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 as a
winger for club
Azul Claro Numazu. He spent the majority of his career with
Yokohama F. 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 an ...
.
International career
Saito was born in
Kanagawa
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. Kanagaw ...
. In August 2007, he was elected
Japan U17 national team for
2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup. He played two matches. In July 2012, he was selected for the
Japan U23 national team squad for the
2012 Summer Olympics. He played four matches and Japan won the 4th place.
In July 2013, Saito was elected
Japan national team for
2013 East Asian Cup. At this tournament, on 21 July, he debuted against
China. He was also called-up for the
2014 FIFA World Cup, but he did not play. He played six games and scored one goal for Japan until 2016.
[Japan National Football Team Database](_blank)
/ref>
Career statistics
Club
International
:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Saitō goal.''
Honours
Yokohama F. Marinos
* Emperor's Cup: 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 fa ...
Kawasaki Frontale
* J1 League: 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 ...
, 2020
2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
*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 ...
: 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 ...
Nagoya Grampus
*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 ...
: 2021 J.League Cup, 2021
Japan
*AFC U-17 Championship: 2006 AFC U-17 Championship, 2006
*EAFF East Asian Cup: 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup, 2013
Individual
*J. League Best Eleven : 2016 J1 League, 2016
References
External links
*
*
*
Profile at Nagoya Grampus
*
1990 births
Living people
Association football people from Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Japanese men's footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Japan men's international footballers
Japan men's youth international footballers
Olympic footballers for Japan
Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
2014 FIFA World Cup players
J1 League players
J2 League players
category:J3 League players
K League 1 players
Yokohama F. Marinos players
Ehime FC players
Kawasaki Frontale players
Nagoya Grampus players
Suwon Samsung Bluewings players
Newcastle Jets FC players
category:Vegalta Sendai players
category:Azul Claro Numazu players
Japanese expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in South Korea
Japanese expatriate sportspeople in South Korea
{{Japan-footy-midfielder-1990s-stub