Takayuki Nishigaya facts for kids
| Personal information | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Takayuki Nishigaya | |||||||||
| Date of birth | 12 May 1973 | |||||||||
| Place of birth | Shizuoka, Shizuoka, Japan | |||||||||
| Height | 1.80 m | |||||||||
| Playing position | Midfielder, Defender | |||||||||
| Club information | ||||||||||
| Current club | Thailand U23 (head coach) | |||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||
| 1989–1991 | Shimizu Commercial High School | |||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† | |||||||
| 1996–1997 | Nagoya Grampus Eight | 35 | (0) | |||||||
| 1998 | Avispa Fukuoka | 25 | (0) | |||||||
| 1999 | Verdy Kawasaki | 3 | (0) | |||||||
| 2000 | JEF United Ichihara | 0 | (0) | |||||||
| 2001 | Albirex Niigata | 37 | (0) | |||||||
| Total | 100 | (0) | ||||||||
| Teams managed | ||||||||||
| 2003–2004 | Tsukuba University (assistant) | |||||||||
| 2004–2010 | Tokyo Verdy (assistant) | |||||||||
| 2010–2012 | Chukyo University (assistant) | |||||||||
| 2012 | Albirex Niigata (assistant) | |||||||||
| 2015–2017 | Mito HollyHock | |||||||||
| 2018 | SC Sagamihara | |||||||||
| 2019–2020 | Matsumoto Yamaga U18 | |||||||||
| 2020–2021 | Matsumoto Yamaga (assistant) | |||||||||
| 2022–2024 | Singapore | |||||||||
| 2024– | Thailand U23 | |||||||||
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Honours
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Takayuki Nishigaya (西ヶ谷 隆之, Nishigaya Takayuki, born 12 May 1973) is a Japanese professional football manager. He used to be a footballer himself. Currently, he is the head coach for the Thailand under-23 national team.
Contents
Playing Football: Takayuki Nishigaya's Career
Takayuki Nishigaya was born in Shizuoka, Japan, on May 12, 1973. After finishing college at the University of Tsukuba, he started his professional football career.
Early Club Teams
In 1996, Nishigaya joined Nagoya Grampus Eight, a top-tier club in Japan's J1 League. He mainly played as a central defender during his first year. In 1998, he moved to Avispa Fukuoka. There, he became a regular player, often playing as a left-back.
Later Club Teams
In 1999, Nishigaya moved to Verdy Kawasaki. He didn't play much there. The next year, in 2000, he joined JEF United Ichihara, where he also had limited playing time. In 2001, he moved to J2 League club Albirex Niigata. At this club, he played in many different positions. These included defensive midfielder, central defender, and left-back. He stopped playing professional football at the end of the 2001 season.
Coaching Football: Takayuki Nishigaya's Journey
After ending his playing career, Nishigaya began coaching. He started at his old college, the University of Tsukuba, in 2003.
Coaching for Youth and Assistant Roles
In 2004, he joined Tokyo Verdy and coached their youth teams until 2009. He then became a manager for Meiji University in 2010. Nishigaya also worked as an assistant coach for several professional clubs. He was with Albirex Niigata in 2012. From 2013 to 2015, he was an assistant at Mito HollyHock.
Becoming a Head Coach
At Mito HollyHock, Nishigaya was promoted to head coach. This happened after the previous coach left. In February 2018, he became the head coach of SC Sagamihara. Later, he moved to Matsumoto Yamaga. There, he first coached the under-18 team. Then, in 2020, he became an assistant coach for the main team.
Coaching the Singapore National Team
In April 2022, Nishigaya was chosen to manage the Singapore national team. He signed a two-year contract. Under his leadership, Singapore tried to qualify for the 2023 AFC Asian Cup. They won one match but lost two, so they did not qualify.
He also led the team in the 2022 AFF Championship. Singapore won two matches and drew one. However, they lost a key game against Malaysia. This meant they did not reach the semi-finals.
In June 2023, Singapore played friendly matches against teams from Oceania. They drew both games. Nishigaya then led Singapore to a 3–1 win over Guam. This was in the first round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers. However, in the second round, Singapore lost two matches. They lost 5–0 to South Korea and 3–1 to Thailand. On January 29, 2024, Nishigaya's time as Singapore's head coach ended.
Current Role: Thailand U23
Since September 2024, Takayuki Nishigaya has been the head coach of the Thailand under-23 national team.
