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 a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for

NWSL The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a women's professional Association football, soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system#Women's leagues, United States soccer league system (alongside the USL Supe ...

club

Portland Thorns Portland Thorns FC is an American professional soccer team based in Portland, Oregon, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Established in 2012, the team began play in 2013 in the then-eight-team NWSL, which received supp ...

and the Japan national team.

Early life

Sugita was born in

Kitakyushu is a Cities of Japan, city located in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. As of June 1, 2019, Kitakyushu has an estimated population of 940,978, making it the second-largest city in both Fukuoka Prefecture and the island of Kyushu after the city of Fuk ...

on 31 January 1997.

Club career

INAC Kobe Leonessa

After graduating from high school, she joined

Nadeshiko League The , commonly known as the , is a women's association football league in Japan. The Nadeshiko League consists of two divisions that correspond to the second and third levels of the Japanese women's football pyramid respectively. Teams are pro ...

club

INAC Kobe Leonessa INAC Kobe(INAC神戸レオネッサ, Ainakku-Kōbe Reonessa) is a professional Japanese women's soccer, football club from Kobe, founded in 2001. INAC stands for International Athletic Club, while Leonessa means Lioness in Italian language, Ita ...

in 2015. She debuted as a midfielder in 2015. She became a regular player in 2016 and was selected for the Best Young player award in the 2016 season.

Portland Thorns

On 26 January 2022, Sugita joined the

on a three-year deal. She won the 2022 National Women's Soccer League season#Playoffs with the club.

International career

In September 2012, when Sugita was 15 years old, she was selected for Japan's U-17 national team for 2012 U-17 Women's World Cup. She played all 4 matches and scored 2 goals. In 2013, she played at the

2013 AFC U-16 Women's Championship The 2013 AFC U-16 Women's Championship was the 5th edition of the tournament. The tournament was held from 26 September to 6 October 2013. The tournament was played in Nanjing, China, just as the 2011 edition. The top three teams qualify for the ...

, which Japan won for the second time in a row. She also scored 6 goals and was selected as the tournament MVP. In 2014, she was selected for Japan's U-17 team for the 2014 U-17 Women's World Cup. She played 5 matches as captain, scoring 5 goals and leading Japan to its first championship, as well as winning the tournament's Golden Ball (MVP). In November 2016, she was selected for Japan's U-20 national team for the 2016 U-20 Women's World Cup. She played all 6 matches and Japan won the third place. She was also selected Golden Ball award. On 2 August 2018, Sugita debuted for the Japanese national team as substitute midfielder in the 72nd minute against

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. On 10 May 2019, Sugita was included in the 23-player squad for the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

. On 18 June 2021, she was included in the Japan squad for the

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

. On 13 June 2023, she was included in the 23-player squad for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Sugita goal.''

Honors

INAC Kobe Leonessa *

Empress's Cup , since 2018 renamed "Empress's Cup JFA Japan Women's Football Championship" () or The JFA Empress's Cup (from 2024 onwards), is a Japanese Women's football competition. As an elimination tournament, it can be considered the female counterpart to t ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

Portland Thorns FC *

NWSL Championship The NWSL Championship is the annual championship game of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL), the top-flight women's soccer league in the United States. It is the culmination of the NWSL playoffs, which is contested by the teams with the ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

References

External links

* * *
Japan Football Association
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sugita, Hina 1997 births Living people Association football people from Fukuoka Prefecture Japanese women's footballers Japan women's international footballers Nadeshiko League players Sportspeople from Kitakyushu INAC Kobe Leonessa players Women's association football midfielders 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Japan Japanese expatriate women's footballers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Portland Thorns FC players National Women's Soccer League players 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players 21st-century Japanese sportswomen