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 plays for

AZ Alkmaar Alkmaar Zaanstreek (), better known as AZ Alkmaar or simply AZ (), is a Dutch professional football club from Alkmaar and the Zaan district. The club plays in the Eredivisie, the highest professional football league in the Netherlands, and host ...

in the

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

Club career

Nagoya Grampus

Sugawara made his debut for

Nagoya Grampus (formerly known as ) is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture and founded as the company team of the Toyota, Toyota Motor Corp. in 1939 ...

on 24 February 2018, the opening day of the

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 Unit ...

season in a match against

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Gamba'' comes from the Japanese , meaning "to do your best" or "to s ...

. In doing so, he became the second youngest player to appear in J1 League match ever at 17 years, 7 months and 27 days, only passed by former Gamba Osaka player Junichi Inamoto in 1997. On 6 April 2018, Sugawara signed his first professional contract with Nagoya Grampus, the youngest in the club's history to sign a professional deal, at 17 years and 10 months.

Loan to AZ

Sugawara joined Dutch

club AZ on 21 June 2019 on a season-long

loan In finance, a loan is the lending of money by one or more individuals, organizations, or other entities to other individuals, organizations, etc. The recipient (i.e., the borrower) incurs a debt and is usually liable to pay interest on that ...

. He made his first-team debut on 25 July, as a 59th-minute substitute during AZ's 0–0 home draw against

BK Häcken Bollklubben Häcken, more commonly known as BK Häcken or simply Häcken (), is a Swedish professional football club based in Gothenburg. It currently plays in Allsvenskan, the top tier of Swedish football. Formed on 2 August 1940, Häcken has p ...

in the

second qualifying round The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds each ...

of the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. At AZ he was mainly utilised as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

, where he competed with the older Jonas Svensson, and was set to become his future successor. On 4 August 2019, Sugawara started in the home match against

Fortuna Sittard Fortuna Sittard (; li, Fortuna Zitterd ) is a football club in Sittard, Netherlands. The club currently plays its football in the 12,500 capacity Fortuna Sittard Stadion and features in the Eredivisie. The club was established through a merger ...

and scored the final goal in the 84th minute, to make it 4–0 after preliminary work by

Calvin Stengs Calvin Stengs (; born 18 December 1998) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a winger for Belgian Pro League club Antwerp, on loan from Ligue 1 club Nice, and the Netherlands national team. A product of the AZ academy, Stengs broke ...

. Both in the league and group stage of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, Sugawara was a regular rotational player during the season, while also making some appearances for the reserve team of Jong AZ in the second-tier

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (, en, First Division) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie and with the third-level Tweede Divisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as t ...

. During this season he played 16 league games in which he scored two goals.

AZ

On 23 February 2020, it was announced that Sugawara would sign a five-year contract to join AZ permanently from 1 June 2020.

International career

Sugawara represented Japan at the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Sugawara made his debut with the senior Japan national team in a friendly 0–0 tie with

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

on 9 October 2020.

Career statistics

Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社
"J1&J2&J3選手名鑑ハンディ版 2018 (NSK MOOK)"
7 February 2018, Japan, (p. 149 out of 289)

Honours

Japan U19 * AFC U-19 Championship third place:

Individual *

Talent of the Month: January 2022

References

External links

*
Profile at Nagoya Grampus
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sugawara, Yukinari 2000 births Living people People from Toyokawa, Aichi Association football people from Aichi Prefecture Japanese footballers Japan youth international footballers Japan under-20 international footballers Japan international footballers Association football defenders Nagoya Grampus players Eerste Divisie players AZ Alkmaar players Jong AZ players J1 League players Eredivisie players Japanese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Japanese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands