Koji Sakamoto

Koji Sakamoto
坂本紘司
Personal information
Full name	Koji Sakamoto
Date of birth	December 3, 1978 (age 42)
Place of birth	Yasu, Shiga, Japan
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1994–1996	Shizuoka Gakuen High School
Senior career*
Júbilo Iwata
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Koji Sakamoto (坂本紘司, Sakamoto Koji, born December 3, 1978) is a former Japanese football player.

Playing career[]

Sakamoto was born in Yasu on December 3, 1978. After graduating from Shizuoka Gakuen High School, he joined J1 League club Júbilo Iwata in 1997. Although he played several matches as substitute forward in J.League Cup, he could hardly play in the match. In 2000, he moved to J2 League club Shonan Bellmare. Although he could not play at all in the match in 2000, he became a regular player as offensive midfielder from 2001 and played many matches for a long time. In 2007, he was converted to defensive midfielder. However he was returned to offensive midfielder by manager Yasuharu Sorimachi in 2009. The club also won the 3rd place in 2009 and was promoted to J1 from 2010. However the club finished at bottom place in 2010 and was relegated to J2 in a year. In 2012, he lost his regular position and played many matches as substitute. He retired end of 2012 season.

Sakamoto played 456 J.League games for Shonan Bellmare (a club record) between 2000 and 2012, also being for many years the team's captain.^[1]

Club statistics[]

^[2]

Club	Season	League		Emperor's Cup		J.League Cup		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Júbilo Iwata	1997	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
	1998	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	1999	0	0	0	0	2	0	2	0
Shonan Bellmare	2000	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
	2001	39	8	2	5	0	0	41	13
	2002	38	7	4	3	–		42	10
	2003	44	4	4	1	–		48	5
	2004	38	8	3	1	–		41	9
	2005	35	1	3	1	–		38	2
	2006	39	1	1	0	–		40	1
	2007	44	3	2	0	–		46	3
	2008	39	3	1	0	–		40	3
	2009	50	13	0	0	–		50	13
	2010	30	3	1	0	2	1	33	4
	2011	35	6	4	1	–		39	7
	2012	25	0	0	0	–		25	0
Career total		456	57	26	13	5	0	487	70

References[]

^ Sakamoto announces retirement. Shonan Bellmare. 13 November 2012.
^ "Stats Centre: Koji Sakamoto Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2012.

External links[]

Koji Sakamoto at J.League (in Japanese)

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[1] Sakamoto announces retirement. Shonan Bellmare. 13 November 2012.

[2] "Stats Centre: Koji Sakamoto Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 13 November 2012.

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