Homare Sawa

In 1991, long considered Japan's finest female footballer, Sawa was promoted to Yomiuri Beleza (later NTV Beleza) from youth team by manager Kazuhiko Takemoto. She made her debut in L.League, Japan's highest domestic league, at the young age of 12.[4] She played as forward and played 136 matches and scored 79 goals in League. She was also selected Best Eleven 5 times (1993, 1995, 1996, 1997 and 1998).

With the birth of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) in 2001, Sawa found herself playing in the highest-level professional women's league in the United States, for the Atlanta Beat. She scored the first goal in the club's history, and was a centerpiece of the Beat's three seasons in the league, helping them into the playoffs each year. Despite her diminutive stature at 5'5" (165 cm) tall and 121 lbs. (55 kg), she held her own with the mostly larger and more physical players, and was regularly among the team and league leaders in fouls taken.

Following the WUSA's demise in 2003, Sawa returned to Japan, where she played with powerhouse Nippon TV Beleza. In 2004, she was named Women's Player of the Year for the Asian Football Confederation. She played the club until 2008. The club won L.League championship for 4 years in a row (2005-2008). She also was selected L.League MVP awards in 2006 and 2008.

On 24 September 2008, Sawa was selected by the Washington Freedom in the first round of the 2008 WPS International Draft. She was a fixture in the Freedom midfield through the league's first two seasons in 2009 and 2010.

Sawa returned to Japan temporarily at the end of the 2009 Women's Professional Soccer season, and joined Nippon TV Beleza on loan.[5] At the end of 2010 Women's Professional Soccer season, she returned to Nippon TV Beleza.

In January 2011, Sawa moved to INAC Kobe Leonessa due to financial strain at Nippon TV Beleza, with international players; Shinobu Ohno, Yukari Kinga, and Chiaki Minamiyama. The club won the L.League championship 3 years in a row (2011-2013). On December 16, 2015, she announced her intent to retire at the end of the 2015 season. At the 2015 Empress's Cup, Sawa's final tournament as a player, INAC Kobe Leonessa reached the final. In the final against Albirex Niigata on December 27, she scored the lone goal of the match in the 78th minute to secure the championship for her side.[6]

As of 11 November 2012

[14][15]

Sawa has competed in six FIFA Women's World Cups (Sweden 1995, USA 1999, USA 2003, China 2007, Germany 2011, and Canada 2015); she and Brazil's Formiga, who competed at the same Women's World Cups, are the only players of either sex to appear in six World Cup final tournaments. Sawa has also represented Japan in four Olympics: Atlanta 1996, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012. In all, she played 41 matches and scored 11 goals at those ten global tournaments.[16] Sawa was a member of the Japanese teams that won the 2011 Women's World Cup, and were runners-up at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2015 Women's World Cup.

