is a Japanese

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 ...

. She plays for

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 the

WE League The , officially the , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the top flight of women's association football in Japan, starting from the 2021–22 season. It is the first fully-professional women's football league in Japan. The current ...

and the Japan national team.

Club career

Sakaguchi was born in

Kanagawa Prefecture is a Prefectures of Japan, prefecture of Japan located in the Kantō region of Honshu. Kanagawa Prefecture is the List of Japanese prefectures by population, second-most populous prefecture of Japan at 9,221,129 (1 April 2022) and third-dens ...

on June 4, 1992. After graduating from Musashigaoka College, she joined L.League club

Albirex Niigata is a professional football club based in Niigata, Japan. Formed in 1955 as Niigata Eleven SC, it was renamed Albireo Niigata FC in 1995, and Albirex Niigata in 1997. They currently play in J1 League after being promoted from J2 League as cha ...

in 2013.

National team career

In April 2018, Sakaguchi was selected Japan national team for 2018 Women's Asian Cup. Although she did not play in the match, Japan team won the champions for 2 tournament in a row. On June 10, she debuted as substitute midfielder from the second half against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. She played 10 games and scored 1 goal for Japan.

National team statistics

List of match i
2018
at Japan Football Association

International goals

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

References

External links

* *
Albirex Niigata
1992 births Living people Association football people from Kanagawa Prefecture Japanese women's footballers Japan women's international footballers Nadeshiko League players Albirex Niigata Ladies players Women's association football midfielders Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games Asian Games gold medalists for Japan Asian Games footballers for Japan Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games 21st-century Japanese sportswomen Asian Games gold medalists in football {{Japan-women-footy-bio-stub