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 winger or 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. ...

and currently play for club,

Shimizu S-Pulse is a Japanese professional association football, football club located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture. S-Pulse is going to compete in the J1 League for the 2025 Season, after winning promotio ...

Club career

Inui was an

All Japan High School Soccer Tournament The All Japan High School Soccer Tournament (全国高等学校サッカー選手権大会, Zenkoku kōtō gakkō sakkā senshuken taikai, 全国高校サッカー選手権大会, Zenkoku kō kō sakkā senshuken taikai) of Japan, commonly known as ...

champion in 2006 with Yasu High School. In 2007, Inui joined Yokohama F. Marinos of the J. League Division 1 and made his debut as a professional against Yokohama F.C. in a league match on 10 March. However, he failed to find a regular spot at Marinos and was loaned to then J. League Division 2

Cerezo Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Osaka. The club currently plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Cerezo'' (Spanish for cherry blossom) is also the flower of the city of Osak ...

in June 2008, earning himself a permanent move at the end of the season. In July 2011, Inui made the jump to Europe, joining Germany's

VfL Bochum Verein für Leibesübungen Bochum 1848 Fußballgemeinschaft, commonly referred to as VfL Bochum (), is a Football in Germany, German professional association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia. They currently play ...

. He made his debut in the 2. Bundesliga, when he started in a 2–1 home defeat versus

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St. Pauli (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga from the 2024–25 Bundesli ...

on 13 August 2011. Takashi Inui IAA September 2013

In July 2012, Inui signed a three-year contract with newly promoted

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

club

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

after impressive performance in the 2. Bundesliga.

Eibar

On 26 August 2015, Inui was transferred to

La Liga The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known as the Primera División or La Liga, and officially known as LaLiga EA Sports for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Spain and the highest ...

side

SD Eibar Sociedad Deportiva Eibar (in ) is a Spanish football league teams, Spanish professional football club based in Eibar, Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous Basque Country (autonomous community), Basque Country. Founded on 30 November 1940, the men’s te ...

for a then club record fees of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

300,000, after agreeing to a three-year contract. He became the first Asian player to play for the club. On moving to Eibar, Inui said, “It was always my dream to play in the Spanish league one day. It’s been my dream since I was a child and now it’s come true”. Takashi made his debut for Eibar on 23 September 2015, starting and providing one assist in a 2–2 draw against Levante. He scored his first league goal for Eibar on 10 January 2016 in a 2–1 win against

RCD Espanyol Reial Club Deportiu Espanyol de Barcelona (; "Royal Spanish Sports Club of Barcelona"), commonly known as RCD Espanyol, is a Spanish professional sports club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. The club competes in La Liga, the top tier of Spa ...

, scoring the first goal in the 15th minute of game and also providing assist for second goal. In April 2017, as the club was chasing a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

place, he was controversially called back to his homeland by Japan's prime minister to serve as a delegate for the visit of King

Felipe VI of Spain Felipe VI (; Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Grecia; born 30 January 1968) is King of Spain. In accordance with the Spanish Constitution, as monarch, he is head of state and commander-in-chief of the Spanish Armed For ...

to Japan. On 21 May 2017, Inui became the first Japanese footballer to score against

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

, sniping the ball via cross-bar behind Ter Stegen, twice.

Real Betis

On 1 June 2018, upon expiration of his Eibar contract, Inui joined

Real Betis Real Betis Balompié, known as Real Betis () is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It plays in La Liga, the Spanish football league system, top flight of Spanish football. It plays home ...

on a free transfer for a three-year deal. He made his debut for Betis on 17 August 2018, coming on as a substitute for

William Carvalho William Silva de Carvalho (born 7 April 1992) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for La Liga club Real Betis. He spent most of his career with Sporting CP since making his debut with the first team at ...

for the last 25 minutes in 3–0 loss against Levante.

Alavés (loan)

The following 24 January, after being sparingly used, he moved to fellow league

Deportivo Alavés Deportivo Alavés, S.A.D. (; ''Sporting Alavés''), usually known as Alavés, is a List of football clubs in Spain, Spanish football club based in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of the Basque ...

on loan until the end of the season. He made his debut for Alavés on 11 January 2019 in a 2–0 win Levante. He scored his first goal for Alavés on 2 March 2019 in a 2–1 victory against

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

Return to Eibar

On 24 July 2019, Inui returned to Eibar on a three-year deal, for a €2 million transfer fee.

Shimizu S-Pulse

On 22 July 2022, Shimizu S-Pulse announced that they have signed Inui after his contract with Cerezo Osaka was terminated. On 27 October 2024, Inui was brought his club secure promotion to

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 ...

from next season after win at away game against Tochigi SC 1-2 in matchweek 36. Seven days later at same year, Inui was brought his club secure champions of J2 in 2024 season after defeat

Iwaki FC is a football (soccer) club based in Iwaki, a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The club competes in the J2 League, the second tier of Japanese football league system. History Founder Club Iwaki FC was founded in 2012, before getting ...

with narrowly score 1-0 in matchweek 37.

International career

Inui made his full international debut for Japan on 20 January 2009 in a

2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification The 2011 AFC Asian Cup qualification saw various countries take part to determine 10 spots to the final tournament in Qatar under the new qualification system set by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Six other teams also qualified for th ...

against

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. In May 2018 he was named in Japan's preliminary

squad In military terminology, a squad is among the smallest of Military organization, military organizations and is led by a non-commissioned officer. NATO and United States, U.S. doctrine define a squad as an organization "larger than a fireteam, ...

for the

2018 World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting rights in l ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. On 24 June, Inui scored his first

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 ...

goal in a 2–2 draw over

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

during their second group stage match of the tournament. Inui went on to score another goal and registered an assist in the tournament.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

;Shimizu S-Pulse *

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...

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 ...

;Individual * J2 League Best XI: 2023, 2024

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Inui, Takashi 1988 births Living people Japanese men's footballers Association football people from Shiga Prefecture Men's association football midfielders Japan men's international footballers J1 League players J2 League players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players La Liga players Yokohama F. Marinos players Cerezo Osaka players VfL Bochum players Eintracht Frankfurt players SD Eibar footballers Real Betis players Deportivo Alavés players 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2015 AFC Asian Cup players 2018 FIFA World Cup players 2019 AFC Asian Cup players Japanese expatriate men's footballers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain