is a Japanese professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a

defensive midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

for

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

club

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal, founded Sporting Club de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP, often known abroad as Sporting Lisbon , is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Lisbon. It is best known for the professional foot ...

and the Japan national team.

Career

Kawasaki Frontale

In 2018, Morita joined

Kawasaki Frontale is a Japanese professional football club based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium, in Nakahara W ...

. On February 10, he made his professional debut as a substitute in the

Japanese Super Cup The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J. League and the Japan Football Association (JFA). This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the r ...

against

Cerezo Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Osaka. The club currently plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Cerezo'' (Spanish for cherry blossom) is also the flower of the city of Osaka. ...

. On April 14, he made his first start in the league match against

Vegalta Sendai is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in J2 League. The team is located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. History Founded in 1988 as ''Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club'', Vegalta joined the J-League in 1999 after p ...

. After that, he managed to secure an active role in the team, and they would go on to win the

J1 League The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the system. Founded in 1992, it is one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. Contested by 18 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the J ...

title in 2018. In 2020, he was selected in the J-League Best Eleven, along with 8 other Kawasaki players as they would win the J1 League title again.

CD Santa Clara

On 8 January 2021, it was announced that Morita would sign for Portuguese club

CD Santa Clara Clube Desportivo Santa Clara is a Portuguese association football, football club from Ponta Delgada, Azores. They play in the 13,277-seat Estádio de São Miguel (Ponta Delgada), Estádio de São Miguel. They are the most successful football team ...

, in the

. When he made his debut on 25 January, he netted his first goal for the club, scoring the winner in the 89th minute of a 2–1 victory over

Rio Ave Rio Ave Futebol Clube, commonly known as Rio Ave (), is a Football in Portugal, Portuguese professional Association football, football club based in Vila do Conde, that competes in the Primeira Liga. The club is named after the Ave River, which ...

Sporting CP

On 1 July 2022, it was announced that he would join

on a permanent transfer. He would go on to make his debut for the club against SC Braga on 7 August. On 7 September, he made his Champions League debut against

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

. On 30 September, he scored his first goal for the club in a win against

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

International career

On 2 September 2018,

Ryota Oshima is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Kawasaki Frontale. International career Oshima was a member of the Japan U-23 national team squad which got qualification to 2016 Summer Olympics by winning the A ...

and

Hotaru Yamaguchi is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Vissel Kobe. He is also a member of the Japan national team. Club career Early career Yamaguchi began playing football in the third grade, playing mostly as an attac ...

withdrew from the national team due to injury, so Morita was called up to the Japanese national team in their place for the first time in his first year as a professional. He made his national team debut on 11 September, coming on against

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

, the first game under new coach

Hajime Moriyasu is a Japanese football manager and former player. He made more than 250 appearances in 14 years with Sanfrecce Hiroshima, including a year on loan to Kyoto Purple Sanga, before spending his final season as a professional with Vegalta Sendai. He a ...

. In January 2019, he was called up to the Japanese national team for the AFC Asian Cup 2019 but withdrew due to injury. In March 2021, he was called up to the national team for the first time in just under two years, and on 30 March, he scored his first goal for the national team in a 14–0 win against

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million, ...

in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Asian Qualifiers. On 1 November 2022, Morita was named in the Japan squad for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international association football, football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022 ...

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates the score after each Morita goal.''

Honours

Kawasaki Frontale *

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or also Japan FA Cup is a Japanese football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football match in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formation of the J.League, Japan Football League and their predecessor, J ...

J.League Cup The is a Japanese football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or (Levain is one of YB ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual *

J.League Best XI The J.League Best XI is an acknowledgement of the best eleven players in J.League. J1 League (1993–present) Multiple appearances Appearances by club Appearances by country * Only in two occasions there was a full-Japanese Best XI (20 ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morita, Hidemasa 1995 births Living people People from Takatsuki, Osaka Ryutsu Keizai University alumni Association football people from Osaka Prefecture Japanese footballers Association football midfielders Japan international footballers J1 League players Primeira Liga players Kawasaki Frontale players C.D. Santa Clara players Sporting CP footballers Japanese expatriate footballers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate footballers in Portugal 2022 FIFA World Cup players