is a Japanese
football player who plays for
Shimizu S-Pulse in the
J2 League. He has previously played for both
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 ...
and
Fagiano Okayama
is a Japanese football club based in Okayama, the capital of Okayama Prefecture. They play in the J2 League, the second tier of the country's football league system. Their home stadium is City Light Stadium, in Okayama City, though some home ...
. His regular playing position is
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 ...
.
Club career
Born and raised in the Urawa area of Saitama, Yajima came through the ranks with his local team
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 ...
and joined their first team ahead of the 2012 season aged just 18. He made just a solitary appearance in the Emperor's Cup during his debut season as a professional, but the following year he earned more game time; playing 8 times in the league and 6 in the domestic cups where he found the back of the net 3 times. The next 2 seasons with Urawa saw him struggle to get on the pitch and he appeared just 7 and 6 times respectively in all competitions.
Owing to a lack of game time, Yajima was sent on a 2-season loan to
J2 League side
Fagiano Okayama
is a Japanese football club based in Okayama, the capital of Okayama Prefecture. They play in the J2 League, the second tier of the country's football league system. Their home stadium is City Light Stadium, in Okayama City, though some home ...
in 2015. He immediately became a regular in their midfield and played 37 league games in both of his seasons with Okayama scoring 13 times in total as they finished 11th and 6th in the final standings.
After gaining good top-team experience in J2 it was back to Urawa for 2017 and although he featured more than he had done prior to moving to Okayama, he was still rather a peripheral figure at the Saitama Stadium. He made just 11 appearances in the league and 19 in total, including 4 in Urawa's victorious
AFC Champions League campaign.
Yajima moved from Urawa to their fierce rivals Gamba Osaka ahead of the
2018 season.
However, he was not flavour of the month with new Brazilian coach
Levir Culpi
Levir Culpi (born 28 February 1953) is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player who played as a centre-back.
Playing career
Known as Levir during his playing days, he was born in Curitiba, Paraná, and started his career with ...
and played a mere 2 league and 2 league cup games in his first year in Osaka. Out of favour, he found himself featuring as an overage player for Gamba Under-23 in
J3 League under the leadership of
Tsuneyasu Miyamoto
is a former Japanese football coach and former player who last coached Gamba Osaka. He played for Japan national team.
A central defender, Miyamoto went on to make 71 international appearances and led the Japan national team in the 2002 and ...
. He played 9 times in J3 before being loaned to J1 side
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 ...
at the end of June.
Game time was again hard to come by in Sendai and he played just 5 league games and 3 Emperor's Cup games as Vegalta finished runners up to his former club, Urawa. Tsuneyasu Miyamoto replaced Levir Culpi midway through the 2018 season with Gamba facing the real prospect of relegation to J2, he steadied the ship and was appointed as head coach permanently ahead of the
2019 campaign. Having worked with Yajima previously at Gamba Under-23, he recalled him to first team squad ahead of his first full season in charge at the Panasonic Stadium.
National team career
In August 2016, Yajima was selected in the
Japan Under-23 national team squad for the
2016 Summer Olympics. At this tournament, he played all 3 matches and scored a goal against
Sweden.
Club statistics
''Updated to 10 December 2018''.
1Includes Emperor's Cup.
2Includes J. League Cup
The is a Japanese Association football, 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 ...
.
3Includes 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 ...
, J2 playoffs and FIFA Club World Cup.
;Reserves performance
Honours
International
Last Updated: 7 February 2019
[name="Shinya Yajima Soccerway Player Statistics"]
;Japan U-23
*
AFC U-23 Championship:
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...
Club
;Urawa Red Diamonds
*
AFC Champions League:
2017
File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yajima, Shinya
1994 births
Living people
Association football people from Saitama Prefecture
Japanese men's footballers
Japan men's youth international footballers
J1 League players
J2 League players
J3 League players
Urawa Red Diamonds players
Fagiano Okayama players
J.League U-22 Selection players
Gamba Osaka players
Gamba Osaka U-23 players
Vegalta Sendai players
category:Omiya Ardija players
Footballers at the 2014 Asian Games
Footballers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic footballers for Japan
Men's association football midfielders
Asian Games competitors for Japan