is a Japanese

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 ...

currently playing 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) ** Sm ...

. He plays for

Borussia Mönchengladbach II Borussia Mönchengladbach II is a German association football club from the town of Mönchengladbach, North Rhine Westphalia. It is the reserve team of Borussia Mönchengladbach. The team's greatest success has been promotion to the tier four R ...

, which is the youth team of

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e. V. Mönchengladbach, commonly known as Borussia Mönchengladbach (), Mönchengladbach () or Gladbach (; abbreviated as Borussia MG, BMG), is a professional Association football, football club based in ...

Club career

Fukuda was born in Kanoya City,

Kagoshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located on the island of Kyushu and the Ryukyu Islands. Kagoshima Prefecture has a population of 1,599,779 (1 January 2020) and has a geographic area of 9,187 km2 (3,547 sq mi). Kagoshima Prefecture borders Kumamoto P ...

, and started his footballing career with Takayama FC. He enrolled at the Kamimura Gakuen High School, and continued to play football for the school team. He was noted for his performances at the 2021

All Japan High School Soccer Tournament The All Japan High School Soccer Tournament (全国高等学校サッカー選手権大会, Zenkoku kōtō gakkō sakkā senshuken taikai, 全国高校サッカー選手権大会, Zenkoku kō kō sakkā senshuken taikai) of Japan, commonly known a ...

, where he was named as one of the best forwards. He scored one goal and got one assist in a 3–2 loss as Kamimura Gakuen were knocked out by Teikyo Nagaoka High School in the second round. A noted goal-scorer, Fukuda regularly finished as one of the top scorers in each of the tournaments he played in. Following these good performances for the Kamimura Gakuen High School football team, Fukuda was included in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

's "Next Generation" list for 2021. In September 2021, Fukuda trained with

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 ...

side

Kashima Antlers are a football club in Kashima, Ibaraki, currently playing in the J1 League, top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The name ''Antlers'' is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island". The club has fi ...

. On 27 October 2022, Fukuda was announced by

as a new signing for their

youth team In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

, despite never playing for a professional club in Japan, signing for the club as a Kamimura Gakuen High School graduate. He joined the German club in January 2023, after the winter vacation period in Japan. Speaking about Fukuda, Mönchengladbach's academy director Mirko Sandmöller stated: "We are pleased that Shio Fukuda has chosen us, even though he had numerous offers from the

. He is a technically adept, agile and developable striker with great potential".

Career statistics

U-18

Senior

International career

Fukuda has represented Japan on all

youth Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. You ...

categories up to under-19 level, selected multiple times for the national team while at Kamimura Gakuen's Middle and High School.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fukuda, Shio 2004 births Living people Association football people from Kagoshima Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Japan men's youth international footballers Men's association football forwards