Sergio Escudero (footballer, born 1988)
Sergio Escudero (エスクデロ 競飛王, "Esukudero Seruhio"; ; born September 1, 1988) is a professional football player for Thai League 1 club Chiangmai United. Born in Spain, he has represented Japan internationally. He is the son of Argentine-Japanese footballer Sergio Ariel Escudero. Biography. As the son of a former Argentine-Japanese footballer of the same name, he was born to Argentine parents of Spanish descent in Spain, and thus held dual Argentine and Spanish citizenship. In 2007, he acquired Japanese citizenship automatically as a result of his father's naturalization. Escudero is a cousin of Damián  Escudero and nephew of Osvaldo Escudero. Career. When Escudero was three years old, he moved to Japan because of his father's work and joined the local club team. After living in Japan for five years, he moved to Argentina and Escudero began his career with the Vélez Sársfield youth team, where his father, also named Sergio Ariel Escudero and uncle Osvaldo Salvador Escudero have played. Then he was called up to the U-15 Argentina national team training camp. In 2001, Escudero returned to Japan and joined Kashiwa Reysol junior youth team in Chiba and later moved to Urawa Red  Diamonds junior youth team in Saitama. He scored many goals in youth level league matches and contracted with Urawa Reds in 2005. Playing as a forward, Escudero made his debut as a professional on April 15, 2005, against Albirex Niigata at the age of 16 years, 8 months and 21 days and he became the second youngest J. League Division 1 player after Takayuki Morimoto. In 2006, German outfit VfB Stuttgart were interested in him but Urawa refused to release him. On June 11, 2007, he obtained his Japanese citizenship and therefore he had a chance to play for the  Japan U-20 team at 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada. However he failed to make it to the tournament since the squad was submitted before he became a Japanese citizen. In May 2008, he joined the U-23 national team which played at the 2008 Toulon Tournament and scored a goal against Ivory Coast. On July 17, 2012, Escudero joined South Korean outfit FC Seoul on a six-month loan deal. He received number 26 and scored his debut goal on July 21. He scored 4 goals and provided 3 assists in the end of the season. His loan was  made permanent in December. He scored the opening goal and assisted Dejan Damjanovic's 2:2 Equalizer in the 2013 AFC Champions League Final match against China powerhouse Guangzhou Evergrande in October 26, 2013. His impressive performance made him Man of the Match. On 25 February 2015, Escudero signed a two-year contract with Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Guoxin-Sainty. Career statistics. "Updated to end of 2018 season".