is a 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

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

for

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

club

Sint-Truiden Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The muni ...

. Born in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, he represents the Japan national team.

Early life

Suzuki was born in

Little Rock, Arkansas (The Little Rock, The "Little Rock") , government_type = council-manager government, Council-manager , leader_title = List of mayors of Little Rock, Arkansas, Mayor , leader_name = Frank Scott Jr. , leader_ ...

, United States, to a

Ghanaian American Ghanaian Americans are an ethnic group of Americans of full or partial Ghanaian ancestry or Ghanaian immigrants who became naturalized citizen of the United States. History Early history The first people to arrive from the region then known ...

father and a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

mother. His family later moved to Japan, settling in

Urawa, Saitama was a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. On May 1, 2001, Urawa was merged with the cities of Ōmiya and Yono to create the city of Saitama. Since April 1, 2003, the area of former Urawa City has been divided into 4 wards: Urawa-ku, M ...

, where Suzuki was raised.

Club career

Suzuki's professional career began with the

Urawa Red Diamonds , 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 ...

when he was sixteen years and five months old, making him the youngest player in the history of the club to sign a professional contract. His first appearance in the

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 ...

came in May 2021 in a match against

Vegalta Sendai is a Japanese professional football club, currently playing in J2 League. The team is located in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. History Founded in 1988 as ''Tohoku Electric Power Co., Inc. Soccer Club'', Vegalta joined the J-League in 1999 after p ...

. In August of 2023, Suzuki was sent on loan from the Urawa Red Diamonds to

Sint-Truidense V.V. Koninklijke Sint-Truidense Voetbalvereniging (), commonly known as Sint-Truiden or STVV () or by their nickname De Kanaries (, is a Belgian professional football club located in the city of Sint-Truiden in Limburg. Sint-Truiden plays in the Belg ...

, a mid-table team in the

. He served as the understudy for Japanese goalkeeper Daniel Schmidt before he was named the starter. During Suzuki's stint at Sint-Truidense, he was reportedly offered the position as a backup goalkeeper at

Manchester United 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 City of Salford, Salford to ...

. However, he turned down the offer, wanting to stay at Sint-Truidense. On 1 February 2024, it was announced that Suzuki's loan with Sint-Truiden will be converted into permanent transfer for next season on 1 July 2024.

International career

Suzuki has represented Japan at multiple levels in youth football. On 19 July 2022, he earned his first cap with the senior Japan national team, playing the full match against Hong Kong in the

2022 EAFF E-1 Football Championship The 2022 EAFF E-1 Football Championship was an association football tournament organized by the East Asian Football Federation. It was the 9th edition of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship, the football championship of East Asia. The finals were ...

, which his side won 6–0. He played in Japan's opening match of the

2023 AFC Asian Cup The 2023 AFC Asian Cup will be the 18th edition of the AFC Asian Cup, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Asia organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). It will involve 24 national teams after expansion in 201 ...

, a 4–2 win against

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. He also played in their following 1–2 defeat to

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 ...

, logging one save.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Urawa Red Diamonds *

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Japan *

EAFF E-1 Football Championship EAFF E-1 Football Championship, known as the East Asian Football Championship from 2003 to 2010, and the EAFF East Asian Cup for the 2013 and 2015 editions, is a men's international football competition in East Asia for member nations of the East ...

Individual * Japan Pro-Footballers Association Best XI:

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Suzuki, Zion 2002 births Living people American men's soccer players Japanese men's footballers Men's association football goalkeepers Urawa Red Diamonds players Sint-Truidense V.V. players J1 League players Belgian Pro League players Japan men's youth international footballers Japan men's international footballers 2023 AFC Asian Cup players Olympic footballers for Japan Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Japanese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Belgium American sportspeople of Ghanaian descent American sportspeople of Japanese descent Japanese people of African-American descent Japanese people of Ghanaian descent AFC Champions League-winning players Sportspeople of Ghanaian descent