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Homare Sawa

Homare Sawa
Homare Sawa 2015 (cropped).jpg
Sawa at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
Personal information
Date of birth (1978-09-06) 6 September 1978 (age 38)
Place of birth Tokyo, Japan
Height 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Playing position Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
INAC Kobe Leonessa
Number 10
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1998 Yomiuri Beleza 136 (79)
1999–2000 Denver Diamonds
2001–2003 Atlanta Beat 55 (13)
2004–2010 NTV Beleza 85 (47)
2009–2010 Washington Freedom 41 (6)
2010 NTV Beleza
2011–2015 INAC Kobe Leonessa 94 (12)
National team
1993–2015 Japan 204 (83)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 11 November 2012.
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 9 June 2015

Homare Sawa (澤 穂希 Sawa Homare?, born 6 September 1978) is a former Japanese professional football player. She was captain of the Japan women's national football team that won gold at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup and led the team to the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In 2012, she was named the 2011 FIFA Women's World Player of the Year. in the Nadeshiko League Division 1. She previously played for the Atlanta Beat of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA), NTV Beleza, the Washington Freedom of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS), and INAC Kobe Leonessa.

Born in Fuchū, Tokyo, Sawa began playing football when at the age of six. While watching her older brother train, she was invited by his coach to join the boys' team on the pitch.

Long considered Japan's finest female footballer, Sawa made her debut in L. League, Japan's highest domestic league, at the young age of 12.

With the birth of the Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) in 2001, Sawa found herself playing in the highest-level professional women's league in the United States, for the Atlanta Beat. She scored the first goal in the club's history, and was a centerpiece of the Beat's three seasons in the league, helping them into the playoffs each year. Despite her diminutive stature at 5'5" (164 cm) tall and 121 lbs. (55 kg), she held her own with the mostly larger and more physical players, and was regularly among the team and league leaders in fouls taken.


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Wikipedia

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