Yuji Sakakura

is a former Japanese football player and manager. He played for the Japan national team.

## Biography

Sakakura was educated at and played for Yokkaichi Chuo Technical High School and Juntendo University. After finishing the university, he joined Japan Soccer League side Furuawa Electric (later _JEF United Ichihara_). In 1992, Japan Soccer League was folded and the club joined new league, J1 League. He moved to Nagoya Grampus Eight in 1995, then Japan Football League side Brummell Sendai in 1996. He finished his playing career in 1998 at his home town club Mind House TC, a Regional Leagues side, after playing for them for one season.

On July 27, 1990, Sakakura debuted for the Japan national team against South Korea. He was selected Japan for 1990 Asian Games and played 2 matches. He played 6 games for Japan until 1991. He was also a member of the Japan which won the 1992 Asian Cup, but did not play in the tournament.

After the retirement, Sakakura started coaching career at new club Yokohama FC in 1999. He served as an assistant coach. He also managed the club as caretaker in 2001. In 2005, he moved to Kyoto Purple Sanga (later _Kyoto Sanga FC_) and served as a manager for the youth team. In 2008, he moved to Tochigi SC. He mainly served as assistant coach for top team. In 2014, he was promoted to a manager. He resigned in July 2015. In 2016, he signed with Shimizu S-Pulse and served as a assistant coach. In 2018, he moved to AC Nagano Parceiro and served as a assistant coach. In June, he became a manager and managed the club until end of 2018 season.

## Statistics

|-
|1990/91||rowspan="2"|Furukawa Electric||rowspan="2"|JSL Division 1||20||0||||||5||0||25||0
|-
|1991/92||12||1||||||1||0||13||1
|-
|1992||rowspan="3"|JEF United Ichihara||rowspan="3"|J1 League||colspan="2"|-||||||9||0||9||0
|-
|1993||25||0||0||0||0||0||25||0
|-
|1994||8||0||0||0||2||0||10||0
|-
|1995||Nagoya Grampus Eight||J1 League||18||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||18||0
|-
|1996||rowspan="2"|Brummell Sendai||rowspan="2"|Football League||26||0||3||0||colspan="2"|-||29||0
|-
|1997||26||0||2||0||5||0||33||0
135||1||5||0||22||0||162||1
135||1||5||0||22||0||162||1
|}

|-
|1990||5||0
|-
|1991||1||0
|-
!Total||6||0
|}

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Yuji Sakakura
- **fullname**: Yuji Sakakura
- **birth place**: Yokkaichi, Mie, Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, Mie, Japan
- **position**: Defender (football), Defender
- **youthyears1**: 1983–1985
- **youthclubs1**: Yokkaichi Chuo Technical High School
- **youthyears2**: 1986–1989
- **youthclubs2**: Juntendo University
- **years1**: 1990–1994
- **clubs1**: JEF United Chiba, JEF United Ichihara
- **caps1**: 65
- **goals1**: 1
- **years2**: 1995
- **clubs2**: Nagoya Grampus, Nagoya Grampus Eight
- **caps2**: 18
- **goals2**: 0
- **years3**: 1996–1997
- **clubs3**: Vegalta Sendai, Brummell Sendai
- **caps3**: 52
- **goals3**: 0
- **years4**: 1998
- **clubs4**: TSV 1973 Yokkaichi, Mind House TC
- **totalcaps**: 135+
- **totalgoals**: 1+
- **nationalyears1**: 1990–1991
- **nationalteam1**: Japan national football team, Japan
- **nationalcaps1**: 6
- **nationalgoals1**: 0
- **manageryears1**: 2001
- **managerclubs1**: Yokohama FC
- **manageryears2**: 2014–2015
- **managerclubs2**: Tochigi SC
- **manageryears3**: 2018
- **managerclubs3**: AC Nagano Parceiro