Maki Kitahara (, ''Kitahara Maki''; born 7 July 2009) 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

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

for the

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 ...

club

FC Tokyo , commonly known as , is a Japanese professional football club based in Chōfu, Tokyo. The club plays in the J1 League, the top tier of football in the country. From 2025, FC Tokyo is one of the few J.League clubs to be simply called ''Footb ...

Club career

A youth product of JACPA Tokyo FC, Kitahara undergoes his development with

. In June 2024, he was promoted to FC Tokyo's U-18 squad despite being a third-grade junior high schooler at the time. On 14 February 2025, he was registered with FC Tokyo's senior team as a Type 2 player. He made his senior and professional debut with FC Tokyo as a substitute in a 2–0

loss to

Kashima Antlers The are a professional association football, football club based in Kashima, Ibaraki, Japan. They currently play in the J1 League, the top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The club has financial backing from Mercari, a Japanese ...

on 1 March 2025. Aged 15 years, 7 months, and 22 days, he was the youngest ever debutant in the history of the J1 League, taking the record from

Takayuki Morimoto is a Japanese former professional footballer who plays as a second striker. He holds the record for the youngest Japanese player to make his professional debut, and the youngest scorer in J1 League history. Morimoto represented Japan at the 20 ...

International career

In May 2024, Kitahara was called up to the Japan U15s for a set of friendlies at the age of 14.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kitahara, Maki 2009 births Living people People from Suginami Japanese men's footballers Japan men's youth international footballers Men's association football midfielders FC Tokyo players J1 League players 21st-century Japanese sportsmen