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

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

club

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

and the Japan national team. A versatile attacking midfielder, she is also capable of operating as a

deep-lying playmaker 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 ...

. Born in

Sendai is the capital Cities of Japan, city of Miyagi Prefecture, the largest city in the Tōhoku region. , the city had a population of 1,091,407 in 525,828 households, and is one of Japan's 20 Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, desig ...

Miyagi Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Tōhoku region of Honshu. Miyagi Prefecture has a population of 2,305,596 (1 June 2019) and has a geographic area of . Miyagi Prefecture borders Iwate Prefecture to the north, Akita Prefecture to the nort ...

and grew up in

Toda, Saitama is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 140,902 in 66,765 households and a population density of 7700 persons per km². The total area of the city is . Geography Toda is located in the flat lowla ...

, Hasegawa played youth football with Tokyo Verdy Beleza before began her career with the senior team in 2013. In 2021, Hasegawa joined AC Milan before moving to West Ham United at the end of 2020-21 Serie A season. She joined

in the summer of 2022 after spending one season with West Ham United. A full international since 2017, Hasegawa has represented Japan in the 2019 FIFA World Cup and the

2020 Olympic Games The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...

. As of February 2023, she had scored 13 goals in 64 appearances for Japan.

Early life

Hasegawa was born in

on January 29, 1997. She subsequently moved to Todo, Saitama with her family during her childhood. She attended high school at Meguro Nihon University Junior High and High School. She graduated from Nihon University in 2019. Hasegawa began playing football in kindergarten at the age of six under the influence of her older brothers, and initially played amongst boys before joining a girl's football club around the age of nine. In 2009, aged 11, she was accepted into Menina, the nation's top youth academy of the club she would later play for, Tokyo Verdy Beleza. Over a four-year period from 2011–2014, she was a central figure behind Menina's successive titles at the JFA U-18 All Japan Youth Women's Football Tournaments. While at the academy, she befriended and rose through the ranks with fellow players such as Risa Shimizu and

Yuka Momiki is an American-born Japanese Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for Linköpings FC and the Japan women's national football team. Club career Momiki joined Nippon TV Beleza from youth team in ...

, all of whom would go on play for the Japan national team together.

Club career

Tokyo Verdy Beleza

Having progressed through the youth set-up of Tokyo Verdy Beleza, Hasegawa was promoted to the senior team in 2013. She made her

Nadeshiko League The , commonly known as the , is a semi-professional women's association football Sports league, league in Japan. The Nadeshiko League consists of two divisions that correspond to the second and third levels of the Japanese association football ...

debut on 23 March 2013, as a sixteen-year-old, against FC Kibi IU Charme. Despite her young age and relative inexperience in the first team, she quickly established herself as a regular starter in midfield, amongst other more accomplished senior teammates in the Japan national team at the time. The 2015 season proved to be a breakout year for her in senior football. She scored her first league goal in the

against

Iga FC Kunoichi , is a women's football team which plays in Division 1 of Japan, Japan's Nadeshiko League. As the strongest women's club in the Tōkai region, it has made a niche for itself against the more resourceful powers of the Kantō region, Kanto, NTV Bel ...

on 23 September 2015, and played a key part in leading the team to win the championship that year, ending a five-year drought for the domestic title. Hasegawa's time with the club coincide with one of the most successful period for the club. During her eight seasons with Beleza, she won multiple trophies with Beleza; including five successive league titles, five Empress's Cup, three League Cup, and the inaugural

AFC Women's Club Championship The AFC Women's Club Championship is the top-tier women's football club competition in Asia. It involves the top clubs from countries affiliated with the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Designed as pilot tournaments, the format will change i ...

. She won the domestic triple crown twice with Beleza, having done so consecutively in the 2018 and 2019 season. Hasegawa was first selected to the

Best XI in the 2017 season. She would repeated that feat again in 2018, 2019, and 2020, until she left Japan to play overseas in 2021. At the age of 21, she reached the milestone of 100 league appearances for Beleza on 3 May 2018, in a scoreless draw against Nojima Stella Kanagawa. In total, she made 217 appearances and scored 40 goals for the club .

