Hisato Sato

Hisato Sato (佐藤 寿人, Satō Hisato; born March 12, 1982) is a Japanese former football player. He played as a forward for the Japan national team. His brother Yuto Sato is also a footballer.

Born in Kasukabe, Saitama, Japan, Sato is a product of JEF United Ichihara's youth system. He was promoted to JEF's top team in 2000. His first league appearance came on April 15, 2000, against Júbilo Iwata. He scored his first league goal on March 21, 2001, against Júbilo Iwata.

Frustrated with a lack of playing time, Sato decided to move to J2 League side Cerezo Osaka in 2002. Cerezo's coach Akihiro Nishimura rated him highly, as he had also managed Sato for Japan's youth team the previous year. However, Sato suffered from Guillain–Barré syndrome at the beginning of the season, and found himself playing not many games with Akinori Nishizawa and Yoshito Okubo ahead of him in the pecking order. The club finished 2nd and was promoted to J1 League.

Sato was loaned out to J1 side Vegalta Sendai in the 2003 season. He finally became a first-choice forward, playing 30 games and scoring 9 goals. Despite his efforts, Sendai was relegated to J2. His loan contract became a permanent one and he played 44 league games with 20 goals for Sendai in the 2005 season but failed to navigate the club to J1.

He was transferred to J1 side Sanfrecce Hiroshima in the 2005 season. He scored 18 goals during his first season with the club, including two hat-tricks.

On April 22, 2006, Sato set the record for the fastest goal in J1 League history, scoring just 8 seconds after kick-off against Cerezo Osaka.

In June 2001, Sato made the Japan U-20 national team squad for the 2001 World Youth Championship. At this tournament, he played 2 matches.

Sato made his international debut for Japan on February 11, 2006, in a friendly against the United States. He scored his first international goal on February 22, 2006, in a 2007 Asian Cup qualification against India. In the run-up to the 2006 World Cup, he was regularly picked for the Japan national team, but he was left out of the final squad by national coach Zico.

Sato was a member of the Japan team for the 2007 Asian Cup finals and played four games in the tournament, all as a substitute. He played 31 games and scored 4 goals for Japan until 2010.

Sato has cited Filippo Inzaghi as his inspiration; his playing style has often been described as being similar to that of the Italian former striker.

His twin brother Yuto is also a professional footballer who plays for JEF United Chiba and has been capped once at international level.

Japanese Super Cup: 2008, 2013, 2014, 2016