Forward Yoshiro Takagi (33), who spent eight seasons with J2 club Albirex Niigata, announced his retirement from professional football through the club on September 4. Looking back on his career, he said in the club’s statement, “I love soccer” and “As a player, I feel a refreshing sense that I gave it everything I had, emotionally.” His father is former professional baseball player Yutaka Takagi, and all three of his sons — including Yoshiro — chose soccer over baseball and went on to become professional players. On 5channel’s Geinou/Sports Breaking News+ (Geisoku) thread, discussion centered on why all three brothers chose a sport different from their father’s, along with an anecdote reportedly involving Takatsu telling Yutaka Takagi something about his son and soccer.
J2 side Albirex Niigata announced through the club on the 4th that Yoshiro Takagi (33), who spent eight years with the team through the 2025 season, will retire from professional play.
The club stated: “We would like to announce that Yoshiro Takagi, who was with our club through the 2025 season, has decided to retire from professional football.”
Takagi offered his own comment through the club, reflecting on his career: “I have decided to retire from professional football. I love soccer. But as a player, I feel a refreshing sense that I have truly given it everything, emotionally.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
so is he a free agent right now?
He's been job-hunting since last season ended, but apparently gave up since he wasn't getting any offers he was happy with.
I remember him being hyped as amazing back in junior high.
Probably pays around 150,000 yen a month.
They all made it pro precisely because they didn't choose baseball.
but why'd they end up in a different sport from their dad?
All three of them are shorties, barely 170cm.
That height makes baseball tough, so soccer was the right call.
Baseball rules ban pros from coaching amateurs,
and that applies even within families.
So apparently they just didn't get much exposure to baseball.
It's a well-known story — the eldest started out playing baseball but got bored and asked to switch to soccer, and his dad allowed it. Then the second son started soccer too, and the third son played soccer from the start.
Watching his sons, Yutaka Takagi himself got hooked on soccer and started studying it on his own.
He's got a bit of an underbite, but he's clearly more handsome than his younger brothers — though within 10 years all three brothers will end up looking like tired old uncles ('2323' = 'nii-san nii-san', slang for looking middle-aged).
Could've been an actor.
Though the hair's a gamble.
In baseball terms, that's like being a starter for 2-3 years, then finishing out his career as a pinch hitter or defensive sub before retiring at 33, right?
Pointless trolling isn't cool.
These days the national soccer team is actually taller on average than the national baseball team, you know.
That can't be right.
My image of soccer is mostly guys just over 170cm, with the occasional 180+ popping up, and maybe one guy at 190.
In soccer, the defenders tend to be unusually tall, and that's what drags the average height up.
Soccer average: 181cm
Tallest: Goto, 191cm
Shortest: Nagatomo, 170cm
Baseball average: 179cm
Tallest: Ohtani, 193cm
Shortest: Genda, 170cm
Or so they say.
Guess the result would've been the same if he'd played 'yakyu' too (a mocking, exaggerated pronunciation of 'baseball').
No doubt he got looked at through biased eyes because his dad is Yutaka Takagi.
He's got 70 J1 appearances and nearly 300 in J2 —
he's not some borderline player, so that's completely irrelevant.
They all got J1 appearances too.
Makes you wonder how they'd have done in baseball.
They probably couldn't have even gone pro.
Even Kiyohara's sons couldn't manage that.
Players of African descent or mixed heritage are what's pulling the average height up, right?
Why don't mixed-heritage kids play baseball??
Seems like the competition's thinner, so it'd be easier to go pro.
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Yoshiro Takagi made 70 career appearances in J1 and nearly 300 in J2 — by no means a short career. Opinion in the thread split over whether his father’s fame as a well-known former pro baseball player affected how he was evaluated, with some citing his playing record as proof it was irrelevant, and others arguing his name recognition inevitably introduced bias. As for how all three brothers ended up choosing a different sport from their father, one reply explained it started when the eldest brother switched from baseball to soccer, and another pointed to a rule barring professional baseball players from directly coaching non-professionals — even family members — as a possible factor; however, this is secondhand information circulating within the thread and hasn’t been confirmed against primary sources. The same caution applies to the anecdote in which Takatsu reportedly told Yutaka Takagi “don’t let him play soccer” — the exact wording varies between replies, so the precise content of that remark can’t be pinned down from the material available here.
*This article was compiled and summarized from the 5channel (Geinou/Sports Breaking News+) thread “[Soccer] J2 Niigata’s Yoshiro Takagi (33) Retires — Announcement: “I’m truly happy to have gotten to play soccer this long” — Second Son of Former Pro Baseball Player Yutaka Takagi.”
