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 ...

who plays as a

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 Belgian club

KV Oostende Koninklijke Voetbalclub Oostende, also called KV Oostende () or KVO, is a Belgian football club from the city of Ostend, West Flanders in Belgium. The team was founded in 1904 as ''VG Oostende'' and has the matricule No. 31. History In 1911, an ...

Club career

Starting out playing for

Toyo University is a university with several branches in Japan, including Hakusan, Asaka, Kawagoe, Itakura, and Akabane. Overview The predecessor to Toyo University was , which was founded at Rinsho-in Temple by Enryo Inoue in 1887. Inoue felt that the ...

, Sakamoto was a specially designated player for

Montedio Yamagata is Japanese professional association football club based in Tendo, Yamagata. The club plays in J2 League. Montedio is a coined word combining the Italian word for "mountain" (Monte) and the word for "God" (Dio). History The club based in T ...

in the 2018 season. Despite not making an appearance during this time, Sakamoto fully joined Montedio Yamagata for the 2019 season playing in the

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 ...

. Sakamoto appeared in every single league game that Montedio Yamagata played in the 2019 season, scoring seven goals in the process. The team also advanced into the second round of the promotion playoffs but were beaten 1-0 by Tokushima Vortis. After a successful debut season in the J2 League, Sakamoto was signed by

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 Osaka. ...

for the 2020 season. He went on to appear in 33 of their 38 league games and cement himself as part of the team. On 5 January 2022, Sakamoto joined Belgian club

on loan until the end of the season, with an option to buy. This option was triggered later in 25 May, with Oostende signing him in a complete transfer lasting to 2025.

International career

He made his debut for

Japan national football team The , nicknamed the , represents Japan in men's international Association football, football. It is controlled by the Japan Football Association (JFA), the governing body for football in Japan. Japan was not a major football force until the e ...

on 7 June 2021 in a World Cup qualifier against Tajikistan.

Club statistics

''Updated to 26 May 2022''.

References

External links

* 1996 births Living people Japanese footballers Japan international footballers Association football midfielders Montedio Yamagata players Cerezo Osaka players K.V. Oostende players J2 League players J1 League players Belgian First Division A players Japanese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium {{Japan-footy-midfielder-1990s-stub