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Daizen Maeda's early life and childhood

Daizen Maeda's early life, childhood and career in Japan

Daizen loved to run barefoot as a child!

Daizen Maeda(前田大然 in kanji) was born in 1997 in Osaka, Japan to a father who is a veterinarian and a mother who works at an animal hospital. His parents named him Daizen after Daishizen, which means "great nature" in Japanese. True to his parents' wishes, Daizen grew up running around in the fields and mountains near their house. His speed was off the charts from the time he was in nursery school. When everyone else was playing games or whatever, he was outside running around all the time. Ever since nursery school, he loved to run barefoot, and from nursery school to elementary school, he always came in first in the running races.

Daizen said of those days, "My strength is that I can run all year round, even in the summer, but I think I developed that strength and speed as a child. The nursery school I went to in Osaka had an abundance of nature that you would not expect to find in Osaka. I ran around barefoot and climbed mountains without shoes. I think that is the base of who I am today."

His father had done gymnastics as a student, so Daizen began learning gymnastics in the first grade of elementary school. By the fourth grade, however, he wanted to quit gymnastics because he was stiff and disliked flexibility exercises. It was then that a friend invited him to play soccer, and he quit gymnastics and started playing soccer with the Taishi-cho Junior Soccer Club. His father knew nothing about soccer, not even about offsides. However, his father agreed to quit gymnastics because Daizen wanted to play soccer.

Mr. Matsui, who was the coach of this soccer club, talked about those days: "I had heard that a kid with very fast feet was going to join the club, and that was Daizen. When I first saw him, I was amazed at how fast he was. He had instantaneous speed right from the start, and he didn't slow down when he dribbled. I've been in coaching for nearly 40 years, and that foot speed is number one all-time." Once Daizen kicked the ball out to the front line, he swept past the opposing defender and scored a goal. His first opponents could not keep up with his speed and he was able to score easily.

After graduating from elementary school, Daizen continued to play soccer in his local junior high school club. There was an option to continue playing soccer in his hometown, but he decided to leave his hometown and enroll in Yamanashi Gakuin in Yamanashi Prefecture. He decided to enter the school after seeing Yamanashi Gakuin win the national high school soccer championship. Mr. Yoshinaga, the coach at that time, highly evaluated him as a fast, point-scoring player, and he played in games even though he was a freshman.

Just as Daizen was entering his sophomore year of high school, an incident occurred. He and one of his fellow club members had an act that violated the team's discipline. He was expelled from the soccer team. At that point, he had three options: quit soccer and school, quit soccer and stay in school, or transfer to another school to continue playing soccer. However, he immediately decided to stay in school.

Daizen spoke about those days: "I didn't know the expulsion deadline, so I didn't know if I would be able to return to the soccer team even if I stayed in school. But I immediately told my parents that I would stay in school anyway. I liked soccer, and I didn't want to stop playing. If I transferred to a different school, I would have to return to my hometown (Osaka). I didn't like the idea of going back after just one year away from my parents."

After being kicked out of the soccer club dormitory, Daizen rented a small one-room apartment near the school and attended classes as he had before. He was disappointed when he was expelled from the soccer club, but he continued to run alone every morning at the start of morning practice. He also cleaned the school grounds before the other students arrived at school, and he began to lead his school life with a renewed spirit.

However, not being able to practice with a ball for an extended period of time in high school could affect his future. After six months had passed, Coach Yoshinaga, who saw Daizen's earnest efforts and ordered him to be expelled, offered him a helping hand. It was not a return to the soccer club. He was introduced to a local adult team and was able to attend practice twice a week. He was very happy and grateful to be able to participate in practice, as he was limited in what he could do on his own.

Also around that time, Daizen began working part-time at a local bakery in the mornings. He worked from 5:30 a.m. before going to school. The part-time job at the bakery was introduced by Coach Yoshinaga. This was because Mr. Yoshinaga was worried about him going out at night in his spare time. It is a surprise to everyone that Daizen, who has now been selected for Japan's national team and plays in Europe, used to bake bread and fry curry bread in his high school days.

Daizen told about those days: "When I fried curry bread, I used chopsticks to flip the bread over. Curry bread is a little hollow inside, so if you touch it too hard, you get a hole in it. So you have to turn it over gently, as if you are touching it or not. At first, I made a lot of mistakes, like making a hole. That baker was very kind to me and I am extremely grateful."

