Ayase Ueda

Born in the city of Mito, located in the Ibaraki Prefecture, he began playing football at age 6 and was inspired by seeing his father score a hat-trick in a match. Ueda began his youth career with Kashima Antlers Norte whilst at junior high school and then moved on to play at Kashima Gakuen High School. He represented his high school in both the Inter High School Championship and the All Japan High School Soccer Tournament – he scored two goals in the first round of the competition but the team were knocked out in the second round.

Hosei University

After graduating high school, Ueda then went on to study Sport Studies at Hosei University and he was part of the football team right from his first year. In his first year at Hosei, Ueda scored 15 goals in 27 games and won the JUFA Kanto League 1 Best Rookie award. In his second year, Ueda helped Hosei University win the All Japan University Football Championship for the first time in 42 years. He scored in the semi-final against Juntendo University and scored 2 goals in the tournament overall, where he was also selected as the Best Forward in the competition. In the 2018 JUFA Kanto League 1, he was also inducted into the season's Best XI after scoring 11 goals in 19 appearances. After the success of his first two years at university, in February 2019 it was announced that he would be joining his boyhood club Kashima Antlers as a designated special player, with a view to join the club fully in 2021. He began the season…

Kashima Antlers

He made his debut for Kashima Antlers in July 2019, coming on as a late substitute for Shoma Doi in a 1–1 league draw with Urawa Red Diamonds. He scored his first professional goal the following month, in a 2–1 league victory over Yokohama F. Marinos. On his first start for the club in September, he scored two goals in a 4–0 league win against Shimizu S-Pulse. He ended his debut season with 4 league goals in less than 400 minutes. Ueda also made his first appearances in a continental competition, appearing in both games against Guangzhou F.C. in the quarter final of the 2019 AFC Champions League. After a successful debut season, Ueda continued to make an impression in the 2020 season scoring 10 goals in 29 appearances across all competitions – made even more impressive by the fact he only played the full 90 minutes in two games all season. In the 2021 season, Ueda's goals were vital to Kashima's top 4 finish. In 29 league games, he scored 14 goals making him Kashima's top goalscorer for the season and the fourth highest goalscorer in the league. This was in spite of him missing almost two months of football after suffering a groin strain in June. His performances did not go unrewarded and was named one of the 31 Outstanding J.League players as voted for by managers and players, although he did not make it into the eventual overall Best XI. In 2022, he scored a brace against Gamba Osaka in what was Kashima's first official match of the season. Since…

Youth career

In November 2017 whilst still at Hosei University, Ueda received his first national team call up to represent the U-20 team at the friendly M-150 Cup competition. He made his first appearance as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat to Thailand, but scored twice on his first start in a 4–0 win over North Korea. Japan played Uzbekistan in the final where Ueda played the whole game which ended in a 2–2 draw and was decided on penalties. Ueda missed Japan's final penalty in the shootout to hand the tournament victory to Uzbekistan. In June 2018, Ueda was part of the Japan U-21 squad to play in the prestigious Toulon Tournament. Used as a substitute in the first two group games against Turkey and Portugal, he made a big impact in the latter scoring two goals as Japan won 3–2. Ueda was also part of the silver medal-winning squad from the 2018 Asian Games squad in August. He appeared in six out of Japan's seven games during the tournament, including playing the full 120 minutes against South Korea in their extra time win in the gold medal match. Ueda scored three goals in the tournament, firstly a penalty in Japan's 1–0 Round of 16 win against Malaysia, then in the 1-0 semi-final win over the United Arab Emirates, with the final goal coming during extra time of the gold medal match. Ueda also took part in the U-23 Dubai Cup for Japan U-21s in November 2018. He ended up as top scorer in the tournament, scoring a hat-trick in a 5–0 win over Kuwait and the equalising goal…

Jimmy De Wulf, Cercle Brugge's assistant manager described Ueda as a 'complete striker'. He has a strong finishing ability alongside a combination of pace, agility and above average jumping ability and strength given his smaller stature. Ueda also impressed at Feyenoord with his leap and heading ability.