Hiroki Sakai酒井 宏樹

Hiroki Sakai (酒井 宏樹, Sakai Hiroki, born 12 April 1990) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a right-back for J1 League club Urawa Red Diamonds and the Japan national team.

Club Career

Kashiwa Reysol

Born in Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan, Sakai was introduced to football by his two older brothers and joined a school football team when he was the third grade of elementary school. He initially played as a striker before converting to a full back, a position he played today. Sakai spent 10 years with the school football team before joining Kashiwa Reysol U15 side in 2003.

Sakai progressed through the ranks of the Kashiwa Reysol and learned his guidance under Tatsuma Yoshida. Eventually, he worked his way through to the U16 and U18 side. During his progress, Sakai joined Mogimirin EC to study abroad on a short–term, though he said the experience benefited him to improve his right–back and centre–back positions, but returned to Japan in November 2009.

Ahead of the 2010 season, Sakai was promoted to the Kashiwa Reysol's first team, where he signed a contract with the club and was given a number 30 shirt. At the start of the 2010 season, he started out on the substitute bench in number of matches. It wasn't until on 5 May 2010 when he made his Kashiwa Reysol debut, coming on as a substitute for Yohei Kurakawa in the 77th minute, in a 1–1 draw against Ventforet Kofu. Sakai then made his first start for the side on 25 July 2010, starting the whole game and set up one of the goals, in a 2–2 draw against JEF United Chiba. It wasn't until on 31 October 2010 when he scored his first goal for the club, in a 4–1 win over Mito HollyHock. Although he was featured several times later in the season, Sakai went on to make 12 appearances and scoring once for the side.

Ahead of the 2011 season, the club announced that Sakai were among players to agree to stay at Kashiwa Reysol and was given a number 4 shirt. However, he missed the start of the season, due to a metatarsal f

This page also has a version in other languages :  Хироки Сакаи (russian)