Takayuki Nishigaya

Nishigaya was born in Shizuoka on May 12, 1973. After graduating from the University of Tsukuba, he joined J1 League club Nagoya Grampus Eight with teammate Shigeyoshi Mochizuki in 1996. He mostly played as a centre-back during that first season. In 1998, he moved to Avispa Fukuoka. He became a regular player as the left-back of a three back defence. In 1999, he moved to Verdy Kawasaki, where he did not play much. In 2000, he moved to JEF United Ichihara. Here, too, he did not play much. In 2001, he moved to J2 League club Albirex Niigata. There, he played a variety of positions, such as defensive midfielder, centre-back and left-back. He retired at the end of the 2001 season.

After retiring, Nishigaya started his coaching career at his alma mater, the University of Tsukuba, in 2003. In 2004, he signed with Tokyo Verdy. He coached for their youth team until 2009. In 2010, he became a manager for Meiji University. In 2012, he signed with Albirex Niigata and became a coach under manager Hisashi Kurosaki. However he resigned with Kurosaki in May. In 2013, he signed with Mito HollyHock and became a coach under manager Tetsuji Hashiratani. In June 2015, Hashiratani was sacked and Nishigaya took over the team. He managed the club until 2017. In 2018, he moved to SC Sagamihara and managed the club for one season.

In 2022, he was appointed as the manager of the Singapore national team. He led the team to a disappointing AFF Cup, despite a narrow win against Laos and Myanmar, a scoreless draw with Vietnam, the Lions failed to qualify to the semi-finals after a heavy 4-1 humiliation against Malaysia. Despite calls for him to be replaced, he has continued as head coach.

[1]

• Player statistics at J.League (archive) (in Japanese)
• Manager statistics manager profile at J.League (archive) (in Japanese)