Shinji Okazaki

Shimizu S-Pulse

After graduating Takigawa Daini High School in 2004, Okazaki signed full professional terms with Shimizu S-Pulse the following year. In December 2005, he made his first J.League appearance as a substitute against Sanfrecce Hiroshima. On 15 April 2007, he scored his first professional goal against Kawasaki Frontale. Okazaki ended his first season as a first team player with three goals from 13 matches. Okazaki scored ten times in 27 matches during the 2008 J. League season and also represented S-Pulse in the J. League Cup Final, where the team lost 2–0 to Oita Trinita. He continued his promising goalscoring in the 2009 and 2010 seasons and, in January 2011, was signed by German side VfB Stuttgart of the Bundesliga.

VfB Stuttgart

On 30 January 2011, Okazaki signed a three-and-a-half-year contract with Stuttgart. On 17 February 2011, clearance to play for the club was granted for Okazaki by FIFA. He made his competitive debut for VfB on the same night in a Europa League match against Benfica. On 20 February 2011, Okazaki made his Bundesliga debut for VfB against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Okazaki scored his first goal against Hannover 96, which he scored from outside the box. Okazaki came on as a second-half substitute for Stuttgart in their first game of the 2011–12 Bundesliga season against Schalke 04. His side were up 2–0 and Okazaki added a goal scoring from long range in the 90th minute, sealing a 3–0 win. Okazaki's goal from a bicycle kick on…

After competing for the country's under-23 team at the 2008 Olympic Games in China, Okazaki made his full international debut for the Japan senior national team against the United Arab Emirates in October 2008. On 20 January 2009, he scored his first goal for Samurai Blue in the team's opening 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Yemen. In October 2009, Okazaki scored hat-tricks in consecutive matches as Japan beat Hong Kong and Togo 6–0 and 5–0 respectively. He was named The World's Top Goal Scorer of 2009 by the IFFHS for his 15 goals with the national team. Okazaki was included in the 2010 FIFA World Cup squads for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and appeared as a substitute in all four of Japan's matches. He scored once in the final Group E match, a 3–1 defeat of Denmark, to send Japan into the second round. On 8 October 2010, Okazaki scored as Japan beat Argentina 1–0 in friendly match to record its first ever win over the 1978 and 1986 world champions. Okazaki scored his third international hat-trick in a 5–0 Group B win against Saudi Arabia at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup. He then scored his kick in the semi-final shootout win over South Korea and played all 120 minutes of the final as Japan beat Australia to win the trophy for a fourth time. Okazaki finished as top goalscorer in the Asian section of qualification for the 2014 FIFA World Cup with eight goals. Okazaki scored twice at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup, against Italy and Mexico respectively. However, Japan lost all…

Okazaki co-founded the German football club Basara Mainz in the 2014–15 season when he was a player of Mainz 05. Now he serves as the club adviser. The club is run by the other co-founder, Takashi Yamashita, former player of Mainz's reserve team Mainz 05 II. Basara Mainz started in tier 11 of the German football league system. It was promoted to tier 6, Verbandsliga Südwest, in 2019.

Club

International

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