Homare Sawa

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Homare Sawa
Sawa at the 2015 World Cup
Personal information
Full name Homare Sawa
Date of birth (1978-09-06) September 6, 1978 (age 45)
Place of birth Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan
Height 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1991–1999 NTV Beleza 136 (79)
1999–2000 Denver Diamonds
2001–2003 Atlanta Beat 55 (13)
2004–2008 Nippon TV Beleza 85 (47)
2009–2010 Washington Freedom 41 (6)
2009Nippon TV Beleza (loan) 4 (2)
2010 Nippon TV Beleza 0 (0)
2011–2015 INAC Kobe Leonessa 94 (12)
Total 415+ (159+)
National team
1993–2015 Japan 205 (83)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Homare Sawa (澤 穂希, Sawa Homare, born September 6, 1978) is a former Japanese football player. She played for the Japan national team.

Biography[change | change source]

As a professional athlete, she was played with the Women's United Soccer Association from 2001 to 2003. In 2004 she was named Women's Player of the Year for the Asian Football Confederation. In 2009 and 2010, Sawa was part of Women's Professional Soccer.[1]

Sawa has played for the Japan national team, including the team which won the 2011 World Cup.[2] She participated in the last five World Cups.[3] Sawa was part of the women's team at the 1996, the 2004, the 2008.[4] She was a member of the team which won a silver medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics at London.[5]

Statistics[change | change source]

[6][7]

Japan national team
Year Apps Goals
1993 4 4
1994 6 1
1995 8 0
1996 10 3
1997 7 13
1998 10 4
1999 8 0
2000 1 1
2001 8 6
2002 8 5
2003 12 10
2004 8 2
2005 9 3
2006 17 7
2007 14 6
2008 15 7
2009 1 0
2010 15 3
2011 14 5
2012 10 1
2013 2 0
2014 8 1
2015 8 1
Total 205 83

Honors[change | change source]

In 2012, Sawa was named the "FIFA Women's World Player of the Year". In ceremonies in Switzerland, she was awarded the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or.[8] Japanese government officials commented that Sawa and her team-mates inspired confidence after the devastation caused by 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.[9]

References[change | change source]

  1. Women's Professional Soccer, "WPS Holds Initial International Draft," Archived 2011-08-07 at the Wayback Machine September 24, 2008; retrieved 2012-3-12.
  2. "Women's World Cup: Japan celebrate win on penalties," BBC. July 18, 2011; retrieved 20112.
  3. CBC Sports, "Team profile: Japan"; retrieved 2012-3-13.
  4. SportsReference.com (SR/Olympics), Homare Sawa Archived 2009-12-16 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-3-12.
  5. London2012.com, Homare Sawa Archived 2013-05-02 at the Wayback Machine; "Japan's women footballers irked by Olympic flight seating," BBC. July 18, 2012; retrieved 2012-8-10.
  6. Japan Football Association(in Japanese)
  7. List of match in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 at Japan Football Association (in Japanese)
  8. FIFA.com, "Homare Sawa at the FIFA Ballon d'Or 2011 Gala," Archived 2012-10-10 at the Wayback Machine January 9, 2012; retrieved 2012-3-12.
  9. "Japan's Women on Top of the World," Highlighting Japan, October 2011; "Japan's PM hails FIFA award-winning captain, coach," Xinhua. January 10, 2012; retrieved 2012-3-23.

Other websites[change | change source]