Hotaru Yamaguchi

Hotaru Yamaguchi

Personal information
Date of birth	6 October 1990
Place of birth	Nabari, Mie, Japan
Height	1.73 m (5 ft 8 in)[1]
Playing position	Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current team	Hannover 96
Number	16
Youth career
2003–2008	Cerezo Osaka
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps^†	(Gls)^†
2009–2015	Cerezo Osaka	142	(11)
2016–	Hannover 96	2	(0)
National team^‡
2010–2012	Japan U23	29	(1)
2013–	Japan	20	(1)
Honours Asian Games 2010 Guangzhou Team
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 15:57, 7 February 2016 (UTC). † Appearances (goals) ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 9 August 2015

Hotaru Yamaguchi (山口 螢 Yamaguchi Hotaru, born 6 October 1990) is a Japanese footballer who plays as a midfielder for Hannover 96 and the Japanese national team.^[2]

Club career

Early career

Yamaguchi began playing football in the third grade, playing mostly as an attacking midfielder. Upon entering junior high, he participated in trials with the Cerezo Osaka, Gamba Osaka and Kyoto Purple Sanga youth academies and ultimately joined the Cerezo Under-15 team, from whom he received an invitation on the spot. He enjoyed steady progress at the club, being selected to be part of the first entering class of the Japan Football Association Elite Program at the end of his first year. In 2006 Yamaguchi was promoted to the Cerezo Under-18 team, which later won the JFA Prince League U-18 in the 2008 season, in which he served as captain and was named league MVP.

Cerezo Osaka

Along with academy teammate Yusuke Maruhashi, Yamaguchi was promoted to the senior team in 2009, spending three months of the season training with the Palmeiras Under-21 academy. He was named to the Japan Under-21 team in his second season and played in all of the matches in a gold medal campaign at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.

Yamaguchi began to receive substantial playing time with Cerezo in 2011, scoring his first league goal on Matchday 24 against Urawa Reds. He also continued to represent Japan under Takashi Sekizuka in qualification for the 2012 Summer Olympics. He followed up by winning a regular position in the Cerezo side in 2012, combining with Takahiro Ogihara in central midfield for both club and country, being named to the Under-23 team representing Japan at the 2012 Summer Olympics, contributing to a fourth-place finish at the tournament. The addition of Fábio Simplício resulted in Yamaguchi being increasingly deployed as an attacking midfielder toward the latter part of the season, which he finished with 30 appearances.

In July 2013, Yamaguchi received his first callup to the senior Japan side by Alberto Zaccheroni for the 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup, where he played in all three matches and was named tournament MVP.

Hannover 96

On 21 December 2015, Hannover 96 announced that they signed Yamaguchi.^[3]

Career statistics

Club

As of 6 December 2015

Club	Season	Division	League		Cup		League Cup		Continental		Total
			Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Cerezo Osaka	2009	J. League Division 2	3	0	0	0	-		-		3	0
	2010	J. League Division 1	2	0	0	0	2	0	-		4	0
	2011		17	1	4	0	0	0	2	0	23	1
	2012		30	2	4	2	6	0	-		40	4
	2013		34	6	0	0	8	1	-		42	7
	2014		19	1	1	0	0	0	8	0	28	1
	2015	J2 League	37	1	0	0	0	0	-		37	1
Total			142	11	9	2	16	1	10	0	178	14
Hannover 96	2015–16	Bundesliga	0	0	0	0	-				0	0
Career total			142	11	9	2	16	1	10	0	178	14

Honours

Japan

• Asian Games : 2010
• EAFF East Asian Cup : 2013

Individual

• EAFF East Asian Cup Most Valuable Player : 2013

References

1. "National Team Squad". jfa.or.jp. Japan Football Association. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
2. "Stats Centre: Hotaru Yamaguchi Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-01-13.
3. "96 verpflichtet japanischen Nationalspieler Yamaguchi". Retrieved 2015-12-22.