AC Milan

On 29 January 2021, it was announced that Hasegawa would join Serie A Femminile club AC Milan. She netted a brace in her competitive debut for Milan in a 6–1 victory over Pink Bari on 27 February 2021, including one direct free-kick She was also awarded Player of the Match in that game. In half a season in Italy, Hasegawa helped AC Milan finished runner-up in the league to qualify for the

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

1st round and reached the 2020-21 Coppa Italia final. In total, she featured in nine games and scored three goals for the club.

West Ham United

In August 2021, Hasegawa signed a two-year contract with English side West Ham United. She scored her first goal for the club's first ever victory over

in the

, assisting the first and scoring the second in their 2–0 win on 3 October 2021. She scored again for West Ham in a 2–1 victory over

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

on 24 April 2022. Both of these goals from Hasegawa won the WSL Goal of the Month awards, with the latter being nominated for the league's Goal of the Season as well. In her first season with the Hammers, Hasegawa helped West Ham achieved sixth-place, their best ever finish in the league thus far, and reached the Women's FA Cup semi-finals.

Manchester City

On 8 September 2022, Hasegawa signed a three-year deal with fellow WSL side

. While at Manchester City, she begun playing as a

rather than her usual attacking role, filling the gap left behind by

Keira Walsh Keira Fae Walsh (born 8 April 1997) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Liga F club FC Barcelona Femení, Barcelona and the England women's national football team, England women's national team. She is considered ...

following her departure to

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça (), is a professional football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football. Founded ...

. She scored her first goal for the club in their 4-0 win against Leicester City on 16 October 2022.

International career

Youth

Hasegawa has been featured throughout all youth levels of the Japan national team set-up, since she was first called up to the U-17 national team in 2011 at the age of 14. She began her international career as a 15-year-old at the

2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2012 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the third edition of the women's football tournament, and was held in Azerbaijan from 22 September to 13 October, following a decision by the executive committee on 19 March 2010. Defending champions Sou ...

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, where she started in two matches against

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

in the group stage 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 the quarter-final. Japan were knocked out in the 1–0 quarter-final defeat, and Hasegawa ended her first international tournament with 2 goals, from a brace against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. The following year, her development was accelerated yet again as she was called up to the U-20 national team to participate in the

2013 AFC U-19 Women's Championship The AFC U-19 Women's Championship 2013 is the seventh edition of the AFC U-19 Women's Championship. It was played from 11 to 20 October 2013. The top three teams (South Korea, North Korea, and China PR) qualified for the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's Wor ...

despite still being 16. As the U-20 squad had failed to qualify for the

2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was an international association football tournament and the world championship for women's national teams under the age of 20, presented by Grant Connell, organized by the sport's world governing body FIFA. ...

that year, Hasegawa returned to her original age group to play in the

2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the youth association football tournament for women under the age of 17. The final tournament was hosted in Costa Rica. The competition was played from 15 March to 4 April 2014. Jap ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

. She started all six matches in Japan's remarkable run that saw them emerge as the champions. A cornerstone of Japan's attack, she scored three goals against

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 ...

and

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, as she went on to receive the individual honour of the adidas Silver Ball – the second best player of the tournament – behind fellow teammate Hina Sugita who won the Golden Ball.

Senior

On 1 March 2017, Hasegawa won her first senior cap for the Japan women's national team when she made her debut as a half-time substitute against

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

at the

2017 Algarve Cup The 2017 Algarve Cup was the 24th edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place from 1 to 8 March. Format The twelve invited teams were split into three groups that played a rou ...

. In the following match, she scored her first international goals at senior level, netting twice in Japan's 2–0 win over

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. She was also part of Japan's squad as they defended their

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second oldest cont ...

title, during the

2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup was the 19th edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international football tournament in Asia competed by the women's national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was originally schedul ...

