is a Japanese 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 ...

of Chinese descent. He plays as a

central 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 ...

for club Albirex Niigata. He is the son of former Chinese international Gao Sheng.

Career

After graduating from Funabashi High School in Chiba, Ko signed his first professional contract with Gamba Osaka ahead of the 2017 season. He didn't feature for Gamba's senior side during his debut campaign, but played 28 times in J3 for Gamba U-23. 2018 was a more productive year and he started off captaining Gamba U-23, playing a total of 20 games and scoring 3 times. However, he spent most of the latter half of the year with Gamba's J1 side following the promotion of Gamba U-23 head coach Tsuneyasu Miyamoto. He made his J1 League debut in Miyamoto's first match as manager, a 1-1 draw at home to

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 July 28 and made a total of 12 league appearances that year. In addition he also played once in the J.League Cup in the quarter-final tie against Yokohama F. Marinos.

Career statistics

Honours

; Albirex Niigata *

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 Yas ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

; Individual * J2 League Best XI:

References

External links

* 1998 births Living people Japanese footballers J1 League players category:J2 League players J3 League players Gamba Osaka players Gamba Osaka U-23 players category:Renofa Yamaguchi FC players category:Albirex Niigata players Japanese sportspeople of Chinese descent Men's association football midfielders Association football people from Kawasaki, Kanagawa {{Japan-footy-midfielder-1990s-stub