is a

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player currently playing for

Gamba Osaka is a Japanese professional association football, football club based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's home stadium is Panasonic Stadium Suita. They form a ...

in 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 ...

. His regular playing position is an

attacking 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. ...

or a winger.

Club career

A native of Osaka, Kurata came up through the youth team ranks at Gamba Osaka and made his way into the first-team squad ahead of the 2007 season. Owing to his tender years, he played just 6 league matches in his debut season as a professional, but the following year he went on to make 21 appearances in all competitions as Gamba lifted the

2008 AFC Champions League The 2008 AFC Champions League was the 27th AFC Champions League, the top-level Asian club football tournament, and the 6th under the current AFC Champions League title. It was the last AFC Champions League before the competition expanded to 32 te ...

and the

2008 Emperor's Cup The 88th Emperor's Cup began on September 13, 2008 and ended on January 1, 2009 with the final which took place at National Stadium in Tokyo. As the champion, Gamba Osaka participated in 2009 AFC Champions League. Calendar Participants J ...

. The Osaka giants retained their Emperor's Cup title in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

, however Kurata only featured 4 times throughout the year as he struggled to break into their star-studded starting line-up. To gain more first-team experience he was sent out on loan, first to J2 League side JEF United in 2010 and then to city rivals Cerezo Osaka in 2011. He netted an impressive 10 goals in 33 league games with Cerezo and this form was enough to earn him a recall to Gamba's first-team in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

. His first season back in north Osaka saw Gamba finish 17th in the J1 League which sent them down to Japan's second tier for the first time in their history. Kurata netted 8 times in 28 J2 appearances in

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 ...

as Gamba bounced back at the first time of asking, securing the league title with 87 points from 42 games.

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 ...

was a dream for Gamba as not only did they return to Japan's top flight but they also helped themselves to a domestic treble; lifting the J1 title as well as the J.League Cup and Emperor's Cup. Kurata scored 11 goals in 47 appearances in all competitions, a personal best for him in the blue and black of Gamba. The men from Suita added the 2015 Japanese Super Cup and

2015 Emperor's Cup The was the regular edition of the annual Japanese national cup tournament, which was held from 29 August 2015 to its final on 1 January 2016.(in Japanese) Japan Football Association, 13 November 2014 The winners, Gamba Osaka, qualified to the ...

titles to their haul from the previous year, defeating

Urawa Red Diamonds 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 association football, football club in the city of Saitama (city), Saitama, part of t ...

in the final of both competitions, and also reached the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League before going down to Chinese side

Guangzhou Evergrande Guangzhou Football Club (), previously Guangzhou Evergrande (), was a Chinese professional football club based in Guangzhou, Guangdong. Historically, Guangzhou FC played its home matches at various grounds in their home city, most notably at T ...

over two legs. Kurata played 55 times in all competitions and found the back of the net on 8 occasions. Gamba failed to lift any silverware between 2016 and 2018, however Kurata remained an integral part of the side, missing just 4 league games across the 3 seasons and scoring 14 times.

International career

On 23 July 2015,

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

's coach

Vahid Halilhodžić Vahid Halilhodžić (; born 15 May 1952) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. He is regarded as one of the most controversially successful Bosnian football managers, due to his successful tenure in coaching various nation ...

called him up for the upcoming

2015 EAFF East Asian Cup The 2015 EAFF East Asian Cup was the 6th edition of the EAFF East Asian Cup, the football championship of East Asia. It was held in China in 2015. Two preliminary competitions were held during 2014. First preliminary round *All matches were pl ...

. He earned his first international cap in a 1–1 draw with

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

on August 5. His next national team involvement would come as a second-half substitute in Japan's 2–0 victory away to the

United Arab Emirates The United Arab Emirates (UAE), or simply the Emirates, is a country in West Asia, in the Middle East, at the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is a Federal monarchy, federal elective monarchy made up of Emirates of the United Arab E ...

in March 2017. He followed that up by playing both games in Japan's double header against

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

and

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

in June with both matches finishing 1-1. October 2017 would prove to be a high point in his international career as he scored in both the 2-1 friendly victory over

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 ...

on October 6 and the 3–3 draw at home to

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

4 days later. He was named in the squad for the

2017 EAFF E-1 Football Championship The 2017 EAFF E-1 Football Championship was the 7th edition of the EAFF E-1 Football Championship, the football championship of East Asia. It was held in Japan in December 2017. Through the agreement between EAFF and ASEAN Football Federation (AF ...

in December 2017 and started all 3 of Japan's games; the victories over

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

and China as well as the 4–1 defeat to

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

in the decisive match of the tournament which saw Japan finish as runners-up.Japan National Football Team Database
/ref>

Club statistics

.Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社
"J1&J2&J3選手名鑑ハンディ版 2018 (NSK MOOK)"
7 February 2018, Japan, (p. 81 out of 289) ¹ includes

FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup (FIFA CWC) is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (FIFA), the sport's global sports governing body, governing body. The compe ...

appearances and ² includes J. League Championship,

Japanese Super Cup The , the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J.League and the Japan Football Association. This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the reigning J1 Leag ...

and

Suruga Bank Championship The J.League Cup / Copa Sudamericana Championship was an annual intercontinental football match held in Japan, contested by the reigning champions of the J.League Cup and the Copa Sudamericana. The tournament was previously officially called the ...

appearances.

National team statistics

International goals

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

Honours

''Updated to 2018 season''. *

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

Pan-Pacific Championship The Pan-Pacific Football Championship was an inter-confederation football (soccer), football tournament between teams from A-League (Australia and New Zealand), Chinese Super League (People's Republic of China, China), J. League (Japan), K-League ...

* J. League Division 1 -

* J. League Division 2 -

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formatio ...

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 ...

* J. League Cup -

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 ...

References

External links

* * *
Profile at Gamba Osaka
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kurata, Shu 1988 births Living people Association football people from Takatsuki, Osaka Japanese men's footballers Japan men's international footballers J1 League players J2 League players Gamba Osaka players JEF United Chiba players Cerezo Osaka players Men's association football midfielders