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

. She provided the assist for Kumi Yokoyama's crucial winning goal that saw Japan lift the trophy, beating regional rivals

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

by a 1–0 scoreline for the second consecutive time. In the same year, she won a gold medal at the

2018 Asian Games The 2018 Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia 2018 or ''Asian Games 2018''), officially known as the 18th Asian Games and also known as Jakarta-Palembang 2018 or Indonesia 2018, was a Asia, continental multi-sport event that was held from 18 A ...

, where Japan emerged champions of yet another closely contested

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

, to win 1–0 over

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Hasegawa participated in her first World Cup competition at the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football championship contested by 24 women's national teams representing member associations of FIFA. It ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. She was part of a new generation of Nadeshiko stars, as the Japan senior team was in a period of transition, moving on from many of the players who featured in the squad that reached the previous World Cup final, and had lifted the historic title in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. Despite Japan's exit to the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

in the Round of 16, Hasegawa's equaliser in that match was nominated for Goal of the Tournament. In July 2021, Hasegawa took part in the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

held in her home country of

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 north ...

. She started in all four of Japan's matches and provided two assists as Japan was eliminated from the competition in the quarter-final, where they lost 3–1 to eventual silver medalists

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

. As of February 2023, she has played 64 games and scored 13 goals for Japan.

Style of play

Primarily an attacking midfielder, Hasegawa most often operates as a wide midfielder on the left in a 4-3-3 formation while playing with Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza, although her versatility also allows her to occupy many positions in midfield. Hasegawa is described as a player who possesses exceptional ability on the ball, whose electric feet, quick acceleration and low centre of gravity make her an adept dribbler and press resistant. She also possesses a wide variety of passes in her arsenal when combined with her a great passing range and ball carrying capability, made her ranks among the best players in her positions in terms of ball progression. She also possesses a keen sense of tactical awareness and sense of positioning which makes her great penetration threat with or without the ball. Hasegawa is also an effective player on the defensive end where her intense counter pressing in the final third regularly helps her side to quickly regain possession through intercepting opposition play. Since joining Manchester City, Hasegawa has primarily operate in the holding midfielder position with greater defensive duty compared to her previous roles.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Tokyo Verdy Beleza *

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 ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

* Nadeshiko League Cup:

, 2019 * Empress's Cup:

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 ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

AC Milan *

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

runner-up:

2020-21 The hyphen-minus is the most commonly used type of hyphen, widely used in digital documents. It is the only character that looks like a minus sign or a dash in many character sets such as ASCII or on most keyboards, so it is also used as such. ...

Japan U17 * FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup:

Japan *

AFC Women's Asian Cup The AFC Women's Asian Cup (formerly known as the AFC Women's Championship) is a quadrennial competition in women's football for national teams which belong to the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It is the oldest women's international football ...

Asian Games The Asian Games, also known as Asiad, is a continental multi-sport event held every four years among athletes from all over Asia. The Games were regulated by the Asian Games Federation (AGF) from the first Games in New Delhi, India, until t ...

EAFF Women's Football Championship EAFF E-1 Football Championship is an international football competition in East Asia for national teams of the East Asian Football Federation (EAFF). The competition between women's national teams is held alongside men's competition. History I ...

Individual *

Best Eleven: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 * FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup Silver Ball:

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

Goal of the Month: April 2022

References

External links

* * *
Japan Football Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hasegawa, Yui 1997 births Living people Nihon University alumni Association football people from Saitama Prefecture Japanese women's footballers Japan women's international footballers Nadeshiko League players Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza players Women's association football midfielders A.C. Milan Women players Serie A (women's football) players Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Italy West Ham United F.C. Women players Manchester City W.F.C. players Women's Super League players Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Asian Games medalists in football Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers of Japan Japanese expatriate sportspeople in England