12	509	73

^ Includes Emperor's Cup, Open Cup
^ Includes J.League Cup

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year^[4]
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Japan	1997	5	1
	1998	7	2
	1999	0	0
	2000	3	1
Total		15	4

Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Hirano goal.

List of international goals scored by Takashi Hirano
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	8 June 1997	Tokyo, Japan	Croatia	1–0	4–3	1997 Kirin Cup
2	15 February 1998	Adelaide, Australia	Australia	2–0	3–0	Friendly
3	15 February 1998	Adelaide, Australia	Australia	3–0	3–0	Friendly
4	16 February 2000	Macau, China	Brunei	6–0	9–0	2000 AFC Asian Cup qualification