is a Japanese professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

defensive midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. ...

for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Borussia Mönchengladbach Borussia Verein für Leibesübungen 1900 e.V. Mönchengladbach, better known as Borussia Mönchengladbach () and colloquially known as just Gladbach, is a professional Association football, football club based in Mönchengladbach, North Rhine-W ...

and the Japan national team.

Club career

In January 2019, Itakura joined

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Manchester City Manchester City Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Manchester, England, that competes in the Premier League, the English football league system, top flight of Football in England, English footbal ...

and was immediately loaned to

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

club

Groningen Groningen ( , ; ; or ) is the capital city and main municipality of Groningen (province), Groningen province in the Netherlands. Dubbed the "capital of the north", Groningen is the largest place as well as the economic and cultural centre of ...

, until the summer of 2020. On 24 July 2020, his stay with Groningen was extended with one more year after both clubs agreed. On 19 August 2021, Itakura signed a season-long loan deal with 2. Bundesliga club

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

with an option to make the move permanent for £5 million. At the end of the season, he was promoted to the

with Schalke, but the club did not activate the option due to financial reasons. On August 19 2023, he scored his first goal in the Bundesliga against

Augsburg Augsburg ( , ; ; ) is a city in the Bavaria, Bavarian part of Swabia, Germany, around west of the Bavarian capital Munich. It is a College town, university town and the regional seat of the Swabia (administrative region), Swabia with a well ...

, and on September 2, he scored a goal against

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

, which had the most wins and were the champions of the previous year. On September 8th, he was selected as the team's MVP for August.

International career

Itakura was selected for the senior

Japan national football team The , also known by the nickname , represents Japan in men's international Association football, football. It is controlled by the Japan Football Association (JFA), the governing body for football in Japan. Prior to the late 1980s, Japan's nat ...

for

2019 Copa América The 2019 Copa América was the 46th edition of the Copa América, the international men's association football championship organized by South America's football ruling body CONMEBOL. It was held in Brazil and took place between 14 June and 7 Ju ...

and made his debut on 20 June 2019 in the game against Uruguay, as a starter. On March 29, 2021, he scored two goals against the Argentina national under-24 football team, and was also selected to represent Japan at the

Tokyo Olympics Tokyo Olympics may refer to: * 1940 Summer Olympics, Games of the XII Olympiad, cancelled due to World War II * 1964 Summer Olympics, Games of the XVIII Olympiad * 2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an ...

, finishing in 4th place. In November 2022, he was selected for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup was the 22nd FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022, after the country was awarded the hosting ri ...

Japan National team for the first time. Participated in all group stage matches and became the first Asian team to win first place in an overseas World Cup group league, contributing to advance to the final tournament for two consecutive tournaments. His long ball was the starting point of the come-from-behind goal against Germany. He was also named in the first group stage best eleven by Spanish ''Marca'' and Italian

Sky Sport Sky Sport or Sky Sports may refer to: *Sky Group **Sky Sports, a group of sports television channels available in the UK and Ireland ** Sky Sport (Germany), a group of sports television channels available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, formerl ...

. The former named him one of the players to double his value in the World Cup and described him as "the most consistent performance of the entire tournament". On March 28, 2023, he served as captain for the first time in the second match of the second term of Moriyasu

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first.''

Honours

Kawasaki Frontale *

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

Vegalta Sendai *

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formatio ...

: runner-up

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

Schalke 04 * 2. Bundesliga: 2021–22 Individual * Tag Heuer Young Guns Award: 2018 *

Player of the Year:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

* Borussia's Player of the Month: August 2023 * : 2022, 2023, 2024 *

IFFHS The International Federation of Football History & Statistics (IFFHS) is an organisation that chronicles the history and records of association football. It was founded in 1984 by Alfredo Pöge in Leipzig. The IFFHS was based in Abu Dhabi for so ...

Asian Men's Team of the Year: 2024

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Itakura, Ko 1997 births Living people Association football people from Kanagawa Prefecture Japanese men's footballers Men's association football central defenders Men's association football midfielders Kawasaki Frontale players J.League U-22 Selection players Vegalta Sendai players Manchester City F.C. players FC Groningen players FC Schalke 04 players Borussia Mönchengladbach players J1 League players J3 League players 21st-century Japanese sportsmen Eredivisie players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Japan men's youth international footballers Japan men's under-20 international footballers Olympic footballers for Japan Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Asian Games silver medalists for Japan Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games Japan men's international footballers 2019 Copa América players 2022 FIFA World Cup players 2023 AFC Asian Cup players Japanese expatriate men's footballers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in England Japanese expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate men's footballers in the Netherlands Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Asian Games silver medalists in football