Yokohama and Japan midfielder Shunsuke Nakamura picked up another individual honor on Tuesday when he was named the 2000 "Footballer of the Year" in a poll of Japanese soccer writers.
Nakamura received 86 of the 220 votes cast nationwide, with Kashima Antlers midfielder Mitsuo Ogasawara tying club teammate and former Japan defender Yutaka Akita on 16 votes each for runnerup in the 40th year of the award. A member of Japan's Olympic team and the senior Japan side which won the Asian Cup in Lebanon last October, the 22-year-old Nakamura also won last season's J. League Player of the Year award after helping Yokohama to the first-stage title.