Satoshi Yamaguchi (footballer, born 1978)

Satoshi Yamaguchi
山口智
Personal information
Full name	Satoshi Yamaguchi
Date of birth	April 17, 1978 (age 46)
Place of birth	Sakawa, Kochi, Japan
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Youth career
1994–1996	JEF United Ichihara
Senior career*
Years	Team
1996–2000	JEF United Ichihara
2001–2011	Gamba Osaka
2012–2014	JEF United Chiba
2015	Kyoto Sanga FC
Total
International career
1997	Japan U-20
2009	Japan
Medal record
JEF United Chiba
Gamba Osaka
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Satoshi Yamaguchi (山口智, Yamaguchi Satoshi, born April 17, 1978) is a former Japanese football player. He played for Japan national team.

Club career

Yamaguchi was born in Sakawa, Kochi on April 17, 1978. He joined JEF United Ichihara (later JEF United Chiba) from youth team in 1996. He debuted on March 20, when he was 17 year and 354 days old. It was the youngest player to play for J1 League until Yuki Abe made new record in 1998. He became a regular player as center back from 1997. He moved to Gamba Osaka in 2001. The club won the champions 2005 J1 League, 2007 J.League Cup, 2008 and 2009 Emperor's Cup. He was also elected Best XI for 3 years in a row (2006-2008). In Asia, in 2008, the club won the champions AFC Champions League and the 3rd place Club World Cup. He returned JEF United Chiba in 2012 and played in 3 seasons. He moved to Kyoto Sanga FC in 2015 and retired end of 2015 season.

National team career

In June 1997, Yamaguchi was selected Japan U-20 national team for 1997 World Youth Championship. He played as right back of 3 back defense with Tsuneyasu Miyamoto and Kazuyuki Toda full time in all 5 matches.

On May 27, 2009, Yamaguchi debuted for Japan national team against Chile. On May 31, he also played against Belgium. He played 2 games for Japan in 2009.^[1]

Club statistics

^[2]

Club	Season	League		Emperor's Cup		J.League Cup		Continental¹		Other²		Total
Club	Season	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
JEF United Ichihara	1996	12	0	1	0	2	0	–		–		15	0
	1997	28	2	1	1	8	0	–		–		37	3
	1998	30	1	1	0	6	1	–		2	0	39	2
	1999	29	0	1	0	0	0	–		-		30	0
	2000	29	2	3	0	3	0	–		-		35	2
Gamba Osaka	2001	22	2	3	0	3	0	–		-		28	2
	2002	29	2	2	0	8	1	–		-		39	3
	2003	29	2	2	1	6	1	–		-		37	4
	2004	27	5	3	1	7	1	–		-		37	7
	2005	33	3	3	1	9	0	–		-		45	4
	2006	32	6	5	0	2	0	6	2	1	0	46	8
	2007	33	3	4	0	11	2	–		1	0	49	5
	2008	34	5	5	2	3	0	15	3	–		57	10
	2009	33	2	6	0	2	0	6	1	1	0	48	3
	2010	18	0	5	0	2	0	3	0	–		28	0
	2011	30	2	2	0	0	0	5	0	–		37	2
JEF United Chiba	2012	37	5	2	0	–		–		2	0	41	5
	2013	41	6	1	0	–		–		1	1	43	7
	2014	38	2	2	0	–		–		1	0	41	2
Kyoto Sanga FC	2015	17	1	1	0	–		–		–		18	1
Total		581	51	51	6	74	6	35	6	9	0	750	69