Gotoku Sakai

is a Japanese football player. He played for the Japan national team. His brothers Noriyoshi Sakai and Goson Sakai are also footballers.

## Biography

Sakai was born in Niigata Prefecture on March 14, 1991.He joined J1 League club Albirex Niigata from their youth team in 2008. he played many matches from 2009. In January 2012, he moved to German Bundesliga club Stuttgart. He played 87 matches for the club in 4 seasons. In summer 2015, he moved to Hamburger SV. Although he played many matches for the club, the club was relegated to 2. Bundesliga first time in the club history end of the 2017/18 season. In summer 2019, he returned to Japan and joined Vissel Kobe. Kobe won the champions in the 2019 Emperor's Cup which is first major title in the club history.

In 2012, Sakai was selected the Japan U-23 national team for 2012 Summer Olympics. He played 4 matches and Japan won the 4th place. On September 6, 2012, he debuted for the Japan national team against United Arab Emirates. After the debut, he battles with Yuto Nagatomo, Atsuto Uchida and Hiroki Sakai for the left and right side back. He participated 2013 Confederations Cup and 2014 World Cup. However he did not play in the match both tournament. In 2015, he participated 2015 Asian Cup and played 4 matches as right side back. In 2018, he was selected Japan for 2018 World Cup. He played 1 match and Japan qualified to the knockout stage. After the 2018 World Cup, he retired from Japan national team. He played 42 games for Japan until 2018.

## Statistics

|-
|2008||rowspan="4"|Albirex Niigata||rowspan="4"|J1 League||0||0||1||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||1||0
|-
|2009||18||0||1||0||4||0||colspan="2"|-||23||0
|-
|2010||31||0||0||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||33||0
|-
|2011||25||1||2||0||3||0||colspan="2"|-||30||1

|-
|2011/12||rowspan="4"|Stuttgart||rowspan="4"|Bundesliga||14||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||14||0
|-
|2012/13||27||0||4||0||colspan="2"|-||10||1||41||1
|-
|2013/14||28||0||2||0||colspan="2"|-||2||0||32||0
|-
|2014/15||18||1||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||19||1
|-
|2015/16||rowspan="4"|Hamburger SV||rowspan="3"|Bundesliga||22||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||23||0
|-
|2016/17||33||1||4||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||37||1
|-
|2017/18||28||0||1||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||29||0
|-
|2018/19||2. Bundesliga||31||0||3||0||colspan="2"|-||colspan="2"|-||34||0

|-
|2019||rowspan="3"|Vissel Kobe||rowspan="3"|J1 League||12||0||4||0||0||0||colspan="2"|-||16||0
|-
|2020||32||1||colspan="2"|-||1||0||6||0||39||1
|-
|2021||||||||||||||||||||
118||2||8||0||10||0||6||0||142||2
201||2||16||0||colspan="2"|-||12||1||229||3
319||4||24||0||10||0||18||1||371||5
|}

|-
|2012||2||0
|-
|2013||9||0
|-
|2014||7||0
|-
|2015||7||0
|-
|2016||7||0
|-
|2017||4||0
|-
|2018||6||0
|-
!Total||42||0
|}

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Gotoku Sakai
- **image**: Gotoku Sakai 2018 (cropped).jpg
- **image size**: 200
- **caption**: Sakai at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, 2018 World Cup
- **fullname**: Gotoku Sakai
- **birth place**: Niigata Prefecture, Niigata, Japan
- **position**: Defender (football), Defender
- **currentclub**: Vissel Kobe
- **youthyears1**: 2006–2008
- **youthclubs1**: Albirex Niigata
- **years1**: 2008–2011
- **clubs1**: Albirex Niigata
- **caps1**: 74
- **goals1**: 1
- **years2**: 2012–2015
- **clubs2**: VfB Stuttgart, Stuttgart
- **caps2**: 87
- **goals2**: 1
- **years3**: 2015–2019
- **clubs3**: Hamburger SV
- **caps3**: 114
- **goals3**: 1
- **years4**: 2019–
- **clubs4**: Vissel Kobe
- **caps4**: 44
- **goals4**: 1
- **nationalyears1**: 2012
- **nationalteam1**: Japan national under-23 football team, Japan U-23
- **nationalcaps1**: 4
- **nationalgoals1**: 0
- **nationalyears2**: 2012–2018
- **nationalteam2**: Japan national football team, Japan
- **nationalcaps2**: 42
- **nationalgoals2**: 0
- **club-update**: end of the 2020 season