The striker from Kanda, Fukuoka is a Japanese football player and is at present playing for Vissel Kobe team. Abundant with pace, skill and talent, this player is no other than Yoshito Okubo, who made his career in football way back in 2001 with the Cerezo Osaka team, making 116 appearances and scoring almost 57 goals.
It was 2003 when Yoshito made his debut for the senior side of the Japanese team and scored twice in three consecutive games at the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament held in 2004. It took four years and 21 matches for Okubo to find the net at full international level. But he managed to score in regular basis thereafter. Moreover, he was also a regular figure in startup line during the Samurai Blue’s run on their place in South Africa.
Yoshito passed out of the Kunimi High School in 2000, after which he joined Cerezo Osaka, the following year. He played for Mallorca on loan basis for 2005-06 season, where he made 39 appearances and scored 5 goals. From 2007 onwards, he started playing for Vissel Kobe team, making 62 appearances scoring 25 goals.
In 2009, Vissel announced of his transfer to VfL Wolfsburg team where Yoshito made 9 appearances. However, six months later, he turned back to Vissel Kobe, making 19 appearances and scoring 8 goals. This was the best time for him as he won the German Bundesliga title, becoming the first Japanese striker to have achieved this award.
Career Highlights
Whilst with the VfL Wolfsburg team, he received the Fußball-Bundesliga award for the 2008-09 season. Individually, he received the Asian Young footballer of the year award in 2003.
