Hiroki Sakai

Kashiwa Reysol

Born on 12 April 1990, in Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan, Sakai was introduced to football by his two older brothers and joined a school football team when he was in the third grade of elementary school. Sakai initially played as a striker before converting to a full back, where he has played since. Sakai spent 10 years with the school football team before joining Kashiwa Reysol U15 side in 2003. Sakai progressed through the ranks of the Kashiwa Reysol and learned his guidance under Tatsuma Yoshida. Eventually, he worked his way through to the U16 and U18 side despite suffering injuries along the way. During his progress, Sakai joined Mogi Mirim to study abroad on a short–term, though he said the experience benefited him to improve his right–back and centre–back positions. Sakai eventually returned to Japan in November 2009. Ahead of the 2010 season, Sakai was promoted to Kashiwa Reysol's first team, where he signed a contract with the club and was given the number 30 shirt. At the start of the 2010 season, Sakai started out on the substitute bench in number of matches. It wasn't until on 5 May 2010 when he made his Kashiwa Reysol debut, coming on as a substitute for Yohei Kurakawa in the 77th minute, in a 1–1 draw against Ventforet Kofu. Sakai then made his first start for the side on 25 July 2010, starting the whole game and set up one of the goals, in a 2–2 draw against JEF United Chiba. It wasn't until on 31 October 2010 when he scored his first goal for…

Youth and Olympics career

After spending three years between 2008 and 2011, representing Japan's youth system, Sakai was called up by Japan U23 squad for the first time in May 2011. On 1 June 2011, he made his Japan U23 on the same day, in a 3–1 win over Australia U23. Three weeks later on 23 June 2011, Sakai scored his first goal for the U23 side, in second leg of the Asian Qualifiers Preliminary Round of the Summer Olympics, in a 2–1 loss against Kuwait U23, but Japan U23 won 4–3 on aggregate. After making his U23 debut, he became a regular for the U23 throughout the year in the right–back position. On 22 February 2012, Sakai scored again and set up one of the goals, in a 4–0 win over Malaysia U23. On 2 July 2012, Sakai was called up for the 2012 Summer Olympics Football tournament in London. He started in a match, playing 74 minutes before being substituted, in a 1–0 win over Spain U23. Sakai went on to start three more matches in the tournament, as Japan U23 reached the semi–finals and finished fourth place. Sakai was named as one of Japan's three over-age players for the Olympic on home soil, alongside Maya Yoshida and Wataru Endo. On 22 July 2021, he made his first appearance for the U23 side, starting a match, in a 3–0 win against South Africa. Sakai scored his first goal of the tournament, in a 4–0 win against France. After serving a one match suspension, he returned to the starting line–up, losing both matches in the semi–finals and bronze medal match…

Club

As of match played 26 August 2026

International

As of match played 5 December 2022

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

Growing up, Sakai comes from a studious family, as his father is a doctor. One of his older brother is a researcher. Sakai said his idol growing up was Ronaldo and watched his performance in the 2002 FIFA World Cup. In 2014, Sakai revealed that he married a non-celebrity woman and described her as supportive of his football career. It was announced in November 2014 that Sakai would become a father and his wife gave birth to a baby girl in January 2015. On 27 September 2019, he announced that he's a father for the second time. Sakai is a fan of Miso soup and once said: "Take only miso soup because miso soup is a necessity for me." In addition to speaking Japanese, Sakai speaks Portuguese, German (having learned the language twice a week during his time at Hannover 96), French and English. Since moving to Europe, Sakai spoke out the culture in Germany and France. In May 2018, Sakai published his first book titled "Resetting Power 'Nature and the Mind Becomes Stronger' 46 Concept". In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, he donated 20,000 euros to Phoceo Endowment Fund. Along with Yūki Ōtsu, they created a website to help the general public. In August 2026, Sakai enrolled at Auckland University of Technology, where he began a part-time Master of Business Administration (MBA) through the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law, majoring in Business Studies.