Takefusa Kubo

Takefusa Kubo (久保 建英, Kubo Takefusa, born 4 June 2001) is a Japanese footballer[2] who plays as a right midfielder for Spanish club RCD Mallorca, on loan from Real Madrid, and the Japan national team.

Takefusa Kubo
久保建英
Personal information
Full name Takefusa Kubo
Date of birth (2001-06-04) 4 June 2001
Place of birth Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
Height 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Playing position(s) Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Mallorca
(on loan from Real Madrid)
Number 26
Youth career
2008–2009 FC Persimmon
2008–2010 Tokyo Verdy
2010–2011 Kawasaki Frontale
2011–2015 FC Barcelona
2015–2017 FC Tokyo
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2018 FC Tokyo U-23 34 (5)
2016–2019 FC Tokyo 19 (4)
2018 → Yokohama F. Marinos (loan) 5 (1)
2019– Real Madrid 0 (0)
2019– → Mallorca (loan) 28 (3)
National team‡
2015 Japan U15 5 (7)
2016 Japan U16 12 (4)
2016-2017 Japan U17 11 (4)
2016-2018 Japan U19 11 (3)
2017 Japan U20 4 (0)
2018 Japan U21 2 (0)
2019 Japan U22 4 (2)
2019– Japan 7 (0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 24 June 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 17 November 2019

Club career

Early career

At the age of seven, Takefusa Kubo started playing football for FC Persimmon, a local club based in his home city Kawasaki. In August 2009, he was awarded MVP at FC Barcelona Soccer Camp[3] in which he participated at the age of eight. In April 2010, he was selected as a member of FC Barcelona School team and participated in Sodexo European Rusas Cup held in Belgium. He was awarded MVP even though his team finished third. After returning home, he began to play for the Kawasaki Frontale junior youth team.

FC Barcelona

In August 2011, Takefusa Kubo had been invited to join FC Barcelona’s youth Academy, La Masia, after passing the trial. He began to play for Barca Aleví C (U11). During his first full season (2012–13), he was top goalscorer in the league with 74 goals in 30 games. In his third full season (2014–15), he was promoted to Barca Infantil A (U14). But the Spanish club was later found to have violated FIFA’s international transfer policy for under-18 youths, making Kubo ineligible to play for the club. He returned to Japan on March 2015 in search of playing time, signing with FC Tokyo’s junior youth team.

FC Tokyo

Takefusa Kubo joined FC Tokyo U-18 team in 2016. In September 2016, he was promoted to the senior side at the age of fifteen. On 5 November, he made his formal debut for the reserve team in the J3 League as a halftime sub for match against AC Nagano Parceiro.[2][4] He made his professional debut at the J.League record of 15 years, 5 months and one day.

On 15 April 2017 Kubo became the youngest player to score in the J.League at 15 years, 10 month in a 1–0 win over Cerezo Osaka U-23.[5] On 3 May, he top-flight debuted for the first-team in J.League YBC Levain Cup playing 25 minutes in a 1–0 win against Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo. In November 2017, FC Tokyo announced an update to Kubo's contract improving it to pay him as a first-team member.

Yokohama F. Marinos (loan)

On 16 August 2018, he joined Yokohama F. Marinos on a half-year loan.[6] He immediately scored on his debut with Marinos in an away game against Vissel Kobe.[7]

From the start of the 2019 season, Kubo became a regular starter for FC Tokyo in both the J.League YBC Levain Cup and J.League scoring goals in both competitions.

