Saki Kumagai

Saki Kumagai (熊谷 紗希, Kumagai Saki, born 17 October 1990) is a Japanese footballer who plays for German club FC Bayern Munich and captains the Japan women 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
Team information
Current team
 Bayern Munich
Number 3
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)
2013–2021 Olympique Lyonnais 152 (29)
2021– Bayern Munich 34 (5)
International career‡
2009 Japan U-19 5 (1)
2008–2010 Japan U-20 7 (0)
2008– Japan 134 (2)
Honours
Urawa Reds
WinnerNadeshiko League2009
Runner-upNadeshiko League2010
Runner-upNadeshiko League Cup2010
Runner-upEmpress's Cup2009
Runner-upEmpress's Cup2010
Representing  Japan
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place2012 LondonTeam
FIFA Women's World Cup
Gold medal – first place2011 Germany
Silver medal – second place2015 Canada
AFC Women's Asian Cup
Gold medal – first place2018 Jordan
Bronze medal – third place2008 Vietnam
Bronze medal – third place2010 China
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place2010 GuangzhouTeam
AFC U-19 Women's Championship
Gold medal – first place2009 China
Silver medal – second place2007 China
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 17:25, 19 March 2023 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 06:10, 23 February 2023 (UTC)

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

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 seasons, 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]

In April 2021, Kumagai announced that she would be leaving Lyon after 8 seasons.[4] The following month, on 12 May 2021, Kumagai would return to the Frauen Bundesliga when FC Bayern Munich announced her as their first signing of the season.[5]

National team career

On 7 March 2008, when Kumagai was 17 years old, she debuted for the Japan national team against Canada.[6] 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.[7] 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.[8]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 21 March 2023[9]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] League cup[lower-alpha 2] Continental[lower-alpha 3] Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Urawa Reds 2009 Nadeshiko League 21 2 4 1 0 0 - - 25 3
2010 Nadeshiko League 18 6 4 2 2 0 - - 24 8
2011 Nadeshiko League 5 0 0 0 0 0 - - 5 0
Total 44 8 8 3 2 0 - - 54 11
FFC Frankfurt 2011–12 00Frauen-Bundesliga00 20 2 3 0 - 8 0 - 31 2
2012–13 00Frauen-Bundesliga00 18 0 1 0 - - - 19 0
Total 38 2 4 0 - 8 0 - 50 2
00Olympique Lyonnais00 2013–14 D1 Féminine 19 3 5 3 - 4 1 - 28 7
2014–15 D1 Féminine 22 2 6 0 - 4 0 - 32 2
2015–16 D1 Féminine 20 5 5 1 - 9 1 - 34 7
2016–17 D1 Féminine 19 6 2 2 - 9 3 - 30 11
2017–18 D1 Féminine 21 5 4 0 - 7 1 - 32 6
2018–19 D1 Féminine 20 2 5 0 - 9 0 - 34 2
2019–20 D1 Féminine 14 2 6 0 - 6 1 1[lower-alpha 4] 0 27 3
2020–21 D1 Féminine 17 4 1 0 - 6 1 - 24 5
Total 152 29 34 6 - 54 8 1 0 241 43
FC Bayern Munich 2021–22 00Frauen-Bundesliga00 21 5 4 1 - 8 2 - 33 8
2022–23 00Frauen-Bundesliga00 13 0 3 2 - 9 0 - 25 2
Total 34 5 7 3 - 17 2 - 58 10
Career total 268 44 53 12 2 0 71 10 1 0 403 66
  1. includes Empress's Cup, Coupe de France, DFB Pokal
  2. includes Nadeshiko League Cup
  3. includes UEFA Women's Champions League
  4. Trophée des Championnes

International
As of 22 February 2023[10]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National Team YearAppsGoals
Japan 200820
200900
2010150
2011160
2012160
201390
201450
2015110
201670
201790
2018100
2019101
202020
202180
2022111
202330
Total1342

International goals
Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Kumagai goal.
List of international goals scored by Saki Kumagai
No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.10 November 2019Kitakyushu Stadium, Kitakyushu, Japan South Africa1–02–0Friendly
2.24 January 2022Shree Shiv Chhatrapati Sports Complex, Pune, India Vietnam2–03–02022 AFC Women's Asian Cup

Honours
Saki Kumagai with Lyon in 2019.

Urawa Reds

Lyon

Japan

Japan U20

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. "Nadeshiko captain Saki Kumagai to leave Lyon at end of season". japantimes.co.jp. The Japan Times. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  5. "FC Bayern verpflichten Saki Kumagai von Olympique Lyon". fcbayern.com. FC Bayern Munich. 21 April 2021. Retrieved 12 May 2021.
  6. Japan Football Association(in Japanese)
  7. "USA v Japan - as it happened". Guardian. 17 July 2011. Retrieved 13 April 2020.
  8. "Japan vs. South Africa 2–0". soccerway. 10 November 2019.
  9. "Japan - S. Kumagai - Profile with news, career statistics and history - Soccerway".
  10. "Nadeshiko Japan | National Teams｜JFA｜Japan Football Association".
  11. Yannick, Nkouaga (2 December 2019). "Saki Kumagai named Asian Player of the Year". FootballNews24. Retrieved 6 January 2020.
  12. "IFFHS AWARDS – THE WOMEN WORLD TEAM 2018". IFFHS. 1 December 2018. Archived from the original on 15 May 2019. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  13. "IFFHS WORLD AWARDS 2020 - THE WINNERS". IFFHS. 4 December 2020. Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  14. "IFFHS WORLD'S WOMAN TEAM OF THE DECADE 2011-2020". IFFHS. 25 January 2021.
  15. "IFFHS WOMAN TEAM - AFC - OF THE DECADE 2011-2020". IFFHS. 30 January 2021.
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