Stefan Ishizaki

AIK

Born to a Swedish mother and a Japanese father, he started his career with Rågsveds and stayed with the club until 1999 when he signed a contract with major Swedish club AIK. He made his debut for the club in the same year in Svenska Cupen as he came on as a substitute in the 80th minute against Gefle, he later came on as a substitute again in the final, which AIK won 1–0 against Göteborg, making him the youngest in the country to win the Cup, being only 16 years and 364 days old. His league debut was not until the 2000 season against his future club Elfsborg. He quickly established himself as a starting lineup player and really broke through as a player against Helsingborg, a 4–1 victory, scoring a goal and making two assists. He missed out the first game of the 2001 season due to an injury he got during the pre-season, which would continue to haunt him for the rest of the season, but he fully recovered for the 2002 season. Prior to the 2004 season, he was loaned out to Italian Serie B club Genoa over the spring part of the season, later when AIK was relegated to Superettan he signed with Norwegian club Vålerenga.

Genoa

During the winterbreak of the 2003–04 season Genoa signed Ishizaki on loan until the end of the season. Ishizaki did not play many games for the club, before returning to AIK. Genoa also had an option to buy the player, but it was never used.

Vålerenga

Instead of following AIK down into Superettan, Ishizaki decided to sign…

Born to a Japanese father and a Swedish mother, Ishizaki was eligible to play internationally for both Sweden as well as Japan. In the early 2000s, Ishizaki turned down an offer to represent the Japan national team. He represented Sweden at the U17, U19, and U21 levels, and was a squad player for the Sweden U21 team at the 2004 UEFA European Under-21 Championship. Sweden was eliminated by the Serbia and Montenegro U21 team in the semifinals after penalty kicks despite Ishizaki successfully converting his penalty kick. On the senior level Ishizaki won 13 caps for the Sweden national team between 2001 and 2012 but never featured in a major tournament.

Club

As of 13 November 2019

International

AIK

Svenska Cupen: 1999 Vålerenga

Eliteserien: 2005 Elfsborg

Allsvenskan: 2006, 2012 LA Galaxy

MLS Cup: 2014 Western Conference: 2014