Koki Mizuno

Koki Mizuno

Mizuno playing for Celtic in 2009
Personal information
Full name	Koki Mizuno
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)
Position(s)	Right winger
Team information
Current team	Kashiwa Reysol
Number	29
Youth career
2002–2004	Shimizu Commercial High School
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2004–2007	JEF United	86	(13)
2008–2010	Celtic	11	(1)
2010–	Kashiwa Reysol	12	(0)
International career‡
2007	Japan	4	(0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 11 March 2012 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 7 December 2010

Koki Mizuno (水野 晃樹, Mizuno Kōki, born 6 September 1985 in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka) is a Japanese footballer, who currently plays as a midfielder for Kashiwa Reysol.

He is the cousin of Keita Suzuki, also a footballer.

Club career

JEF United

After graduating from Shimizu Commercial High School, Mizuno joined JEF United in 2004. He was the MVP of the 2006 J. League Cup competition.

Celtic

Celtic's interest was confirmed by chief executive Peter Lawwell in January 2008 who explained that the club planned on signing Mizuno, if he was granted a work permit.

After initially being denied a permit, Gordon Strachan took part in an appeal hearing in which he described his other Japanese import Shunsuke Nakamura as a "flawless performer" and "The best player I have ever worked with, and that includes (Kenny) Dalglish and (Gary) McAllister", and claimed that Mizuno was a young player of immense talent and potential. The appeal was successful and Celtic completed the signing of Koki Mizuno on 29 January 2008. On 18 July 2008, Mizuno made his debut in a 2–0 pre-season friendly win over Southampton. On 8 November, he made his league debut for Celtic in a 2–0 victory over Motherwell, replacing Scott McDonald in the 88th minute and, on 21 December 2008, he made his first start in a game against Falkirk He scored his first goal for Celtic in the 90th minute of the match, assisted by a pass from Shunsuke Nakamura. On 1 July 2010, Mizuno was released by Celtic.

Kashiwa Reysol

In the summer of 2010, Mizuno signed for J. League Division 2 side Kashiwa Reysol. In his first game for Kashiwa, he suffered a knee ligament injury which sidelined him for the rest of the 2010 season.

International career

Mizuno was a member of the Japan team for 2005 World Youth Championship where he scored a goal against Benin. His first cap as a full international came when he substituted Naohiro Takahara on 24 March 2007 in a friendly against Peru. He was a member of the Japan team for 2007 AFC Asian Cup and played two games as a substitute.

Career statistics

Template:Football player club statistics 1 Template:Football player club statistics 2 |- |2004||rowspan="4"|JEF United||rowspan="4"|J. League 1||7||1||1||0||0||0||8||1 |- |2005||25||3||2||1||5||0||32||4 |- |2006||25||0||1||0||5||2||31||2 |- |2007||29||9||0||0||5||0||34||9 Template:Football player club statistics 2 |- |2007-08||rowspan="3"|Celtic||rowspan="3"|Premier League||0||0||0||0||0||0||0||0 |- |2008-09||10||1||0||0||0||0||10||1 |- |2009-10||1||0||0||0||1||0||2||0 Template:Football player club statistics 2 |- |2010||rowspan="3"|Kashiwa Reysol||J. League 2||1||0||0||0||0||0||1||0 |- |2011||J. League 1||10||0||3||0||1||0||14||0 |- |2012||J. League 1||1||0||0||0||0||0||1||0 Template:Football player club statistics 398||13||7||1||16||2||121||16 Template:Football player club statistics 411||1||0||0||1||0||12||1 Template:Football player club statistics 5109||14||7||1||17||2||133||17 |}

Template:Football player national team statistics |- |2007||4||0 |- !Total||4||0 |}

Honours

JEF United

• J. League Cup Champions: 2005, 2006

Celtic

• Scottish Premier League Runner-up: 2008-09, 2009–10

Individual

• J. League Cup MVP: 2006

External links

• Koki Mizuno at Soccerbase