Real Madrid

On 14 June 2019, Kubo signed with Spanish club Real Madrid on a five-year deal. Although registered with U-19 team,[8] he had been expected to play mainly with Real Madrid B for the 2019–20 season.[9] However, he featured regularly with the first team during Real Madrid's preseason tour of the United States and Germany.[10][11]

Mallorca (loan)

On 22 August 2019, Kubo joined RCD Mallorca on a season-long loan.[12][13] He has become the third Japanese player in Mallorca's history after Yoshito Okubo and Akihiro Ienaga. On 1st September, he made his La Liga debut playing 15 minutes in a 2–0 loss to Valencia. He becomes the youngest Japanese player in Top 4 European Leagues history that has played in a match with a record of 18 years, 2 months, and 28 days. He scored his first goal on November 10th, 2019, against Villareal in a 3–1 victory. He later scored his second goal in an entertaining 3–3 draw to Real Betis on February 21, 2020. He then scored his third goal two weeks later in a 2–1 victory over SD Eibar.[14]

International career

Takefusa Kubo has been involved in Japan national teams from U-15 to senior level.

At the age of fifteen, he was selected to the Japan U-20 national team for the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup.[15]

Shortly before turning eighteen, he was named in the squad for the 2019 Copa América, which marked his first call up to the senior squad.[16] He made his debut on 9 June 2019 in a friendly against El Salvador, as a 67th-minute substitute for Takumi Minamino.[17]

Career statistics

Club

Updated to 24 June 2020.[18][19]

Club Season League Cup League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
FC Tokyo2017J1 League20002[lower-alpha 1]0——40
201840006[lower-alpha 1]1——101
2019134003[lower-alpha 1]1——165
Total 19400112——306
Yokohama F. Marinos (loan)2018J1 League511[lower-alpha 2]000——61
Real Madrid B2019–20Segunda División B0000———00
Mallorca (loan)2019–20La Liga28310———293
Career Total 52820112——6510
  1. Appearances in J.League Cup
  2. Appearance in Emperor's Cup

International
As of 15 October 2019
Japan
YearAppsGoals
201970
Total70

References
  1. "National Teams｜JFA｜Japan Football Association". www.jfa.jp. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  2. "久保　建英 Takefusa KUBO, referred to as 'Japanese Messi'," (in Japanese). J.League Data Site. Retrieved 6 December 2016.
  3. "Kaptiva Sports Experience football". Kaptiva Sports Experience. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  4. "J. League Data Site". data.j-league.or.jp. Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  5. "Ｃ大23vsＦ東23のマッチレポート・動画（明治安田生命Ｊ３リーグ第5節：2017年4月15日）：Ｊリーグ.jp". Ｊリーグ.jp（日本プロサッカーリーグ） (in Japanese). Retrieved 24 August 2019.
  6. "久保建英選手 期限付き移籍加入のお知らせ". Yokohama F. Marinos. 16 August 2018. Retrieved 16 August 2018.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 27 August 2018. Retrieved 28 August 2018.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Kubo set to be registered by Real Madrid as youth team player". Diario AS. 17 July 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  9. "Takefusa Kubo is a new Real Madrid player. He joins Castilla from next season". Real Madrid. 14 June 2019. Retrieved 14 June 2019.
  10. "Kubo: "I'm unhappy with the result but pleased to have made my debut"". realmadrid.com. 21 July 2019. Retrieved 21 July 2019.
  11. "Kubo: I signed for Real Madrid because they had a plan for my future". MARCA in English. 18 October 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
  12. "Kubo joins RCD Mallorca on loan from Real Madrid". rcdmallorca.es. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  13. "Official Announcement: Kubo". realmadrid.com. 22 August 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2019.
  14. "Takefusa Kubo makes LaLiga debut". CoolJapanSoccer. 2 September 2019. Retrieved 2 September 2019.
  15. "U-20 Japan National Team squad, schedule – FIFA U-20 World Cup Korea Republic 2017 (5/20-6/11)". JFA. Retrieved 2 May 2017.
  16. "Takefusa Kubo, 17, named to Japan's senior national squad for first time". Japan Times. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  17. "Japan v El Salvador game report". ESPN. 9 June 2019.
  18. Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "J1&J2&J3選手名鑑ハンディ版 2019 (NSK MOOK)", 9 February 2019, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411628 (p. 50 out of 289)
  19. Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2017 J1&J2&J3選手名鑑 (NSK MOOK)", 8 February 2017, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411420 (p. 82 out of 289)
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