Shunsuke Nakamura (Japanese: 中村 俊輔, Hepburn: Nakamura Shunsuke; born 24 June 1978) is a Japanese former professional footballer. He is currently a first-team coach of Yokohama FC. He is the only person to have been named J.League Most Valuable Player more than once, receiving the award in 2000 and 2013. Renowned as one of the best free kick takers ever and one of the greatest Japanese footballers of all time, Steve Perryman once remarked that Nakamura "could open a tin of beans with his left foot".

Nakamura began his professional career with J1 League club Yokohama Marinos in 1997, eventually making 338 league appearances during two spells at the club totalling just over twelve seasons. In between his spells at Marinos, Nakamura played in Europe with Espanyol, Celtic, and Reggina. During his time at Celtic, he became one of the best Asian players to have ever played in Europe; he was nominated for the 2007 Ballon d'Or, was named Scottish Player of the Year and SFWA Footballer of the Year in 2007, and became the first Japanese player to score in the UEFA Champions League. His team accomplishments at Celtic include winning the Scottish Premier League in 2006, 2007, and 2008, the Scottish League Cup in 2006 and 2009, and the Scottish Cup in 2007.

Nakamura has 98 caps and 24 goals for the Japan national football team, including appearances in the FIFA World Cup finals in 2006 and 2010 and winning the AFC Asian Cup in 2000 and 2004; he was named Most Valuable Player of the 2004 competition. He also appeared in the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship as a member of the Japan under-20 team and the 2000 Summer Olympics as a member of the Japan under-23 team.

Born and raised in Yokohama, Japan, Nakamura began playing football competitively at age 5 with local junior club side Misono FC, where his playmaking abilities already garnered attention from locals. In fifth grade, he was selected for Yokohama's city junior all-star team's tour of the Soviet Union, even though the team was only meant to include sixth graders.^{[citation needed]}

At age 12 in 1991, Nakamura joined the youth setup of Nissan Motors F.C. [ja], one of the predecessors of the club known today as Yokohama F. Marinos. While training at the youth setup, Nakamura was already honing his dead-ball technique, practising free kicks for an hour every day outside of team practice; his coaches also acknowledged he had good ball skills and technique. However, at that time Nakamura was physically underdeveloped compared to his teammates and struggled to transition to the youth level, and eventually was not chosen for the youth team.

Rather than continue on the fringes of Nissan's youth setup, Nakamura instead decided to enroll at Tōkō Gakuen High School [ja] in Kawasaki, despite the school being a two-and-a-half-hour commute each way. Nakamura led Tōkō Gakuen to Japan's national high school football tournament in 1995 and to the tournament final in 1996. It was his performance there that earned him a call-up to the Japan under-20 team for the 1996 AFC Youth Championship and subsequently for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship.

By his graduation from Tōkō Gakuen in 1997, Nakamura had attracted interest from several top-flight Japanese clubs, including offers from Júbilo Iwata, Verdy Kawasaki, and Gamba Osaka.

In 1997, Nakamura chose to sign with J.League Division 1 club Yokohama Marinos, the club whose youth setup he had left only a few years earlier. Nakamura made his début with Marinos on 8 March in a J.League Cup match against Verdy Kawasaki and his league début on 16 April against Gamba Osaka.^{[citation needed]} Nakamura finished his rookie season with 31 appearances and 5 goals.