Goal	Match	Date	Location	Opponent	Lineup	Min	Score	Result	Competition
Sweden 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup
	1	1995-06-05[m 2]	Karlstad	Germany	Start			0–1 L	Group stage
	2	1995-06-07[m 3]	Karlstad	Brazil	Start			2–1 W	Group stage
	3	1995-06-09[m 4]	Västerås	Sweden	{{{4}}}. off 76' (on Etsuko Handa)			0–2 L	Group stage
Atlanta 1996 Women's Olympic Football Tournament
	4	1996-07-21[m 5]	Birmingham, AL	Germany	Start			2–3 L	Group stage
	5	1996-07-23[m 6]	Birmingham, AL	Brazil	Start			0–2 L	Group stage
	6	1996-07-25[m 7]	Washington, D.C.	Norway	Start			0–4 L	Group stage
USA 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup
	7	1999-06-19[m 8]	San Jose, CA	Canada	Start			1–1 D	Group stage
	8	1999-06-23[m 9]	Portland, OR	Russia	Start			0–5 L	Group stage
	9	1999-06-26[m 10]	Chicago	Norway	Start			0–4 L	Group stage
USA 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup
1	10	2003-09-20[m 11]	Columbus, OH	Argentina	{{{4}}}. off 80' (on Maruyama)	13	1–0	6–0 W	Group stage
2						39	2–0
	11	2003-09-24[m 12]	Columbus, OH	Germany	Start			0–3 L	Group stage
3	12	2003-09-27[m 13]	Foxboro, MA	Canada	Start	20	1–0	1–3 L	Group stage
Athens 2004 Women's Olympic Football Tournament
	13	2004-08-11[m 14]	Volos	Sweden	Start			1–0 W	Group stage
	14	2004-08-14[m 15]	Piraeus	Nigeria	Start			0–1 L	Group stage
	15	2004-08-20[m 16]	Thessaloniki	United States	Start			1–2 L	Quarter-final
China 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup
	16	2007-09-11[m 17]	Shanghai	England	Start			2–2 D	Group stage
	17	2007-09-14[m 18]	Shanghai	Argentina	Start			1–0 W	Group stage
	18	2007-09-17[m 19]	Hangzhou	Germany	Start			0–2 L	Group stage
Beijing 2008 Women's Olympic Football Tournament
4	19	2008-08-06[m 20]	Qinhuangdao	New Zealand	Start; (c)	86	2–2	2–2 D	Group stage
	20	2008-08-09[m 21]	Qinhuangdao	United States	Start			0–1 L	Group stage
5	21	2008-08-12[m 22]	Shanghai	Norway	Start	70	4–1	5–1 W	Group stage
6	22	2008-08-15[m 23]	Qinhuangdao	China PR	Start	15	1–0	2–0 W	Quarter-final
	23	2008-08-18[m 24]	Beijing	United States	Start			2–4 L	Semifinal
	24	2008-08-21[m 25]	Beijing	Germany	Start			0–2 L	Bronze medal match
Germany 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup
	25	2011-06-27[m 26]	Bochum	New Zealand	Start; (c)			2–1 W	Group stage
7	26	2011-07-01[m 1]	Leverkusen	Mexico	{{{4}}}. off 83' (on Utsugi); (c)	13	1–0	4–0 W	Group stage
8						39	3–0
9						80	4–0
	27	2011-07-05[m 27]	Augsburg	England	Start; (c)			0–2 L	Group stage
	28	2011-07-09[m 28]	Wolfsburg	Germany	Start; (c)			1–0 aet W	Quarter-final
10	29	2011-07-13[m 29]	Frankfurt	Sweden	Start; (c)	60	2–1	3–1 W	Semifinal
11	30	2011-07-17[m 30]	Frankfurt	United States	Start; (c)	117	2–2	2–2 (pso 3–1) (W)	Final
London 2012 Women's Olympic Football Tournament
	31	2012-07-25[m 31]	Coventry	Canada	Start			2–1 W	Group stage
	32	2012-07-28[m 32]	Coventry	Sweden	{{{4}}}. off 59' (on Tanaka)			0–0 D	Group stage
	33	2012-08-03[m 33]	Cardiff	Brazil	Start			2–0 W	Quarter-final
	34	2012-08-06[m 34]	London	France	Start			2–1 W	Semifinal
	35	2012-08-09[m 35]	London	United States	Start			1–2 L	Gold medal match
Canada 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
	36	2015-06-08[m 36]	Vancouver	Switzerland	{{{4}}}. off 57' (on Kawamura)			1–0 W	Group stage
	37	2015-06-12[m 37]	Vancouver	Cameroon	{{{4}}}. on 64' (off Sakaguchi)			2–1 W	Group stage
	38	2015-06-16[m 38]	Winnipeg	Ecuador	Start			2–1 W	Group stage
	39	2015-06-16[m 39]	Vancouver	Netherlands	{{{4}}}. on 80' (off Kawasumi)			1–0 W	Round of 16
	40	2015-06-27[m 40]	Edmonton	Australia	{{{4}}}. on 90' (off Sakaguchi)			2–1 W	Quarter-final
	41	2015-07-05[m 41]	Vancouver	United States	{{{4}}}. on 33' (off Iwashimizu)			2–5 L	Final

Yomiuri/Nippon TV Beleza

• Nadeshiko.League (8): 1991, 1992, 1993, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010
• Empress's Cup All-Japan Women's Football Tournament (7): 1993, 1997, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009
• Nadeshiko League Cup: 2007

INAC Kobe Leonessa

• Nadeshiko.League: 2011, 2012, 2013
• Empress's Cup All-Japan Women's Football Tournament: 2011
• International Women's Club Championship (1): 2013
• Nadeshiko League Cup: 2013

Japan

• East Asian Football Championship: 2008, 2010
• Asian Games Gold Medal: 2010
• FIFA Women's World Cup: 2011
• Olympic Silver Medal: 2012
• AFC Women's Asian Cup: 2014

• Nadeshiko League Best Eleven (11): 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2012
• AFC Women's Player of the Year: 2004, 2008
• Nadeshiko League MVP: 2006, 2008
• EAFF Women's Football Championship Best Player: 2008, 2010
• FIFA Women's World Cup Golden Ball: 2011
• FIFA Women's World Cup Golden Shoe: 2011
• FIFA Women's World Cup All-Star Team: 2011
• FIFA World Player of the Year: 2011
• Asian Football Hall of Fame: 2014
• IFFHS AFC Best Woman Player of the Decade 2011–2020[17]
• IFFHS AFC Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020[18]