Yukinari Sugawara
Personal information
Full name Yukinari Sugawara[1]
Date of birth (2000-06-28) 28 June 2000 (age 23)
Place of birth Toyokawa, Aichi, Japan
Height 1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Right-back
Team information
Current team
 AZ
Number 2
Youth career
AS Laranja Toyokawa
Nagoya Grampus
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2018–2020 Nagoya Grampus 13 (0)
2019–2020 → Jong AZ (loan) 7 (0)
2019–2020 → AZ (loan) 16 (2)
2020–2021 Jong AZ 12 (1)
2020– AZ 92 (6)
International career‡
2017–2018 Japan U-17 12 (1)
2019 Japan U-20 7 (0)
2019– Japan U-23 2 (0)
2020– Japan 11 (1)
Medal record
Representing  Japan
AFC U-19 Championship
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Indonesia
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 3 September 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:47, 19 January 2024 (UTC)

Yukinari Sugawara (菅原 由勢, Sugawara Yukinari, born 28 June 2000) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Eredivisie club AZ Alkmaar and the Japan national team.

Club career

Nagoya Grampus

Sugawara made his debut for Nagoya Grampus on 24 February 2018, the opening day of the 2018 season in a match against Gamba Osaka.[2] In doing so, he became the second youngest player to appear in J1 League match ever at 17 years, 7 months and 27 days, only passed by former Gamba Osaka player Junichi Inamoto in 1997.[3] On 6 April 2018, Sugawara signed his first professional contract with Nagoya Grampus, the youngest in the club's history to sign a professional deal, at 17 years and 10 months.

Loan to AZ

Sugawara joined Dutch Eredivisie club AZ on 21 June 2019 on a season-long loan.[4] He made his first-team debut on 25 July, as a 59th-minute substitute during AZ's 0–0 home draw against BK Häcken in the second qualifying round of the Europa League.[5][6] At AZ he was mainly utilised as a right back, where he competed with the older Jonas Svensson, and was set to become his future successor.[4] On 4 August 2019, Sugawara started in the home match against Fortuna Sittard and scored the final goal in the 84th minute, to make it 4–0 after preliminary work by Calvin Stengs.[7] Both in the league and group stage of the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League, Sugawara was a regular rotational player during the season, while also making some appearances for the reserve team of Jong AZ in the second-tier Eerste Divisie. During this season he played 16 league games in which he scored two goals.

AZ

On 23 February 2020, it was announced that Sugawara would sign a five-year contract to join AZ permanently from 1 June 2020.[8] He was awarded by the Eredivisie in January 2022 and August 2023.

In October 2023, he achieved the distinction of becoming the record-holder for the highest number of European appearances for AZ, reaching his 47th game in European competitions during a match against Aston Villa.[9]

International career

Sugawara represented Japan at the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup.[10] Sugawara made his debut with the senior Japan national team in a friendly 0–0 tie with Cameroon on 9 October 2020.[11] In March 2023, he made his first start for the Japan national team against Uruguay. In September of the same year, he provided the assist for the first goal against Germany and was also the starting point for the second goal.

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 3 September 2023[12][5]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup League cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Nagoya Grampus[5] 2018 J1 League 13 0 2 0 4 0 — — 19 0
2019 J1 League 0 0 0 0 6 0 — — 6 0
Total 13 0 2 0 10 0 — — 25 0
Jong AZ[5] 2019–20 Eerste Divisie 7 0 0 0 — — — 7 0
2020–21 Eerste Divisie 5 0 0 0 — — — 5 0
Total 12 0 0 0 — — — 12 0
AZ (loan)[5] 2019–20 Eredivisie 16 2 1 0 — 11[a] 1 — 27 3
AZ 2020–21 Eredivisie 25 2 1 0 — 5[b] 0 — 30 2
2021–22 Eredivisie 33 1 4 0 — 8[c] 0 — 42 1
2022–23 Eredivisie 31 3 2 0 — 14[c] 1 0 0 47 4
2023–24 Eredivisie 3 0 0 0 — 4[c] 0 0 0 7 0
Total 92 6 7 0 — 31 1 0 0 126 7
Career total 133 8 10 0 10 0 42 2 0 0 195 10
  1. ^ Appearances in the UEFA Europa League
  2. ^ Three appearances in the UEFA Europa League, two appearances in the UEFA Champions League
  3. ^ a b c Appearances in the UEFA Europa Conference League

International

As of match played 21 November 2023[13]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Japan 2020 1 0
2023 7 1
Total 8 1
Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sugawara goal.[13]
List of international goals scored by Yukinari Sugawara
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 21 November 2023 Prince Abdullah Al Faisal Stadium, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia  Syria 4–0 5–0 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Japan U19

Individual

Records

References

  1. ^ "FIFA U-20 World Cup Poland 2019: List of Players: Japan" (PDF). FIFA. 13 June 2019. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 February 2020.
  2. ^ "Meiji Yasuda Life J1 League Section 1: Gamba Osaka vs Nagoya Grampus". nagoya-grampus.jp (in Japanese). Nagoya Grampus. 24 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  3. ^ "風間監督「年齢は関係ない」…名古屋17歳DF菅原由勢が堂々開幕戦フル出場". gekisaka.jp (in Japanese). Gekisaka. 24 February 2018. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Huurdeal Sugawara afgerond". az.nl (in Dutch). AZ. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Y. Sugawara: Summary". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  6. ^ "AZ vs. Häcken 0–0". Soccerway. Perform Group. Retrieved 31 October 2019.
  7. ^ "AZ dankzij 4-0 zege en letter 'A' koploper, traditionele topdrie speelt gelijk". NOS (in Dutch). 4 August 2019. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  8. ^ "AZ legt Sugawara definitief vast". AZ Alkmaar (in Dutch). 23 February 2020. Retrieved 18 November 2020.
  9. ^ a b Kok, Nik (26 October 2023). "Niet Kees Kist of Barry van Galen, maar deze 23-jarige Japanner speelde de meeste Europese duels voor AZ". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). Retrieved 20 January 2024.
  10. ^ "U-17日本代表 メンバー・スケジュール FIFA U-17ワールドカップ インド2017（10/6～28）" (in Japanese). 24 September 2017. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
  11. ^ "Japan vs. Cameroon - 9 October 2020 - Soccerway". Soccerway.
  12. ^ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "J1&J2&J3選手名鑑ハンディ版 2018 (NSK MOOK)", 7 February 2018, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411529 (p. 149 out of 289)
  13. ^ a b "Yukinari Sugawara". National Football Teams.
  14. ^ "AZ breaks through the Ajax stronghold in the Eredivisie team of the month". eredivisie.eu. 28 January 2022.
  15. ^ "AZ breaks through the Ajax stronghold in the Eredivisie team of the month". eredivisie.eu. 28 January 2022.
  16. ^ "Sparta and AZ dominate Eredivisie team of the month in march". Eredivisie. 31 March 2023. Retrieved 8 April 2023.
  17. ^ "Negen clubs leveren spelers voor Eredivisie elftal van de maand". Eredivisie (in Dutch).
  18. ^ "AZ and PSV main suppliers of the Eredivisie Team of the Month". 6 October 2023. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  19. ^ "Seven clubs provide players for the Eredivisie Team of the Month". 3 November 2023. Retrieved 12 November 2023.

External links

AZ Alkmaar – current squad
Japan squad – 2023 AFC Asian Cup
Categories