Saki Kumagai

Saki Kumagai (熊谷 紗希, Kumagai Saki, born 17 October 1990) is a Japanese footballer who plays for French club Olympique Lyonnais and the Japan national team.[1] She plays primarily as a defensive midfielder but has also been deployed as a central defender.

Saki Kumagai
熊谷 紗希
Kumagai playing for Lyon in 2019.
Personal information
Full name Saki Kumagai
Date of birth (1990-10-17) 17 October 1990
Place of birth Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s) Defender, Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Olympique Lyonnais
Number 5
Youth career
2006–2008 Tokiwagi Gakuen High School
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2011 Urawa Reds 44 (8)
2011–2013 Frankfurt 38 (2)
2013– Olympique Lyonnais 121 (23)
Total 203 (33)
National team‡
2009 Japan U-19 5 (1)
2008–2010 Japan U-20 7 (0)
2008– Japan 112 (1)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 3 July 2019
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 11 March 2020

Kumagai is one of the most successful East Asian footballers, of any gender, at club and international level.[2] As of 2020, she has won one World Cup, seven French domestic titles, five European Cups and one Asian Games gold medal.

Club career
Saki Kumagai with Lyon in 2019.

Kumagai was born in Sapporo on 17 October 1990. After graduating from high school, she joined for Urawa Reds in 2009. The club won L.League championship in 2009 season. In July 2011, she moved to German Bundesliga club Frankfurt. After she played 2 season, she moved to French Division 1 Feminine club Olympique Lyonnais in June 2013. Kumagai scored the decisive penalty for Lyon in the 2016 UEFA Champions League Final, following a player-of-the-match performance.[3]

National team career

On 7 March 2008, when Kumagai was 17 years old, she debuted for the Japan national team against Canada.[4] In August, Kumagai was selected for the Japan U-20 national team at the 2008 U-20 World Cup. In 2010, she played for the U-20 team as captain during the 2010 U-20 World Cup. In 2011, she was part of Japan's World Cup-winning team, scoring the winning penalty in the final against the United States.[5] She was also in the squad at the 2012 Summer Olympics and the 2015 World Cup. Japan came second at both competitions. In January 2017, she was named Japan's captain by manager Asako Takakura. In 2018, Japan won the 2018 Asian Cup. She has played more than 100 games for Japan. On 10 November 2019, Kumagai scored her first ever goal in a friendly match for Japan in a 2–0 win against South Africa.[6]

Club statistics
Statistics of Saki Kumagai - 2019, July, 3
Season Club League Cup Continental Japan national team Total
Division A G A G C A G A G A G
2009 Urawa Reds Nadeshiko League 21 2 4 1 - - 2 0 27 3
2010 Urawa Reds Nadeshiko League 18 6 4+2 2+0 - - 15 0 39 8
2011 Urawa Reds Nadeshiko League 5 0 0 0 - - 16 0 21 0
Total 44 8 10 3 - - 33 0 87 11
2011–12 FFC Frankfurt Frauen-Bundesliga 20 2 3 0 WCL 8 0 16 0 47 2
2012–13 FFC Frankfurt Frauen-Bundesliga 18 0 1 0 - - 9 0 28 0
Total 38 2 4 0 - 8 0 25 0 75 2
2013–14 Olympique Lyonnais Division 1 19 3 5 3 WCL 4 1 5 0 33 7
2014–15 Olympique Lyonnais Division 1 22 2 6 0 WCL 4 0 11 0 43 2
2015–16 Olympique Lyonnais Division 1 20 5 5 1 WCL 9 1 7 0 41 7
2016–17 Olympique Lyonnais Division 1 19 6 2 2 WCL 9 3 9 0 39 11
2017–18 Olympique Lyonnais Division 1 21 5 4 0 WCL 7 1 10 0 42 6
2018–19 Olympique Lyonnais Division 1 20 2 5 0 WCL 9 0 8 0 42 2
Total 121 23 27 6 - 42 6 50 0 240 35
Career total 203 33 41 9 - 50 6 108 0 402 48

National team statistics

[4][7]

Japan national team
YearAppsGoals
200820
200900
2010150
2011160
2012160
201390
201450
2015110
201670
201790
2018100
2019101
202020
Total1121

International goals
Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first.
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.10 November 2019Kitakyushu Stadium, Kitakyushu, Japan South Africa1–02–0Friendly

Honours

Club

Urawa Reds

Lyon

International
Japan
Champion: 2018
Silver Medal: 2012
Champion: 2011
Runner-up: 2015
Gold Medal: 2010
Champion: 2010
Champion: 2009

Individual

See also

References
  1. Japan Football Association(in Japanese)
  2. "Japan and Lyon champion Kumagai dreams of Ballon d'Or". South China Morning Post. 4 December 2019. Retrieved 1 September 2020.
  3. "Lyon claim third title in shoot-out drama". UEFA. 26 May 2016. Retrieved 27 May 2016.
  4. Japan Football Association(in Japanese)
  5. "USA v Japan - as it happened". Guardian. 17 July 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  6. "Japan vs. South Africa 2–0". soccerway. 10 November 2019.
  7. List of match in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019 at Japan Football Association (in Japanese)
  8. Yannick, Nkouaga (2 December 2019). "Saki Kumagai named Asian Player of the Year". FootballNews24. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  9. "IFFHS AWARDS – THE WOMEN WORLD TEAM 2018". IFFHS. 1 December 2018. Archived from the original on 15 May 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  10. "IFFHS WORLD AWARDS 2020 - THE WINNERS". IFFHS. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  11. "IFFHS WORLD'S WOMAN TEAM OF THE DECADE 2011-2020". IFFHS. 25 January 2021.
  12. "IFFHS WOMAN TEAM - AFC - OF THE DECADE 2011-2020". IFFHS. 30 January 2021.
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