Gōtoku Sakai ( 酒井 高徳, Sakai Gōtoku, born 14 March 1991 ) is an American-born japanese football player of german origin who presently plays for Vissel Kobe and was a player for the japanese national team, chiefly as a right back .
Club career [edit ]
early career [edit ]
Sakai was born in New York to a German-Americans mother and a japanese don. The family moved to Japan when he was two years old. He grew up in Sanjō, Niigata prefecture. Sakai started playing football at Sanjō junior soccer club, together with his brother Noriyoshi. At long time 15, he joined Albirex Niigata youth academy and entered Kaishi Gakuen High School. His team played at the Prince Takamado Cup, All Japan Club Youth Soccer tournament and J. League Youth tournament.
Reading: Gōtoku Sakai
Years late in his final examination year at school, he was chosen as one of the indicate players for development by J. League Division 1 and JFA. With this status, he was able to register as a J. League golf club player while he was still eligible to play for his school. He made his Albirex first-team debut, at the old age of 17, on 15 November 2008 in the Emperor ‘s Cup equal against FC Tokyo. He officially signed with Albirex Niigata in the watch season. After becoming professional, he was assigned the number 24 shirt. He made his professional football debut in the open J1 League match of the 2009 season besides against FC Tokyo .
VfB Stuttgart [edit ]
On 1 January 2012, Gōtoku Sakai was loaned out to VfB Stuttgart until June 2013. VfB Stuttgart secured the contract option to sign Sakai permanently. [ 2 ] [ 3 ] On 11 February 2012, Sakai made his Bundesliga debut for VfB Stuttgart in a 5–0 home victory against Hertha BSC. He made 14 starts and recorded five assists in his beginning Bundesliga temper. [ 4 ] Sakai scored his first goal for Stuttgart on 22 November 2012 in a 5–1 away victory against FC Steaua București in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League group stagecoach. [ 5 ] On 10 January 2013, Sakai signed a contract with Stuttgart until June 2016 and moved permanently to VfB. [ 6 ] [ 7 ]
Hamburg SV [edit ]
In the 2015-16 temper, Sakai joined Hamburg SV. [ 8 ]
Vissel Kobe [edit ]
On 14 August 2019, Sakai moved back to Japan to join Vissel Kobe. [ 9 ]
International career [edit ]
Sakai played for Japan U-20 at the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship in China. In 2011, he was named in Japan ‘s final examination 23-man squad to compete at the 2011 AFC asian Cup in Qatar but had to withdraw due to an injury. [ 10 ] On 21 September 2011 Gōtoku Sakai was in the starting line-up of the Japan under-22 team in the first base group match of his team in the 2012 Summer Olympics asian Qualifiers against Malaysia. [ 11 ] In the be group match against Bahrain he came off the workbench. [ 12 ] He participated with the Japan under-23 team in the 2012 Toulon Tournament. [ 13 ] On 2 July 2012 Sakai was called up for the 2012 Summer Olympics Football tournament in London. [ 14 ] He made his debut for the Japan national senior team on 6 September 2012 in the Kirin Cup against the United Arab Emirates. Sakai underlined his great electric potential in late 2012 when he was selected by influential football web site IBWM in their tilt of the 100 most exciting players in world football for 2013. [ 15 ] In May 2018 he was named in Japan ‘s squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. [ 16 ] After Japan lost in the Round of 16 to Belgium, Sakai announced his retirement from external duty. [ 17 ]
career statistics [edit ]
club [edit ]
- As of 23 June 2018
Club
Season
League
League
Cup1
League Cup2
Continental3
Total
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Apps
Goals
Albirex Niigata
2008
J1 League
0
0
1
0
0
0
—
1
0
2009
18
0
1
0
4
0
—
23
0
2010
31
0
0
0
4
0
—
35
0
2011
25
1
2
0
3
0
—
30
1
Total
74
1
4
0
11
0
—
89
1
VfB Stuttgart
2011–12
Bundesliga
14
0
—
—
—
14
0
2012–13
27
0
4
0
—
10
1
41
1
2013–14
28
0
2
0
—
2
0
32
0
2014–15
18
1
1
0
—
—
19
1
Total
87
1
7
0
—
12
1
106
2
Hamburger SV
2015–16
Bundesliga
22
0
1
0
—
—
23
0
2016–17
33
1
2
0
—
—
35
1
2017–18
28
0
1
0
—
—
29
0
Total
83
1
4
0
—
—
87
1
Career total
204
3
12
0
11
0
12
1
239
4
1Includes Emperor ‘s Cup and DFB-Pokal. 2Includes J. League Cup. 3Includes UEFA Europa League .
International [edit ]
- As of 2 July 2018[18]
Japan
Year
Apps
Goals
2012
2
0
2013
9
0
2014
7
0
2015
7
0
2016
7
0
2017
4
0
2018
6
0
Total
42
0
Honours [edit ]
Stuttgart
Vissel Kobe