Hisato Satō

Hisato Satō
Personal information
Full name	Hisato Satō
Date of birth	March 12 1982 (1982-03-12) (age 26)
Place of birth	Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan
Height	170cm
Playing position	forward
Club information
Current club	Sanfrecce Hiroshima
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000-2001 2002 2003-2004 2005-	JEF United Ichihara Chiba Cerezo Osaka Vegalta Sendai Sanfrecce Hiroshima	22 (2) 13 (2) 74 (29) 99 (48)
National team2
2006-	Japan	19 (3)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of December 13, 2007. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of September 11, 2007. * Appearances (Goals)

Hisato Satō (佐藤 寿人, Satō Hisato^?, born March 12, 1982) is a Japanese footballer who currently plays for Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the J. League. He is a left-footed forward.

Playing career

Sato is a product of JEF United Ichiahra's youth system. He was promoted to JEF's top team in 2000. His first league appearance came on April 15, 2000 against Jubilo Iwata. He scored his first league goal on March 21, 2001 against Jubilo Iwata. Frustrated with the lack of play, he decided to move to division 2 side Cerezo Osaka in 2002. Cerezo's coach Akihiro Nishimura rated him highly as Sato had played for Japan's youth team in the previous year which was also managed by Nishimura. However, he suffered from Guillain-Barré syndrome at the beginning of the season, and found himself playing not many games with Akinori Nishizawa and Yoshito Okubo ahead of him in the pecking order. The club finished 2nd and was promoted to Division 1. Sato was loaned out to fellow J1 side Vegalta Sendai in the 2003 season. He finally became a first-choice forward playing 30 games with 9 goals. Despite his efforts, Sendai was relegated to J2. His loan contract became a permanent one and he played 44 league games with 20 goals for Sendai in the 2005 season but failed to navigate the club to J1. He was transferred to J1 side Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the 2005 season. He recorded a hat trick twice and scored 18 goals in the season. Sato made his international debut for Japan on February 11, 2006 in a friendly against the United States. He scored his first international goal on February 22, 2006 in an Asian Cup qualifier against India. In the run-up to the World Cup, he was regularly picked for the Japan national team, but left out of the final squad by national coach Zico. Sato was a member of the Japan team for the 2007 AFC Asian Cup finals and played four games in the tournament all as a substitute. He is the record holder of the fastest goal in J. League. He scored for Hiroshima after 8 seconds from the kick-off on April 22, 2006 against Cerezo Osaka. His twin brother Yuto is also a professional footballer who plays for JEF United Ichihara Chiba and was capped once.

Honors and awards

• J-League Best Eleven: 2005

International Goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	February 22, 2006	Yokohama, Japan	India	6-0	Won	2007 AFC Asian Cup Qualification
2.	March 30, 2006	Ōita, Japan	Ecuador	1-0	Won	Friendly
3.	August 16, 2006	Niigata, Japan	Yemen	2-0	Won	2007 AFC Asian Cup Qualification

External links

• (Japanese) Official web site