is a Japanese

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

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

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 ...

. His brother Akihiro Endō is a former footballer. He made his senior international debut in 2002, representing Japan in three

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

s and three

Confederations Cup The FIFA Confederations Cup was an international association football tournament for men's national teams, held every four years by FIFA. It was contested by the holders of each of the six continental championships (AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, ...

s. In the process he earned over 150 caps, scoring 15 goals and becoming the most capped Japanese male player of all time. He is also one of the few players to have made over 1,100 official appearances.

Club career

Endō was born in

Kagoshima , abbreviated to , is the capital city of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. Located at the southwestern tip of the island of Kyushu, Kagoshima is the largest city in the prefecture by some margin. It has been nicknamed the "Naples of the Eastern wor ...

on 28 January 1980. After graduating from , he joined

club

Yokohama Flügels was a Japanese football club that played in the J.League between 1993 and 1998. The club was an original member ("Original Ten") of the J.League in 1993. In 1999 the club was officially merged with local rivals Yokohama Marinos and the two te ...

in 1998. In March, he debuted against

Yokohama Marinos is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club competes in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Having won the J-League title four times and ...

in the opening game of the 1998 season. Largely as a central midfielder, he helped his club win the championship in the

1998 Emperor's Cup Statistics of Emperor's Cup in the 1998 season. Overview It was contested by 82 teams, and Yokohama Flügels won the championship. Results 1st Round *Omiya Ardija 1–0 TDK *Mitsubishi Nagasaki SC 0–4 Chuo University *FC Primeiro 1–0 Nihon U ...

. Due to financial strain, the club was disbanded at the end of the season. In 1999, Endō moved to

Kyoto Purple Sanga is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Kyoto. "Sanga" comes from the Sanskrit word ''sangha'', a term meaning "group" or "club" and often used to denote the Buddhist priesthood, associating the club with Kyoto ...

with contemporaries

Kazuki Teshima is a former Japanese football player. Club career Teshima was born in Iizuka on June 7, 1979. After graduating from high school, he joined Yokohama Flügels in 1998. However the club was disbanded end of 1998 season due to financial strain, he ...

and

Hideo Oshima Hideo (ひでお) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: * Hideo Den (田英夫, 1923–2009), Japanese politician and news presenter * Hideo Fujimoto (藤本英雄, 1918–1997), Japanese baseball player * Hi ...

. He became a regular player and played many matches. However the club 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 ...

at the end of the 2000 season. In 2001, Endō moved to J1 club

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 ...

. He was a central player for the club for a long time under manager Akira Nishino (2002–2011). He was selected as a

J.League Best Eleven 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 ...

10 years in a row ( 2003–

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

). In 2005, Gamba won the championship in

for the first time in club history. In 2008, Gamba won the championship in AFC Champions League for 2 years in a row as Japanese club (

Urawa Reds , colloquially Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, is a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan. The club plays in the J ...

won in 2007). Gamba also won the

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or also Japan FA Cup is a Japanese football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football match in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formation of the J.League, Japan Football League and their predecessor, J ...

. Endō was selected "Japanese Footballer of the Year". In 2009, Gamba won the

for 2 years in a row. Endō was selected Asian Footballer of the Year. Manager Nishino left Gamba after the 2011 season and the club's performance deteriorated. In 2012, Gamba finished at the 17th place of 18 clubs and was relegated to

. Endō remained with Gamba and Gamba won the champions in 2013 season. In 2014 season, Gamba returned to J1 and won all three major title in Japan,

J.League Cup The is a Japanese football (soccer) competition organized by J.League. It has been sponsored by Yamazaki Biscuits (YBC) of Yamazaki Baking (formerly Yamazaki Nabisco) since its inception in 1992. It is also known as the or (Levain is one of Y ...

and

. Endō was selected J.League MVP first time and "Japanese Footballer of the Year" second time. In October 2020, he joined J2 League side

on loan from Gamba Osaka. In December 2021, he joined Júbilo Iwata on a full transfer.

International career

Endō played in the 1999 World Youth Championship and Japan finished as runner-up, losing to

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 ...

in the final. Since 2002, Endō has been a member of the Japan national team, and was selected for Japan's

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and 2014

squads. He also was a member of the 2004 and

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 ...

Asian Cup winning teams. On 24 June 2010, Endō scored from a free-kick against

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

in a 3–1 win as Japan qualified for the

second 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 e ...

of the World Cup. On 12 October 2010, he became the fourth player to earn 100th full international cap for Japan in a friendly match 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 ...

. On 16 October 2012, Endō became Japan's most capped player in a friendly 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 ...

. His start in this match was his 123rd appearance for the national team, surpassing

Masami Ihara is a Japanese former professional football player and manager. He played for Japan national team. A defender, Ihara was captain of the Japan national team for more than a decade in the 1990s, together with striker Kazuyoshi Miura and Brazili ...

's previous record of 122 caps. Endō was included on Japan's squad for the

2015 Asian Cup The 2015 AFC Asian Cup was the 16th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It was held in Australia from 9 to 31 January 2015. The tournament wa ...

and scored the team's opening goal of the tournament in a 4–0 defeat of

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

. In the team's next match, he earned his 150th cap as Japan defeated

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

1–0. He played 152 games and scored 15 goals for Japan until 2015.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref>

Style of play

He is considered a cult hero among fans of Gamba Osaka and the Japan national team. It is because he has formidable passing ability, leadership, and goal scoring ability. He is also known for his excellent accuracy on free kicks and is revered as one of Japan's most creative

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 ...

s as well as one of the most talented Japanese footballers and

playmaker In association football, a playmaker is a player who controls the flow of the team's play, and is often involved in offensively and defensively playing passing moves which lead to goals, through their vision, technique, ball control, creativit ...

s of his generation, despite only playing domestically in his home country.

Career statistics

Club

/ref>

International

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

Honours

Yokohama Flügels *

: 1998 Gamba Osaka *

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

, 2014 *

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 ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, 2014,

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 ...

: 2007, 2014 *

Japanese Super Cup The , known as the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J. League and the Japan Football Association (JFA). This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the r ...

: 2007,

* AFC Champions League:

Pan-Pacific Championship The Pan-Pacific Football Championship was an inter-confederation football tournament between teams from A-League (Australia and New Zealand), Chinese Super League (China), J. League (Japan), K-League (Korea), and Major League Soccer (United State ...

* FIFA Club World Cup:

Bronze Medalist. Júbilo Iwata *

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Japan *

AFC 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 ...

: 2004,

Afro-Asian Cup of Nations The Afro-Asian Cup of Nations, also called the AFC Asia/Africa Challenge Cup, was an intercontinental football competition endorsed by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), contested between repr ...

: 2007 *

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (International competition which nationa ...

: 2004, 2007,

Individual * Asian Footballer of the Year: 2009 * AFC Champions League Best Player:

J.League MVP Award The J.League Player of the Year (formerly known as the "J.League Most Valuable Player Award" from 1993 to 2020) is awarded by the J.League to the most valuable player of the season. J1 League Winners Wins by club J2 League Winners J3 League ...

: 2014 * Japanese Footballer of the Year: 2008, 2014 *

: 2003, 2004,

, 2007,