Sergio Escudero (エスクデロ競飛王, ''Esukudero Seruhio''; ; born September 1, 1988) is a professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

. Born in Spain, he has represented Japan internationally. He is the son of Argentine-Japanese footballer Sergio Ariel Escudero.

Biography

As the son of a former Argentine-Japanese footballer of the same name, he was born to Argentine parents of Spanish descent in Spain, and thus held dual Argentine and Spanish citizenship. In 2007, he acquired Japanese citizenship automatically as a result of his father's naturalization. Escudero is a cousin of

Damián Escudero Damián Ariel Escudero (born 20 April 1987) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a left midfielder. He was a well-travelled professional, playing for a number of clubs in Argentina, Spain, Mexico and Brazil after starting out a ...

and nephew of

Osvaldo Escudero Osvaldo Salvador Escudero (born October 15, 1960 in Paso de los Libres, Corrientes) is a former Argentine professional footballer. He was part of the Argentina Under-20 team that won the 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship in Japan. Escudero ...

Career

When Escudero was three years old, he moved to

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

because of his father's work and joined the local club team. After living in Japan for five years, he moved to

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

and Escudero began his career with the Vélez Sársfield youth team, where his father, also named Sergio Ariel Escudero and uncle Osvaldo Salvador Escudero have played. Then he was called up to the U-15 Argentina national team training camp. In 2001, Escudero returned to Japan and joined

Kashiwa Reysol is a Japanese professional football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadi ...

junior youth team in Chiba and later moved to

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 ...

junior youth team in Saitama. He scored many goals in youth level league matches and contracted with Urawa Reds in 2005. Playing as a forward, Escudero made his debut as a professional on April 15, 2005, against

Albirex Niigata is a professional football club based in Niigata, Japan. Formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC, it was renamed Albireo Niigata FC in 1995, and Albirex Niigata in 1997. From 2023, Albirex will be playing on the J1 League, coming back to the f ...

at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 21 days and he became the second youngest J. League Division 1 player after

Takayuki Morimoto is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a forward for Taiwan Football Premier League club Taichung Futuro. He holds the record for the youngest Japanese player to make his professional debut and the youngest scorer in J1 League hi ...

. In 2006, German outfit

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V., commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's football team is currently part of Germany's first division, the Bundesliga. VfB S ...

were interested in him but Urawa refused to release him. On June 11, 2007, he obtained his Japanese citizenship and therefore he had a chance to play for the Japan U-20 team at

2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup The 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 16th edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup (formerly called the FIFA World Youth Championship), hosted by Canada from 30 June to 22 July 2007. Argentina defeated the Czech Republic in the title game by the score ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. However he failed to make it to the tournament since the squad was submitted before he became a Japanese citizen. In May 2008, he joined the U-23 national team which played at the

2008 Toulon Tournament The 2008 Toulon Tournament was the 36th edition of the Toulon Tournament, and was held from 20 May to 29 May 2008. Tournament finished with the final between Italy and Chile at Stade Mayol in Toulon as Italy had the title after the final score ...

and scored a goal against

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre i ...

. On July 17, 2012, Escudero joined South Korean outfit

FC Seoul FC Seoul ( ko, FC 서울) is a South Korean professional football club based in Seoul that competes in the K League 1, the top flight of South Korean football. The club is owned by GS Sports, a subsidiary of GS Group. They play their home game ...

on a six-month loan deal. He received number 26 and scored his debut goal on July 21. He scored 4 goals and provided 3 assists in the end of the season. His loan was made permanent in December. He scored the opening goal and assisted Dejan Damjanovic's 2:2 Equalizer in the

2013 AFC Champions League Final The 2013 AFC Champions League Final was the final match of the 2013 AFC Champions League, the thirty-second round of the top grade Asian club football tournament. It was organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was the eleventh roun ...

match against China powerhouse

Guangzhou Evergrande Guangzhou Football Club, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Association. The team is based ...

in October 26, 2013. His impressive performance made him Man of the Match. On 25 February 2015, Escudero signed a two-year contract with

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

side

Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty Jiangsu Football Club (), later known as Jiangsu Sainty F.C. (2000–2016) and Jiangsu Suning F.C. (2016–2021), was a professional football club that participated in the Chinese Super League since 2009 until its dissolution in 2021. The tea ...

Career statistics

''Updated to end of 2018 season''.

Club

International

International goals

:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first.''

Under–23

Awards and honours

Club

;Urawa Red Diamonds * J. League Division 1: 1 ::

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

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 ...

: 2 ::

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; " Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discover ...

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

: 1 ::

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple Inc., Apple's first iPhone (1st generation), iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakis ...

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 ...

: 1 ::

;FC Seoul *

K League Classic The K League 1 (Hangul: K리그1) is the men's top professional football division of the South Korean football league system. The league is contested by twelve clubs. History The South Korean professional football league was founded in 1 ...

: 1 ::

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

;Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty *

Chinese FA Cup The Chinese FA Cup (, abbreviated as CFA Cup) is the national knockout cup competition in China organized by the Chinese Football Association. Its current holders are Shandong Taishan, having beaten Shanghai Port in 2021 for a record seventh title ...

: 1 ::

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

References

External links

Profile at Kyoto Sanga
* *
Q&A with Escudero at fussballD21

Yahoo! Sports Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Escudero, Sergio 1988 births Living people Footballers from Granada Citizens of Argentina through descent Argentine footballers Spanish footballers Japanese footballers Japanese expatriate footballers J1 League players J2 League players K League 1 players Chinese Super League players Urawa Red Diamonds players FC Seoul players Jiangsu F.C. players Kyoto Sanga FC players Ulsan Hyundai FC players category:Tochigi SC players Expatriate footballers in South Korea Japanese expatriate sportspeople in South Korea Expatriate footballers in China Japanese expatriate sportspeople in China Argentine sportspeople of Spanish descent Spanish people of Argentine descent Sportspeople of Argentine descent Naturalized citizens of Japan Japanese people of Spanish descent Japanese people of Argentine descent Sergio Escudero Association football forwards