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 ...

who most recently played 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 ...

for

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. ...

. He played for the Japan national team scoring 6 goals in 60 appearances

Club career

Okubo was born in

Kanda, Fukuoka is a town located in Miyako District, Fukuoka Prefecture, on the Japanese home island of Kyushu, which is one of the four main islands. Kanda is a suburb of the city of Kitakyushu. As of April 30, 2017, the town has an estimated population of ...

on 9 June 1982. After graduating from high school, he joined

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 ...

club

in 2001. He played many matches as forward and offensive midfielder from first season. However Cerezo finished at the bottom place in 2001 season and was relegated to

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 ...

. In 2002 season, he scored 18 goals which was the second top scorer and Cerezo reached the second place and was returned to J1 in a year. From 2003, he scored more than 15 goals in J1. He was also selected

Asian Young Footballer of the Year The Asian Young Footballer of the Year award, officially known as the AFC Youth Player of the Year award, is presented to the best young football player in Asia. It has been awarded by the Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Con ...

award in 2003. In 2005, Okubo moved to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men's ...

club

Mallorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bal ...

on loan. Although the club results were bad, Mallorca finished at 17th place and remained La Liga in 2004–05 season. Although he played many matches as substitute forward in 2005–06 season, his opportunity to play decreased from April 2006. In June 2006, Okubo returned to

. At then Cerezo won only one of 13 matches and at the bottom place of 18 clubs in 2006 season. Although he played as forward all matches excluding suspension, Cerezo finished at the 17th place and was relegated to J2 again. In 2007, Okubo moved to J1 club

Vissel Kobe is a Japanese professional football club based in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The team's home stadium is Noevir Stadium Kobe, in Hyōgo-ku, though some home match ...

. He played many matches as left midfielder in two seasons under manager

Hiroshi Matsuda is a former Japanese football player and manager. He currently manager of Tegevajaro Miyazaki. Club career Matsuda was born in Nagasaki on September 2, 1960. After graduating from University of Tsukuba, he joined Japan Soccer League club M ...

and scored more than ten goals both seasons. On 3 January 2009, Vissel Kobe announced Okubo's transfer to

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

of the

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 ...

. After just six months with Wolfsburg, he returned to Vissel Kobe. Upon his return, he became the first Japanese striker to have won the Bundesliga title. In June 2009, Okubo returned to Japan and re-joined

. He played as forward all 19 matches and scored 8 goals in 2009 season. Although his opportunity to play decreased for injuries in 2010, he played as regular player until 2012. However Vissel finished at the 16th place in 2012 season and was relegated to

. After Vissel Kobe was relegated to the

in 2013 season, Okubo transferred to

Kawasaki Frontale is a Japanese professional football club based in Kawasaki, Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Kawasaki Todoroki Stadium, in Nakahara W ...

. An ever-present figure and a regular starting eleven in Kawasaki, he scored 26 goals in his debut season in the

Kanagawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-densest at . Its geographic area of makes it fifth-smallest. Kana ...

football club and clinched top scorer of 2013 season. He played more than 30 matches every season and he became a top scorer for 3 years in a row until 2015 season. At the end of 2016 season and before

J.League Championship The J.League Championship is a two-legged championship series which determined the season champion for the first 12 J.League seasons (1993–2004) excluding the 1996 season. In the early years, the J.League seasons were divided into two halve ...

, Okubo announced he would leave

to sign for

FC Tokyo Football Club Tokyo, commonly known as , is a Japanese professional football club based in Chōfu, Tokyo. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The team is one of only four in the J.League to be si ...

in 2017. He played in one season and scored eight goals. In 2018, Okubo re-joined

. However he could not as regular player and he mainly played as substitute forward. In June 2018, Okubo moved to

Júbilo Iwata is a professional Japanese association football team that currently play in the J2 League. The team name ''Júbilo'' means 'joy' in Spanish and Portuguese. The team's hometown is Iwata, Shizuoka prefecture and they play at Yamaha Stadium. For ...

International career

In 2003, Okubo was selected Japan national team by manager Zico. He made his international debut on 31 May 2003 in a friendly against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

Tokyo National Stadium The Japan National Stadium, officially named and formerly known as or , is a multi-purpose stadium used mostly for association football in Kasumigaoka, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The facility served as the main stadium for the opening and ...

when he was sent on to the pitch to replace

Takayuki Suzuki is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a forward. He made over 50 appearances for the Japanese national team and he played professionally for two decades in Japan, Brazil, Belgium, Serbia and the United States. Club caree ...

.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref> Although he played many matches as forward in 2003, his opportunity to play decreased from 2004 as he struggled to score goals under Zico. Okubo was also part of the Japan U-23 national team for

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

, who exited in the first round, having finished fourth in group B, below group winners

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

. In August 2007, Okubo was selected Japan for the first time in 2 years by manager

Ivica Osim Ivan Osim (6 May 1941 – 1 May 2022), best known as Ivica Osim, was a Bosnian professional footballer and football manager. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Bosnian football managers of all time and as one of the most influential foo ...

. Okubo scored his first international goal on 17 October 2007 in a friendly against

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Osaka Nagai Stadium , known as the Yanmar Stadium Nagai ( ja, ヤンマースタジアム長居) for sponsorship reasons, is a stadium in Osaka, Japan. It is the home ground of J. League club Cerezo Osaka. The stadium has a seating capacity of 47,000. History When ...

. In 2010, Okubo was selected Japan for

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

. He played as left midfielder in all 4 matches and Japan qualified to the knockout stage. Okubo's selection for the

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

in Brazil was the big surprise of coach Alberto Zaccheroni's squad announcement. The forward had previously played just once for the coach in four years.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ōkubo goal.''

Honours

VfL Wolfsburg *

: 2008–09 Individual *

: 2003 * J.League Top Scorer:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

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 Apri ...

J.League Best XI The J.League Best XI is an acknowledgement of the best eleven players in J.League. J1 League (1993–present) Multiple appearances Appearances by club Appearances by country * Only in two occasions there was a full-Japanese Best XI (20 ...

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
*

Real Mallorca bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Okubo, Yoshito 1982 births Living people Association football forwards Association football people from Fukuoka Prefecture Japanese footballers Japan international footballers J1 League players J2 League players La Liga players Bundesliga players Cerezo Osaka players RCD Mallorca players Vissel Kobe players VfL Wolfsburg players Kawasaki Frontale players FC Tokyo players Júbilo Iwata players Tokyo Verdy players Footballers at the 2002 Asian Games Asian Games medalists in football Asian Games silver medalists for Japan 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players Olympic footballers of Japan Footballers at the 2004 Summer Olympics 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players Japanese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Spain Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate footballers in Germany Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Asian Young Footballer of the Year winners Medalists at the 2002 Asian Games