Hisato Sato

Hisato Sato (佐藤 寿人, Sato Hisato, born March 12, 1982) is a Japanese former football player. He played for Japan national team. His brother Yuto Sato is also a footballer.

Club Career

Born in Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan, Sato is a product of JEF United Ichihara's youth system. He was promoted to JEF's top team in 2000. His first league appearance came on April 15, 2000, against Jubilo Iwata. He scored his first league goal on March 21, 2001, against Jubilo Iwata.

Frustrated with a lack of playing time, Sato decided to move to J2 League side Cerezo Osaka in 2002. Cerezo's coach Akihiro Nishimura rated him highly, as he had also managed Sato for Japan's youth team the previous year. However, Sato suffered from Guillain–Barre syndrome at the beginning of the season, and found himself playing not many games with Akinori Nishizawa and Yoshito Okubo ahead of him in the pecking order. The club finished 2nd and was promoted to J1 League.

Sato was loaned out to J1 side Vegalta Sendai in the 2003 season. He finally became a first-choice forward, playing 30 games and scoring 9 goals. Despite his efforts, Sendai was relegated to J2. His loan contract became a permanent one and he played 44 league games with 20 goals for Sendai in the 2005 season but failed to navigate the club to J1.

He was transferred to J1 side Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the 2005 season. He scored 18 goals during his first season with the club, including two hat-tricks.

On April 22, 2006, Sato set the record for the fastest goal in J1 League history, scoring just 8 seconds after kick-off against Cerezo Osaka.

On November 22, 2015, he equalled Masashi Nakayama as the all-time top-scorer in the J1 League with 157 goals. After equalling the record, having spent 12 years in Hiroshima, Sato decided to sign for J2 club Nagoya Grampus.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Хисато Сато (russian)