Daigo Kobayashi

Daigo Kobayashi
Daigo Kobayashi (2009)
Personnel
birthday	February 19, 1983
place of birth	Fuji ,  Japan
size	178 cm
position	midfield
Juniors
Years	station
1998-2001	Shimizu Commercial High School
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
2001-2006	Tokyo Verdy	104 0(4)
2006-2010	Ōmiya Ardija	90 (14)
2009	→  Stabæk Fotball  (loan)	29 0(8)
2010-2011	Iraklis Thessaloniki	14 0(0)
2011–2012	Shimizu S-Pulse	29 0(0)
2013	Vancouver Whitecaps	30 0(2)
2014-2017	New England Revolution	98 0(2)
2018-2019	Las Vegas Lights	32 0(4)
2019–	Birmingham Legion FC	18 0(0)
National team
Years	selection	Games (goals)
2002	Japan U19
2002-2003	Japan U20
2006	Japan	1 0(0)
1 Only league games are given. As of October 10, 2019

Daigo Kobayashi ( Japanese 小林 大悟 , Kobayashi Daigo ; born February 19, 1983 in Fuji ) is a Japanese football player .

Club career

Kobayashi began playing professional football on the Shimizu Commercial High School team in 1998. After good performance at youth level, he was signed by the then J-League club Tokyo Verdy in 2001 .

In his first season he had a difficult time under coach Yasutaro Matsuki and was only used sporadically. Only after his resignation did he become a regular player from 2002 under Lori Paulo Sandri . There followed four years in which he was useful for the team, but also inconspicuously in the central midfield. In 2004 he celebrated his greatest success for the time being by winning the Kaiser Cup , which was prolonged in 2005 with the Japanese Super Cup title. Although he was able to draw attention to himself in 2005 with strikingly strong performances, the season for Tokyo Verdy was disappointing. Despite his increase in performance and the commitment of top striker Washington , the club rose at the end of the season as the penultimate from the league.

As a result, he moved within the league to the middle-class Ōmiya Ardija , where he finally rose to star. In Omiya he was brought forward from the central to the offensive midfield, where he was better off. He immediately became a formative personality in Omiya's game and scored nine goals this season in his first season. In the same year he was nominated for the first time for the Japanese All-Star Player and for the Japanese national team . In the following years he played at a consistently high level, but without being able to win a title with Omiya. In 2007 another call-up to the league's All-Star Team followed. In 2008 it became apparent that the club would no longer be able to hold the player. Kobayashi himself pressed for a move, as he did not see the club as a chance to catch up with the top of the league. Omiya, who was reluctant to let his star go, then opposed an intra-league transfer and demanded that he only move abroad.

In 2009 he then surprisingly switched to Stabæk Fotball in Norway on loan for a year . The transfer turned out to be a stroke of luck for both sides. The club previously had to cope with the loss of two important pillars with the departures of Veigar Páll Gunnarsson and Alanzinho , which according to unanimous opinion could not be compensated. But Kobayashi quickly found his way in the new league and built on his strong performances from previous years. Together with the Swedes Daniel Nannskog and Pontus Farnerud , he formed an extremely dangerous axis that Stabæk held in the title fight for a long time. In the course of the season Kobayashi became the crowd favorite, who proved his offensive qualities with eight goals this season. Before the loan period expired, Stabæk then tried to sign the player firmly, but failed because of the fact that Kobayashi had attracted clubs from major leagues through his services and thereby increased his price. Contrary to other clubs, Stabæk then came to terms with the upcoming loss of the player and said goodbye to him after only one year with a big interview on the club's website. Analogous to the club, Kobayashi also regretted his departure and thanked him for the nice time. With 8 goals in 29 season appearances, he was second behind Nannskog on the internal goalscorer list and had booked the most season appearances. As a replacement for Kobayashi Stabæk then brought back the Icelander Pall Gunnarsson, who had previously failed at AS Nancy .

After the end of the season he completed a trial training session with the German Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln in December 2009 .

On January 27, 2010 he moved to the Greek first division club Iraklis Thessaloniki on a free transfer . After 15 games, he moved back to Japan to Shimizu S-Pulse at the end of the 2010/2011 season .

In early 2013, Kobayashi completed a trial training at the Vancouver Whitecaps. There he was able to convince and he switched to the Major League Soccer franchise. However, the Canadians waived an extension of the contract at the end of the 2013 season. It was then given to New England Revolution .

Kobayashi has been playing for the Las Vegas Lights in the United Soccer League since the 2018 season .

National team

In 2002 Kobayashi made his debut for the Japanese U-19 national team, with whom qualified for the 2003 Junior World Cup by finishing second at the U-19 Asian Cup in Qatar .

In 2003 he then took part with the U-20 national team in the World Cup, where they only failed in the quarter-finals against eventual winners Brazil. Kobayashi was used in four games.

In the Japanese national soccer team to date (as of December 2009) he was only used on August 9, 2006 in a friendly against Trinidad and Tobago . He was substituted on in the 56th minute for Kōji Yamase . It has not been called up since then.

successes

Kobayashi as a Stabæk player

society

• 1 × Kaiser Cup : 2004
• 1 × Japanese Super Cup: 2005
• 2 × Japanese All-Star Player: 2004, 2005

National team

• 1 × U-19 Asian Championship : 2nd place

Web links

Commons : Daigo Kobayashi  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of the player
• Stabæk's squad on the club's official website

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Japan's Daigo Kobayashi Joins Norway's Stabaek IF (English)
2. ↑ Hva skjedde med Stabæk? (Norwegian) ( Memento of the original from September 15, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Tror ikke Alanzinho også kommer (Norwegian) ( Memento of the original from December 4, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
4. ↑ Kobayashi ferdig i Stabæk (Norwegian) ( Memento of the original dated December 2, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
5. ↑ Daigo: - Jeg setter veldig stor pris på min tid i Stabæk (Norwegian) ( Memento of the original dated December 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Som å Come hjem (Norwegian) ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Cologne tests the Japanese Daigo Kobayashi ( memento of the original from December 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
8. ↑ Daigo Skal trene med 1. FC Koln neste uke (Norwegian) ( Memento of the original dated December 7, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ↑ Daigo Kobayashi in the database of FIFA (English)
10. ↑ Japan 2 - 0 Trinidad & Tobago ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.