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 defender for

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), also known as the Barclays Women's Super League for sponsorship reasons, and formerly the FA WSL, is a professional association football league and the highest level of women's football in England. Currently oper ...

club

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

and the Japan national team.

Early life

Minami was born in

Saitama Prefecture is a Landlocked country, landlocked Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Saitama Prefecture has a population of 7,338,536 (January 1, 2020) and has a geographic area of 3,797 Square kilometre, km2 ( ...

on 7 December 1998. She attended high school in Saitama Prefectural Nanryō High School. She graduated from University of Tsukuba Physical Education College in 2021. She began her youth career when she joined the junior youth team of Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies.

Club career

Urawa Reds

She was promoted to

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

Urawa Reds The or simply Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, ''Urawa Rezzu''), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan, who p ...

from the youth team in 2017.

AS Roma

On 24 July 2022, Minami signed a two-year contract with Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

club

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: People, characters, figures, names * Roma or Romani people, an ethnic group living mostly in Europe and the Americas. * Roma called Roy, ancient Egyptian High Priest of Amun * Roma (footballer, born 1979), born ''Paul ...

. She made her debut for the club on 19 August 2022 in a 3–1

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

win against Glasgow City. On 10 September 2022, she scored her first goal for the club in a Serie A match against

AC Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

. Later in the same month, she scored again for the club in a 4–1 win against Sparta Praha in the UEFA Champions League. On 5 November, Minami won her first silverware with Roma as they beaten Juventus in a penalty shootout in the 2022 Supercoppa Italiana. On 29 April 2023, she helped Roma clinched the

2022–23 Serie A The 2022–23 Serie A (known as the Serie A TIM for sponsorship reasons) was the 121st season of top-tier Italian football, the 91st in a round-robin tournament, and the 13th since its organization under an own league committee, the Lega Serie A ...

title in a 2–1 win against

Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

, their first league title in club history. On 8 February 2024, Minami penned a two-year contract extension with Roma which keeps her with the club until 30 June 2026. She won her second

title back to back with Roma at the end of the

2023–24 Serie A The 2023–24 Serie A (known as the Serie A Gruppo TIM, TIM and Serie A Made in Italy for sponsorship reasons domestically and abroad, respectively) was the 122nd season of top-tier Italian association football, football, the 92nd in a ro ...

season.

Brighton & Hove Albion

On 21 June 2025, it was announced that Minami had signed for

club

International career

Youth

In 2014, Minami was selected for the Japan U-17 national team for the 2014 U-17 World Cup. She played one game against

Paraguay Paraguay, officially the Republic of Paraguay, is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the Argentina–Paraguay border, south and southwest, Brazil to the Brazil–Paraguay border, east and northeast, and Boli ...

in the group stage. Japan went on to win the championship. Minami was selected for the Japan U-20 national team for the 2018 U-20 World Cup. She played all six matches as center-back and team captain. Japan won the championship and Minami received the Bronze Ball award.

Senior

In February 2019, Minami was selected for the Japan national team for the

SheBelieves Cup The SheBelieves Cup is an invitational women's association football, women's soccer tournament held in different cities in the United States in late February or early March. In its first three years (2016, 2017, and 2018), it was contested by t ...

. At this tournament, on 2 March, she debuted as center back-against

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. On 10 May 2019, Minami 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 ...

. Minami was selected as part of the 22 players 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 ...

held in Japan in 2021. She started all 3 group matches for Japan. On 7 January 2022, Minami was called up to the

2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup The 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup was the 20th edition of the AFC Women's Asian Cup, the quadrennial international women's football tournament in Asia competed by the national teams in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). India was selected as ...

squad. On 13 June 2023, she was included in the 23-player squad for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023. On 14 June 2024, Minami was included in the Japan squad for the

2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

. Minami was part of the Japan squad that won the

2025 SheBelieves Cup The 2025 SheBelieves Cup, named the 2025 SheBelieves Cup Presented by Visa for sponsorship reasons, was the tenth edition of the SheBelieves Cup, an invitational Women's association football, women's soccer tournament held in the United States. Fe ...

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Urawa Reds *

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

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 ...

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

* Empress's Cup runner-up:

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Nadeshiko League Cup The Nadeshiko League Cup (Japanese: なでしこリーグカップ) is a cup competition for women's football clubs in Japan. The competition began as the L.League Cup in 1996 and it was abolished after the 1999 edition. It reappeared on the occa ...

runner-up:

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 ...

AS Roma *

: 2022–23, 2023–24 *

Coppa Italia Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

: 2023–24 *

Supercoppa Italiana The Supercoppa Italiana, also known as the Italian Super Cup, is an annual super cup tournament in Italian football. Founded in 1988 as a two-team competition, it has featured four teams since 2023 (the winners and runners-up of the previous ...

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 ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

Japan U17 * AFC U-16 Women's Championship:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

* FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup:

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

Japan U20 * AFC U-20 Women's Asian Championship:

* FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup:

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 ...

Japan * EAFF E-1 Football Championship:

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

Individual * EAFF E-1 Football Championship MVP: 2019 * Nadeshiko League/WE League Best Eleven: 2019, 2020, 2021-2022 ;Individual * Serie A Women's Team of the Year: 2022–23

References

External links

Japan Football Association
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Minami, Moeka 1998 births Living people Association football people from Saitama Prefecture Japanese women's footballers Women's association football central defenders Urawa Red Diamonds Ladies players AS Roma (women) players Brighton & Hove Albion W.F.C. players Nadeshiko League players Serie A (women's football) players Women's Super League players Japan women's international footballers 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Footballers at the 2020 Summer Olympics Footballers at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Japan Japanese expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in Italy Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Italy 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup players 21st-century Japanese sportswomen