Kaoru Mitoma Biography; Japanese-Brighton Youngster Career Stats
Kaoru Mitoma’s biography contains all the information you need about the player. Mitoma is a Japanese international professional footballer who plays for premier league club Brighton & Hove Albion and the Japan national team. He was born on 20th May 1997 in Hita, Ōita Japan.
Mitoma’s preferred position is to play as a Left Winger (LM) but he can also play as a Right Winger (RW) or Left Midfielder (LM). Mitoma’s preferred foot is Right, he is 178cm tall and wears the 22-number shirt for Brighton and the 7-number shirt for the Japan national team.
The 26-year-old professional footballer is regarded as one of the best wingers in the Premier League in recent times with the kind of games he plays. This article is basically about Kaoru Mitoma’s biography.
Youth Career
Kaoru Mitoma started his youth career at Kawasaki Frontale Academy at the U10 level in the city of Miyamaeku-Kawasaki.
He was later promoted to the U18 level. He was there from 2007 – 2015. Mitoma chose to join the University of Tsukuba, over the senior team of Kawasaki Frontale after being promoted from U18.
The University of Tsukuba is a Japanese university known as the powerhouse of football because of its constant production of highly-rated professionals.
Mitoma said he felt unprepared for professional football at the age of 18 which was why he decided to join the university rather. He majored in physical education at the university and wrote his university thesis on dribbling.
Mitoma had his college career from 2016-2019, where in 2017-2019 he was selected to represent Japan at the Universiade tournament. In 2018, Mitoma represented Japan in the Asia Games and in 2019 he joined the Under-23 national team to represent Japan in the Toulon Tournament.
The starlet played in the Kanto University Soccer League with Tsukuba. He constantly trained with the Frontale Senior team while he was still enrolled in college because he was a special Designated player starting in his sophomore year, appearing in a single J•League Cup match in 2019.
He was named to the All-League XI in his final three seasons. He was part of the Tsukuba team which appeared in the 2016 and 2017 Emperor’s Cup Tournament making an upstart run to the round of 16 in the latter edition, upsetting J•League club YSCC Yokohama, Vegalta Sendai against whom Mitoma scored a brace and Avispa Rukuoka along the way.
Japan Team Career
In 2018, Mitoma had the opportunity to represent Japan U21 where he made three appearances and scored just one goal. Kaoru Mitoma also capped for Japan U23 side from 2017-2021 making nine appearances and scoring four goals.
Fast forward to November 2021, Mitoma was called up for the Japan Senior national team for the first time for a 2022 World Cup qualifier against Oman. Mitoma’s first debut for the Japan senior squad came as a substitute in a 1-0 away victory against Oman on the 16th of November.
His first international goal came against Australia in a 2-0 World Cup qualification on the 24th of March 2022, coming from the bench in the 86th minute Mitoma opened the score three minutes later and he doubled the score another during added time.
This win confirmed Japan’s qualification for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. His double offered him his First “A” International integration at the following game, five days later against Vietnam.
On the 1st of November, Kaoru Mitoma was named in Japan’s 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup. In the last group game, which was against Spain on the 1st of December, he assisted Ao Tanaka’s winner saw Japan qualify for the next round of 16 as group winners.
The goal came with controversy, originally the goal was being ruled out for the ball to have gone out of play but upon VAR review, the goal was awarded with the justification that the curvature of the ball was hanging over the chalk.
Brighton & Hove Albion Career
On the 10th of August 2021, Mitoma signed for premier league club Brighton & Hove Albion in a four-year deal. Mitoma was sent on loan in his first season at Brighton to Union SG for the 2021-2022 seasons where he played twenty-seven games and scored seven times.
Mitoma scored his first goal for Union SG on 16th October, when he scored a hat-trick in a 4-2 home victory over Seraing.
He came back the following season and made his premier league debut for Brighton on the 13th of August 2022 against Newcastle United at the Falmer stadium, coming on as a 75th-minute substitute for Leandro Trossard in a 0-0 draw.
On the 24th of August, Mitoma made his first Brighton start against a League One side Forest Green Rovers in the EFL Cup second round in a 3-0 away win. He made his first premier league start on the 29th of October, setting up Leandro Trossard’s fifth-minute opener in the eventual 4-1 home win against Chelsea.
On the 5th of November 2022, Mitoma scored his first goal for the Seagulls in a 3-2 away win over Wolverhampton Wanderers. Mitoma scored in a game against Arsenal which saw them win 3-1 away in the EFL Cup third round. 31st December 2022, he scored his first home goal in a 4-2 loss against Arsenal.
On the 29th of January 2023, Kaoru Mitoma’s 91st-minute winner at home in the fourth round of the FA Cup saw Brighton defeat the cup holders Liverpool 2-1.
On 5th February, he scored the late winning goal in a 1-0 victory over AFC Bournemouth. 1 April saw Mitoma score his seventh league goal of the season in a 3-3 draw with Brentford to surpass Shinji Kagawa and Shinji Okazaki for the most goals scored in a single English top-flight season by a Japanese player.
On the 19th of August 2023, Mitoma opened his season scoring account with a sensational solo goal in Brighton’s second match of the 2023-24 campaign, also setting up a Pervis Estupinan’s goal in the 4-1 away league win against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Mitoma’s goal against Wolves brought him the Goal of the Month award for August, making him the first-ever Japanese player to win a premier league monthly award. He signed a new four-year deal with Brighton & Hove Albion up to 2027 on the 20th of October 2023.
Kaoru Mitoma Career Stats
Kawasaki Frontale
We cannot end the Kaoru Mitoma biography without talking about this. In July 2018, Mitoma agreed on a professional contract with Kawasaki Frontal which he later became a member of in 2020.
Mitoma made his debut on the opening matchday of the 2020 J1 League and quickly established himself after the league resumed following the COVID-19 outbreak becoming the first rookie to reach double digits in goals in the first division since Yoshinori Muto.
He scored a match-winning goal in a 1-0 win over Gamba Osaka in the final game of the 2020 edition of the popular Emperor’s Cup.
Mitoma was with Kawasaki Frontale from 2018-2021, he won the J1 League in 2020, the Emperor’s Cup in 2020, and the Japanese Super Cup in 2022.
To end this Kaoru Mitoma biography, you should know that Mitoma was named in the J•League Best XI 2020 and the MVP, Best XI 2022 by Japan Pro-Footballers Association awards.
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