Tatsuya Tanaka

When he was at Shūyō Junior High School, he represented Yamaguchi Prefecture with future international teammate Seiichiro Maki. He went on to football powerhouse Teikyo High School. While at Teikyo, Tanaka was chosen as one of the Designated Players for Development by J.League and JFA. Because of this status, he was able to register as a FC Tokyo player while he was still eligible to play for his high school club. After graduating Teikyo, he joined Urawa Reds. His first league appearance came on 29 April 2001 against Kashima Antlers. His first professional goal came on 21 May 2001 against Tokyo Verdy. He played many matches as forward from 2001 season. In 2003, Reds won the champions in J.League Cup. He was selected MVP award and New Hero award. However he suffered for repeated injuries from late 2005 while the club won many title, 2005 Emperor's Cup, 2006 J1 League, 2006 Emperor's Cup and 2007 AFC Champions League. In 2012, he could not play many matches and let the club end of 2012 season. In 2013, Tanaka signed with Albirex Niigata. He played 32 matches in 2013 season, the most in his career. Although he played many matches every season, Albirex was relegated to J2 League end of 2017 season. After nine years in Niigata, Tanaka officially retired on 5 December 2021, when he left the pitch after 40 minutes into the home match against Machida Zelvia. Tanaka immediately joined Niigata's coaching staff for the youth sector.

Tanaka represented Japan at several underage levels. He was part of the Japanese 2004 Olympic football team eliminated in the first round after finishing fourth in group B, below group winners Paraguay, Italy, and Ghana. He made his international debut on 31 July 2005 in an East Asian Championship against North Korea when he replaced Keiji Tamada in the 67th minute. He scored his first international goal on 3 August 2005 against China in the same tournament. His most recent goal came against Qatar on 19 November 2008. He played 16 games and scored 3 goals for Japan until 2009.

Club

International

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

A native of Fukuoka in northern-Kyushu, Tanaka entered Kyushu Sangyo University in 2011. While completing his university studies, he was a specially designated player for Roasso Kumamoto in the J2 League, making 4 appearances between 2011 and 2013. After graduation, he signed a full-time contract with Roasso ahead of the 2015 season. He scored once in ten appearances in his first season as a professional but struggled to secure regular playing time. As a result, he was loaned to fellow J2 side FC Gifu for the 2016 season, where he played 18 times and scored once. Upon returning to Kumamoto in 2017, Tanaka began to play more regularly, making 21 appearances that year. He then enjoyed a career-best season in 2018, playing 40 of Roasso's 42 league matches and scoring 9 goals. Despite his personal success, his efforts were not enough to prevent his team from relegation to Japan's third tier. Tanaka would not join Roasso in the J3 league, as his impressive performances as a wing-back caught the attention of J1 side Gamba Osaka, who added him to their squad ahead of the 2019 season.

Urawa Red Diamonds

J1 League: 2006 Emperor's Cup: 2005, 2006 J.League Cup: 2003 AFC Champions League: 2007 Japanese Super Cup: 2006 Individual

J.League Cup MVP: 2003 J.League Cup New Hero Award: 2003