Shinji Okazaki, a former member of Japan's national soccer team and the third-highest scorer of 50 points, will retire at the end of this season.
This was announced on the official website of Sint-Truiden, a club in the Belgian First Division, to which Okazaki belongs, on the 26th.
Okazaki is a 37-year-old from Hyogo Prefecture.
He is a forward with the agility to jump out behind the defense at the right time, and his playing style is characterized by a fighting spirit that allows him to take shots while falling down.
He joined Shimizu S-Pulse of the J League in 2005 from Takikawa Daini High School and played an active role as a central forward player.
After that, he ventured overseas and played for Stuttgart and Mainz in the German First Division, before joining Leicester in the English Premier League in 2015 and contributing to their league championship.
After playing for a club in Spain, he has been playing for Sint-Truiden in the Belgian First Division since 2022.
With the Japanese national team, he has been selected for three consecutive World Cups since the 2010 South Africa tournament, and has played in 119 games for the national team, scoring 50 points, the third most in history behind Kunishige Kamamoto and Tomoyoshi Miura. I am.
This season, due to injuries, he had fewer opportunities to play in Sint-Truiden.
Okazaki made a comment through the club, saying, ``I've been doing my best as a soccer player, but before I knew it, my body was falling apart and I naturally felt that I had reached my limits. I feel that it was fate that I decided to do this. I will do my best to contribute to the team while aiming to return until the end of the season."
Okazaki is said to be planning to hold a press conference to announce his retirement after this season.