Yuto Nagatomo (長友 佑都, Nagatomo Yuto, born 12 September 1986) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a full back for Japanese club FC Tokyo and the Japan national team.
A graduate from the Meiji University, Nagatomo started his professional career with FC Tokyo in 2007, quickly establishing himself as a first choice both within the team and the Japanese national team. He would go on to play in Europe for over a decade, first joining Cesena in 2010, and then enjoying stints with Inter Milan (where he played for seven years, making more than 200 total appearances and even captaining the team for a brief period of time), Galatasaray and Olympique Marseille. He would then go back to his boyhood club FC Tokyo in September 2021.
During his club career, he won a J.League Cup in 2009 (with Tokyo), a Coppa Italia in 2011 (with Inter Milan), two back-to-back Turkish titles in 2018 and 2019, both a Turkish Cup and a Turkish Super Cup in 2019 (all with Galatasaray). He also won an individual award as AFC's Asian International Player of the Year in 2013.
With 137 caps (as well as four goals), Nagatomo is Japan's second-most capped player of all time, behind only Yasuhito Endo. Having won his first cap for the Samurai Blue in 2008, just some months after making his professional debut with FC Tokyo, the full-back has represented Japan at one edition of the Olympic Games (in 2008), three consecutive World Cups (in 2010, 2014 and 2018), three consecutive Asian Cups (in 2011, 2015 and 2019) and one Confederations Cup (in 2013). He was part both of the squad that won the Asian Cup in 2011 and the one that finished as runners-up in the same competition in 2019. |
