is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

former

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player. He played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for the Japan national team. His brother

Yuto Sato Yuto may refer to: * Yūto, a masculine Japanese given name * Yūtō, Shizuoka, a former town in Hamana District, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan * Yuto, Jujuy, a city in Jujuy Province, Argentina *Yutō, a wooden container used for serving hot liquids, ...

is also a footballer.

Club career

Born in Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan, Sato is a product of

JEF United Ichihara , full name and also known as , is a Japanese professional football club based in Chiba, capital of Chiba Prefecture. They currently play in the J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football. History Furukawa Electric SC (19 ...

's youth system. He was promoted to JEF's top team in 2000. His first league appearance came on April 15, 2000, against

Júbilo Iwata is a Japanese professional association football, football team based in Iwata, Shizuoka, Iwata, located in Shizuoka Prefecture. The club competes in J2 League following relegation from J1 League in 2024 J1 League, 2024. Etymology The team's ...

. He scored his first league goal on March 21, 2001, against Júbilo Iwata. Frustrated with a lack of playing time, Sato decided to move to

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...

side

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 Osak ...

in 2002. Cerezo's coach Akihiro Nishimura rated him highly, as he had also managed Sato for Japan's youth team the previous year. However, Sato suffered from

Guillain–Barré syndrome Guillain–Barré syndrome (GBS) is a rapid-onset Paralysis, muscle weakness caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. Typically, both sides of the body are involved, and the initial symptoms are changes in sensation ...

at the beginning of the season, and found himself playing not many games with

Akinori Nishizawa is a Japanese former footballer who played as a forward. He played for Japan national team. Club career Nishizawa was born in Shizuoka on 18 June 1976. After graduating from Shimizu Higashi High School, he joined Cerezo Osaka in 1995. He mo ...

and

Yoshito Okubo Yoshito is a masculine Japanese given name. Written forms Yoshito can be written using different combinations of kanji characters. Here are some examples: *義人, "justice, person" *儀人, "ceremony, person" *佳人, "good, person" *嘉人, ...

ahead of him in the pecking order. The club finished 2nd and was promoted to

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

. Sato was loaned out to J1 side

Vegalta Sendai is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Sendai, Miyagi, Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. They currently play in J2 League, the Japanese second tier of professional football. History Founded in 1988 as ''Tohoku Elect ...

in the 2003 season. He finally became a first-choice forward, playing 30 games and scoring 9 goals. Despite his efforts, Sendai was relegated to J2. His loan contract became a permanent one and he played 44 league games with 20 goals for Sendai in the 2005 season but failed to navigate the club to J1. He was transferred to J1 side

Sanfrecce Hiroshima Sanfrecce Hiroshima () is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Hiroshima. The club competes in the J1 League, top flight of the Japanese football league system. Sanfrecce is one of the most successful clubs in Ja ...

in the 2005 season. He scored 18 goals during his first season with the club, including two hat-tricks. On April 22, 2006, Sato set the record for the fastest goal in J1 League history, scoring just 8 seconds after kick-off against

. On November 22, 2015, he equalled

Masashi Nakayama , nicknamed "Gon" during his playing career, is a Japanese professional football manager and former player. He was the J.League Most Valuable Player in 1998, J.League Top Scorer in 1998 and 2000, and J.League Best XI in 1997, 1998, 2000, 20 ...

as the all-time top-scorer in the

with 157 goals. After equalling the record, having spent 12 years in Hiroshima, Sato decided to sign for J2 club

Nagoya Grampus ; formerly known as is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, and have for all but one season since the inauguration of the league, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture an ...

. Grampus finished at the 3rd place in 2017 season and was promoted to J1. Although Sato played many matches in 2017, he could not play many matches in 2018. In 2019, Sato re-joined J2 club

JEF United Chiba , full name and also known as , is a Japanese professional football club based in Chiba, capital of Chiba Prefecture. They currently play in the J2 League, Japanese second tier of professional football. History Furukawa Electric SC (19 ...

(formerly ''JEF United Ichihara'') for the first time in 18 years. He retired at the end of the 2020 season.

International career

In June 2001, Sato made the Japan U-20 national team squad for the 2001 World Youth Championship. At this tournament, he played 2 matches. Sato made his international debut for

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

on February 11, 2006, in a friendly against the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. He scored his first international goal on February 22, 2006, in a 2007 Asian Cup qualification against

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. In the run-up to the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

, he was regularly picked for the Japan national team, but he was left out of the final squad by national coach Zico. Sato was a member of the Japan team for the

2007 Asian Cup The 2007 AFC Asian Cup was the 14th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held from 7 to 29 July 2007. For the first time in its hi ...

finals and played four games in the tournament, all as a substitute. He played 31 games and scored 4 goals for Japan until 2010.

Style of play

Sato has cited

Filippo Inzaghi Filippo "Pippo" Inzaghi (; born 9 August 1973) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who played as a striker. He was most recently the head coach of club Pisa. He was nicknamed "Superpippo" (" Super Goof") or "Alta ten ...

as his inspiration; his playing style has often been described as being similar to that of the Italian former striker.

Personal life

His twin brother Yuto is also a professional footballer who plays for

and has been capped once at international level.

Career statistics

Club

Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社
"2016J1&J2&J3選手名鑑"
February 10, 2016, Japan, (p. 11 out of 289) ¹Includes J1/J2 Play-offs,

Japanese Super Cup The , the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J.League and the Japan Football Association. This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the reigning J1 Leag ...

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

and

J.League Championship The J.League Championship is a two-legged championship series which determined the season champion for the first 12 J.League seasons (1993–2004) excluding the 1996 season. In the early years, the J.League seasons were Apertura and Clausura, ...

International

International goals

Honors

Club

Sanfrecce Hiroshima *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Individual

Best Eleven:

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

: Top scorer:

* J1 League: Top scorer:

J.League Most Valuable Player The J.League Player of the Year (formerly known as the "J.League Most Valuable Player Award" from 1993 to 2020) is awarded by the J.League to the most valuable player of the season. J1 League winners Wins by club J2 League winners J3 League w ...

References

External links

* * *

*
Profile at Nagoya Grampus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sato, Hisato 1982 births Living people Men's association football forwards People from Kasukabe, Saitama Association football people from Saitama Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Japan men's youth international footballers 21st-century Japanese sportsmen Japan men's international footballers J1 League players J2 League players JEF United Chiba players Cerezo Osaka players Vegalta Sendai players Sanfrecce Hiroshima players Nagoya Grampus players 2007 AFC Asian Cup players Japanese twins