Mitsuki Saito
Japanese association football player
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Mitsuki Saito (齊藤 未月, Saitō Mitsuki; born 10 January 1999) is a Japanese footballer[2] who plays as a midfielder for J1 League club Kyoto Sanga. He played as a defensive midfielder early in his career.
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mitsuki Saito[1] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 10 January 1999 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan | |||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.66 m (5 ft 5 in) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Position | Midfielder | |||||||||||||||||||
| Team information | ||||||||||||||||||||
Current team | Kyoto Sanga | |||||||||||||||||||
| Number | 32 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Fujisawa FC | ||||||||||||||||||||
| –2016 | Shonan Bellmare | |||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2016–2022 | Shonan Bellmare | 112 | (4) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2021 | → Rubin Kazan (loan) | 2 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2022 | → Gamba Osaka (loan) | 26 | (2) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | → Vissel Kobe (loan) | 22 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2024–2026 | Vissel Kobe | 2 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | Kyoto Sanga (loan) | 3 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2026– | Kyoto Sanga | 3 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2015 | Japan U17 | 1 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2016 | Japan U18 | 3 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2018 | Japan U19 | 3 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | Japan U20 | 4 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2020– | Japan U23 | 2 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 1 August 2026 ‡ National team caps and goals as of 15 January 2020 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Career
Mitsuki Saito was promoted to top team from youth team of J1 League club Shonan Bellmare in 2016. He scored his first goal for the club on a 2–1 loss against V-Varen Nagasaki at the group stage of the 2018 J.League Cup.[3]
On 14 December 2020, he joined Russian Premier League club FC Rubin Kazan on a 1.5-year loan with an option to purchase.[4] On 16 February 2021 he was operated on due to an injury to ankle tendons, recovery was expected to last 4 months, he was not able to play for Rubin in the 2020–21 season.[5] Upon his recovery from injury, he made his debut for Rubin on 12 August 2021 in a Europa Conference League qualifier against the Polish club Raków Częstochowa. He substituted Hwang In-beom in the 106th minute in the extra time, as Rubin lost 0–1 and were eliminated from the competition.[6] He made his RPL debut for Rubin on 22 August 2021 in a game against FC Khimki, he substituted Darko Jevtić in the 81st minute.[7] On 31 August 2021, he was removed from Rubin's RPL squad once again.[8]
On 7 January 2022, he joined Gamba Osaka on loan until 31 January 2023.[9]
Career statistics
| Club | Season | League | National cup[a] | League cup[b] | Continental[c] | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Shonan Bellmare | 2015 | J1 League | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2016 | J1 League | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 0 | — | — | 11 | 1 | |||
| 2017 | J2 League | 30 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | — | — | 32 | 0 | ||||
| 2018 | J1 League | 18 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1 | — | — | 28 | 2 | |||
| 2019 | J1 League | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 1[d] | 0 | 30 | 1 | ||
| 2020 | J1 League | 33 | 2 | — | 1 | 0 | — | — | 34 | 2 | ||||
| Total | 112 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 17 | 1 | — | 1 | 0 | 136 | 6 | |||
| Rubin Kazan (loan) | 2021–22 | Russian Premier League | 2 | 0 | — | — | 1 | 0 | — | 3 | 0 | |||
| Gamba Osaka (loan) | 2022 | J1 League | 26 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 31 | 2 | ||
| Vissel Kobe (loan) | 2023 | J1 League | 22 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 0 | — | — | 28 | 1 | ||
| Vissel Kobe | 2024 | J1 League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2025 | J1 League | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1[e] | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
| Total | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | ||
| Kyoto Sanga (loan) | 2025 | J1 League | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 0 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 164 | 6 | 11 | 2 | 23 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 203 | 9 | ||
- Includes Emperor's Cup
- Includes J. League Cup
- Includes UEFA Conference League and AFC Champions League
- Appearance in J1/J2 play-off
- Appearance in the Japanese Super Cup
