, also known by his nickname Pika, is a 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 winger for

Thai League 2 Thai League 2 ( th, ไทยลีก 2), commonly known as the T2, formally called Thai Division 1 League, is the second-tier professional league in the Thai football league system. The top 3 are promoted to Thai League 1 at the end of the s ...

club

Uthai Thani Uthai Thani ( th, อุทัยธานี, ) is a town (''thesaban mueang'') in Thailand, capital of the Uthai Thani Province, in the upper central region of the country. It includes the entire ''tambon'' Uthai Mai of Mueang Uthai Thani distr ...

and the Philippines national team.

Early life and education

Minegishi was born on June 5, 1991. His Filipino mother is a native of

Olongapo Olongapo, officially the City of Olongapo ( fil, Lungsod ng Olongapo; ilo, Siudad ti Olongapo; xsb, Siyodad nin Olongapo), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the Central Luzon region of the Philippines. Located in the province of Zambales ...

while his father is Japanese. He studied at the Seiwa Gakuen High School for his secondary studies and later attended the

Sendai University is a private university in Shibata, Miyagi, Japan, established in 1967. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1879. It is the only university specializing in physical education in northern Japan. Organization Undergraduate *Faculty of Phy ...

for his collegiate studies.

Club career

Youth

Minegishi was part of the youth system of the

Urawa Red Diamonds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

. He also played as part of the football team of

Senior

Global Cebu

Fellow Filipino-Japanese, Daisuke Sato invited Minegishi to play club football in the Philippines. In early 2015,

Global F.C. Global Football Club was a professional association football, football club that last played in the Philippines Football League (PFL), the top flight of Philippines' club football. The club has won four league titles, two UFL Cups, one UFL FA Cu ...

of the United Football League had signed Minegishi. Minegishi scored 17 goals in 17 league matches for Global in the 2016 UFL season reportedly by October 5, 2016. He was awarded the Golden Ball at the end of the season. Minegishi ended his stint with Global Cebu with a runner-up finish at the inaugural season of the

Philippine Football League The Philippines Football League, commonly known as PFL, is a Filipino professional football league sanctioned by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF). It is the Philippines' highest level of men's club football, supplanting the United Foot ...

in 2017.

Pattaya United

He moved to

Pattaya United F.C. Pattaya United Football Club ( th, สโมสรฟุตบอลพัทยา ยูไนเต็ด) was a Thai football club based in Pattaya, Chonburi Province. Defunct after the 2018 season, the club was renamed to Samut Prakan ...

and will form part of the club starting in the

2018 Thai League 1 The 2018 Thai League 1 is the 22nd season of the Thai League 1, the top Thai professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1996, also known as Toyota Thai League due to the sponsorship deal with Toyota Motor Thaila ...

season.

International career

Philippines

By November 5, 2016, Minegishi was processing his Philippine passport for him to be eligible to play for the

Philippines national football team The Philippines national football team (Filipino/ tl, Pambansang koponan ng futbol ng Pilipinas, lit=) represents the Philippines in international football, governed by the Philippine Football Federation (PFF) and has been playing internationa ...

. Minegishi made his debut for the Philippines in their first group stage match against

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

, coming on as a half-time substitute. The match ended in a 0–0 draw. In the next group stage match where the Philippines settled for a 2–2 draw with

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

, Minegishi made his first international start. On 22 March 2018, Minegishi scored his debut international goal for the Philippines, scoring the Azkals' second goal in a 3-2 friendly win over

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list the Philippines' goal tally first.''

References

1991 births Living people Filipino footballers Philippines international footballers Citizens of the Philippines through descent Japanese people of Filipino descent Filipino people of Japanese descent Sendai University alumni Association football midfielders Sportspeople from Sendai Expatriate footballers in Thailand

Hikaru Minegishi , also known by his nickname Pika, is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Thai League 2 club Uthai Thani and the Philippines national team. Early life and education Minegishi was born on June 5, 1991. His Filipino mother is a ...

Global Makati F.C. players

Ceres–Negros F.C. players {{Philippines-footy-bio-stub