Then one day, more than a year after his expulsion, Daizen was allowed to return to the club with the approval of Coach Yoshinaga and the other club members. Even so, he was not able to practice with everyone from the beginning. At first, he picked up rubber chips from the ground and kicked a ball after general practice. From there, he gradually joined in with the overall practice.

Daizen, who had originally played at FW with his natural speed, was an egoistic player with little defensive awareness and only goal-oriented. However, after a year of being expelled, he developed a dedication to running for his teammates. Oddly enough, the crisis that might have stopped him from playing soccer led to a style of hard work on offense and defense that utilizes his running ability.

Daizen said about that time, "Until I was expelled, I was really only thinking about myself on and off the pitch. But while I was expelled, many people worked for me. I can only be grateful for that, and I wouldn't be where I am today if it weren't for their help. During that year, I learned that I could not do anything on my own and that I could play soccer with the support of many people. That has led me to my current style of play, which is to run for the team."

As Daizen says, after his expulsion was lifted, he just ran around for the team. The nickname given to him in high school was not Ferrari, the symbol of supercars, but Prius. His sharp pressing from the front was full of speed, but at the same time, he kept in close contact with his opponents with exquisite steps so as not to be noticed by them. The nickname was given to him because of the similarity of his appearance to the quiet Prius.

In addition, Daizen had not neglected to strengthen his running ability during the blank year, and his speed was faster than it had been a year earlier. Coach Yoshinaga was convinced that if he practiced hard during his last year of high school, he could become a pro after graduation. Yoshinaga told him to set his sights on the pros, and he too became serious about becoming one. However, due to the one-year blank, Mr. Yoshinaga asked several J-clubs to join him in training, but they turned him down. Nevertheless, they both persisted, and as a result, he received an official offer from Matsumoto Yamaga FC, and it was decided that he would become a professional after graduating from high school.

Daizen did not have smooth sailing after turning pro. In his first year, he played in nine J2 League games, but all of them came in the final minutes of games, totaling only 54 minutes of playing time. In his second year, he wanted a chance to play in a game, and Mito Holy Hockey, looking for a speedy attacker, offered him a chance. He was transferred to Mito Holy Hoc on a temporary basis.

Daizen did not start in the first five games after his transfer. Nevertheless, Nishimura, who was the head of the reinforcement department at the time when he decided to transfer him, was convinced that he would become a regular player. He had the scoring ability to score two goals against Kawasaki Frontale at the Okinawa camp, and his GPS readings were extraordinary. His GPS readings were off the charts, especially his sprinting, and the number and quality of his sprints in practice matches and games were outstanding.

As Nishimura predicted, Daizen made his first professional start as a FW in his sixth game after the transfer. He sprinted repeatedly right from the start of the game and scored his first professional goal. From then on, he was a constant regular in the starting lineup, and by the end of the season he had played 36 games, scoring 13 goals and providing 3 assists. During this period, Mr. Nishimura instilled in him a thorough awareness of physical care, the only thing he felt he lacked. This helped him improve his physical condition and enabled him to produce explosive sprints without injury.

Mr. Nishimura said, "For one year, he practiced without any blurring in his approach to soccer. That is why he grabbed the regular position. However, at the stage when he became a regular, I thought I would only be with him for one year. I thought he would return to Matsumoto Yamaga FC next season, go to a higher stage, and even spread his wings overseas."

Daizen is now on the path that Nishimura envisioned. He returned to Matsumoto Yamaga FC in 2018, where he was a regular and helped the team win promotion to J1. He moved to CS Maritimo in Portugal for a mid-season assignment in 2019. He moved to Yokohama F Marinos in Japan in 2020, where he met coach Ange Postecoglou and further developed his talent. In 2021 he was the top scorer in the J1 League, and in 2022 he moved to Celtic, where Postecoglou took over as manager. He also contributed to Celtic's success with six goals in the league, using his sprint in both offense and defense.

By the way, Daizen's hairstyle was a close-cropped head from childhood, and even as an adult he was a bald-headed man until 2024. The reason for this was that he could feel the wind when he ran. For a long time, his trademark was to wear a bald head, but in 2024 he started to wear his hair short. The reason was that his five-year-old daughter did not like a bald head. He said with a laugh that he changed his hairstyle because he didn't want his daughter to hate him.

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