Takayuki Suzuki (鈴木 隆行,Suzuki Takayuki; born 5 June 1976) is a Japanese former professionalfootballer who played as aforward. He made over 50 appearances for theJapan national team and he played professionally for two decades in Japan, Brazil, Belgium, Serbia and the United States.
Suzuki has spent the majority of his playing career withKashima Antlers, playing six stints for the team over the course of ten years, in between short periods playing in Brazil and Belgium. Suzuki played 87 games in theJ1 League for Kashima, scoring 17 goals, and helping the team win the J1 Championship in1996,1998,2000 and2001.
Takayuki Suzuki had not scored for 1790 minutes/46 games consecutive, until he scored a goal against RSC Anderlecht in September 2003.
On 28 January 2006, Suzuki signed withRed Star Belgrade during the2005–06 season winter break at the periodToyota was the main sponsor of the club.[1] However, Suzuki's time in Serbia was a disappointment and his move back to J1 League to joinYokohama F. Marinos was announced on 19 January 2007.[2]
He played all four of Japan's games at the2002 World Cup on home soil, starting the first three and scoring in the 2–2 tie againstBelgium; Japan were eliminated in the round of 16 following a 1–0 defeat toTurkey.[6]
He was also part of the Japanese team which won the2004 Asian Cup. He played 55 games and scored 11 goals for Japan until 2005.[6]
