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 Tokyo Verdy Beleza of 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 ...

. She has previously played for

Reign FC Seattle Reign FC is an American professional soccer team based in Seattle, Washington, that competes in the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). Founded in 2012, it is one of eight inaugural members of the NWSL. Since June 2024, the Reign ar ...

and

Montpellier Montpellier (; ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of France, department of ...

. A former Japanese international, Utsugi helped the national team win the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...

Club career

Utsugi was born in Kawasaki on 5 December 1988. She began her professional career at

Nippon TV Beleza is a women's professional football team that plays in Japan's WE League. It is based in the Kita, Itabashi, Inagi, Hino, Tama, and Tachikawa wards of Tokyo. They have won 52 major Asian and national titles, the most of any team in the W ...

in 2004. During her time at the club, she won four L.League titles and five

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 ...

s. In August 2010, after six years at Beleza, Utsugi departed her home country to sign for French club Montpellier of the Division 1 Féminine. After joining the club, she became the first Japanese player to play in the league.

International career

A left-footed

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. ...

, Utsugi has represented Japan at the

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

, and

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 ...

editions of the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the name is ...

, as well as two

Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior list of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the contin ...

competitions. Japan won the 2011 World Cup. She was named in the World Cup 2015 All-Star squad.

Career statistics

Club

International

Japan Football Association
/ref>List of match i

at Japan Football Association :''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Utsugi goal''.

Honours

Nippon TV Beleza * L.League: 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 *

: 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 *

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 ...

: 2007, 2010 Japan *

FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior list of women's national association football teams, women's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Footb ...

; runners-up

AFC U-17 Women's Championship The AFC U-17 Women's Asian Cup, founded as the AFC U-17 Women's Championship and later the AFC U-16 Women's Championship, before changing to its current name after the 2019 edition, is a biennial women's football tournament for youth teams organise ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

References

External links

*
Rumi Utsugi
at the

Japan Football Association The Japan Football Association (JFA, ) is the Sport governing body, governing body responsible for the administration of Association football, football, futsal, beach soccer and Esports, efootball in Japan. It is responsible for the Japan national ...

*
Rumi Utsugi
at

Montpellier HSC Montpellier Hérault Sport Club (; ), commonly referred to as Montpellier HSC, is a French professional association football, football club based in the city of Montpellier in Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie. The original club was ...

Rumi Utsugi – French football stats
at footofeminin.fr * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Utsugi, Rumi 1988 births Living people Japanese women's footballers Japan women's international footballers Nadeshiko League players National Women's Soccer League players Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza players Montpellier HSC (women) players Seattle Reign FC players Japanese expatriate women's footballers Expatriate women's footballers in France Japanese expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States Japanese expatriate sportspeople in the United States FIFA Women's World Cup–winning players 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players Olympic footballers for Japan Footballers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Women's association football midfielders FIFA Women's Century Club Première Ligue players 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players Japan women's youth international footballers Association football people from Kawasaki, Kanagawa 21st-century Japanese sportswomen