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 lea ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Vissel Kobe is a Japanese professional football club based in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. They are currently the J1 League champions. The club's home stadium is Noevir Stad ...

. He was born in the United States but raised in Japan, where he represented internationally.

Club career

Early career

Sakai was born in New York to a German mother and a Japanese father. The family moved to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

when he was two years old. He grew up in Sanjō, Niigata prefecture. Sakai started playing football at Sanjō junior soccer club, together with his brother Noriyoshi. At age 15, he joined

Albirex Niigata is a professional football club based in Niigata, Japan. Formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC, it was renamed Albireo Niigata FC in 1995, and Albirex Niigata in 1997. They currently play in J1 League after being promoted from J2 League as cha ...

youth academy and entered Kaishu Gakuen High School. His team played at the Prince Takamado Premier/Prince League, Japan Club Youth U-18 Football Championship and J.League youth tournaments. Years later in his final year at school, he was chosen as one of the designated players for development by J. League Division 1 and JFA. With this status, he was able to register as a J. League club player while he was still eligible to play for his school. He made his Albirex first-team debut, at the age of 17, on 15 November 2008 in the

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formatio ...

match against FC Tokyo. He officially signed with Albirex Niigata in the following season. After becoming professional, he was assigned the number 24 shirt. He made his professional football debut in the opening

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

match of the 2009 season also against FC Tokyo.

VfB Stuttgart

On 1 January 2012, Gōtoku Sakai was loaned out to

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

until June 2013. VfB Stuttgart secured the contract option to sign Sakai permanently. On 11 February 2012, Sakai made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

debut for VfB Stuttgart in a 5–0 home victory against

Hertha BSC Hertha, Berliner Sport-Club e. V., commonly known as Hertha BSC () or Hertha Berlin, is a German professional football club based in Berlin. Hertha BSC plays in the 2. Bundesliga, the second tier of German football league system, German footbal ...

. He made 14 starts and recorded five assists in his first Bundesliga season. Sakai scored his first goal for Stuttgart on 22 November 2012 in a 5–1 away victory against

FC Steaua București Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of th ...

in the 2012–13 UEFA Europa League group stage. On 10 January 2013, Sakai signed a contract with Stuttgart until June 2016 and moved permanently to VfB.

Hamburger SV

In the 2015–16 season, Sakai joined

Hamburger SV Hamburger Sport-Verein e.V. (), commonly known as Hamburger SV () or Hamburg (), or HSV (), is a German sports club based in Hamburg, with its largest branch being its Association football, football department. Though the current HSV was founde ...

Vissel Kobe

On 14 August 2019, Sakai moved back to Japan to join

International career

Sakai played for Japan U20 at the 2010 AFC U-19 Championship in China. In 2011, he was named in

's final 23-man squad to compete at the

2011 AFC Asian Cup The 2011 AFC Asian Cup was the 15th edition of the men's AFC Asian Cup, a quadrennial international football tournament organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). The finals were held in Qatar from 7 to 29 January 2011. It was the secon ...

in Qatar but had to withdraw due to an injury. On 21 September 2011, Sakai was in the starting line-up of the Japan under-22 team in the first group match of his team in the 2012 Summer Olympics Asian Qualifiers against Malaysia. In the following group match against Bahrain he came off the bench. He participated with the Japan under-23 team in the

2012 Toulon Tournament The 2012 Toulon Tournament was the 40th edition of the Toulon Tournament and took place from 23 May to 1 June. Colombia national under-20 football team, Colombia were 2011 Toulon Tournament, the defending champions, but they did not participate th ...

. On 2 July 2012, Sakai was called up for the 2012 Summer Olympics Football tournament in London. He made his debut for the Japan senior national team on 6 September 2012 in the

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

against the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

. Sakai underlined his outstanding potential in late 2012 when he was selected by influential football website IBWM in their list of the 100 most exciting players in world football for 2013. In May 2018 he was named in Japan's squad for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

in Russia. After Japan lost in the Round of 16 to Belgium, Sakai announced his retirement from international duty.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

VfB Stuttgart *

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal (), also known as the German Cup in English language, English, is a German knockout Association football, football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competiti ...

runner-up: 2012–13 Vissel Kobe *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

* Japanese Super Cup:

2020 The year 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 even ...

Individual * J.League Best XI:

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sakai, Gotoku 1991 births Living people Soccer players from New York City Association football people from Niigata Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks Japan men's youth international footballers 21st-century Japanese sportsmen Japan men's international footballers 2018 FIFA World Cup players Japanese people of German descent Japanese people of American descent American emigrants to Japan American men's soccer players American people of Japanese descent American sportspeople of Japanese descent American people of German descent J1 League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Albirex Niigata players VfB Stuttgart players Hamburger SV players Vissel Kobe players Olympic footballers for Japan Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2014 FIFA World Cup players 2015 AFC Asian Cup players Japanese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Germany 21st-century American sportsmen