Aya Sameshima

Aya Sameshima (鮫島 彩, Sameshima Aya, born 16 June 1987) is a Japanese football player. She plays for INAC Kobe Leonessa. She also played for Japan national team.

Aya Sameshima
鮫島 彩
Sameshima playing for Japan against Sweden in the 2011 World Cup semi finals
Personal information
Full name Aya Sameshima
Date of birth (1987-06-16) 16 June 1987
Place of birth Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
Height 1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Playing position(s) Defender
Club information
Current team
 INAC Kobe Leonessa
Number 3
Youth career
2003–2005 Tokiwagi Gakuen High School
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2011 TEPCO Mareeze 98 (18)
2011 Boston Breakers 5 (0)
2011–2012 Montpellier 18 (0)
2012–2014 Vegalta Sendai 21 (3)
2015– INAC Kobe Leonessa 73 (2)
Total 215 (23)
National team‡
2008– Japan 113 (5)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 31 December 2018
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 25 June 2019

Club career

Sameshima was born in Utsunomiya on 16 June 1987. She played youth football for Kawachi SC Juvenile between 1995 and 2002 and Tokiwagi Gakuen High School from 2003 until 2005. In 2006, she joined TEPCO Mareeze, the club owned by the Tokyo Electric Power Company.[1] During her time at Mareeze she lived in the J-Village Sports complex in Hirono near Fukushima, and like other players, she worked at the TEPCO-run Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to earn a living whilst playing for the club.[1]

Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster, during which the team were in a training camp in the south of the country, the club pulled out of the L.League for the remainder of the season.[1] Sameshima then began training with the Boston Breakers in March 2011, before signing for the club permanently,[2] the first former Mareeze player to sign for another club.[3] She made her debut for the Breakers against Sky Blue on 12 June as a second-half substitute for Alex Scott,[4] becoming the first Japanese international to play for the club.[5]

On 19 September 2011, Sameshima joined French club Montpellier, joining compatriot Rumi Utsugi at the club.[6] She returned to Japan to play for Vegalta Sendai in 2012, before joining Houston Dash in January 2014.[7] However, due to injuries she failed to contract, and rejoined Vegalta Sendai in July 2014. She subsequently signed for INAC Kobe Leonessa for the 2015 season.

National team career

After playing for the Japanese team at the AFC U-19 Championship in 2006,[8] Sameshima made her full international debut on 10 March 2008, against Russia, and played in the 2008 Asian Cup that year, scoring the first goal in an 11–0 win over Chinese Taipei.[9] In 2010, she played in the 2010 Asian Games, winning a gold medal as Japan won the tournament. In 2011, she was part of the Japan squad for the 2011 World Cup, playing in every match for the World Cup Champion Japanese team.[10] She was part of the Japanese team that won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics.[11] She also played in the 2015 World Cup and Japan won 2nd place.[9] In 2018, she played at 2018 Asian Cup and won the championship. She played 103 games and scored 5 goals for Japan.

Club statistics
Club Season League Cup League Cup Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
TEPCO Mareeze200617120-191
200721830432811
200821530-245
200921131-242
20101832053256
Total98181319612025
Boston Breakers201150--50
Montpellier2011–1218050-230
Vegalta Sendai20126321-84
2013900022112
201460-3191
Total2132153287
INAC Kobe Leonessa2015
Career total1422120214917632

National team statistics

[12][13]

Japan national team
YearAppsGoals
200821
200930
2010151
2011180
2012140
201330
201421
2015121
201630
2017130
2018181
2019100
Total1135

National team goals
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
131 May 2008Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Chinese Taipei0–10–112008 AFC Women's Asian Cup
220 May 2010Chengdu, China Myanmar
4–0
8–02010 AFC Women's Asian Cup
328 October 2014BC Place, Vancouver Canada
2–3
2–3Friendly
412 June 2015BC Place, Vancouver Cameroon
1–0
2–12015 FIFA Women's World Cup
51 April 2018Isahaya, Japan Ghana
7–1
7–1Friendly

Honors

See also
  • List of women's footballers with 100 or more caps

References
  1. Nadeshiko Japan resumes play in U.S. friendlies Archived 6 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine ESPN, 15 May 2011
  2. Japan: Roster Archived 21 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Our Game
  3. SOCCER/ Sameshima plays for fans, friends in disaster areas Asahi, 17 July 2011
  4. Breakers Draw With Sky Blue FC, Extend Unbeaten Streak to Two Archived 16 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Women's Professional Soccer, 12 June 2011
  5. Breakers Add Japanese International Aya Sameshima To Roster Women's Professional Soccer, 13 June 2011
  6. Signature d'Aya Sameshima Archived 26 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine Montpellier HSC, 22 September 2011
  7. Houston Dash sign Japanese international Aya Sameshima Archived 28 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine Houston Dynamo
  8. News > April 2006 Bhangra Boys
  9. FIFA.com. "FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015™ - Aya-SAMESHIMA - Matches Played - FIFA.com". FIFA.com. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  10. Aya Sameshima Soccerway
  11. "Aya Sameshima Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  12. Japan Football Association(in Japanese)
  13. List of match in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Archived 11 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, 2016, 2017 Archived 23 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine, 2018, 2019 at Japan Football Association (in Japanese)
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