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Aya Sameshima

Sameshima playing for Japan against Sweden in the 2011 World Cup semi finals
Personal information
Full name	Aya Sameshima
Date of birth	(1987-06-16) 16 June 1987 (age 37)
Place of birth	Utsunomiya, Tochigi, Japan
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Left back
Team information
Current team	Omiya Ardija Ventus
Number	3
Youth career
2003–2005	Tokiwagi Gakuen High School
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2006–2011	TEPCO Mareeze	98	(18)
2011	Boston Breakers	5	(0)
2011–2012	Montpellier	18	(0)
2012–2014	Vegalta Sendai	21	(3)
2015–2020	INAC Kobe Leonessa	73	(2)
2021–	Omiya Ardija Ventus	0	(0)
Total		215	(23)
International career
2008–2021	Japan	114	(5)
Medal record Representing  Japan Olympic Games 2012 London Team FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 Germany 2015 Canada AFC Women's Asian Cup 2018 Jordan 2008 Vietnam 2010 China Asian Games 2010 Guangzhou Team 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Team
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 31 December 2018 ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 8 April 2021

Aya Sameshima (鮫島 彩, Sameshima Aya, born 16 June 1987) is a Japanese footballer. Primarily a left back, she currently plays for Omiya Ardija Ventus in the WE League and has over 100 caps for the Japan national team.

Club career

Sameshima was born in Utsunomiya on 16 June 1987. She played youth football for Kawachi SC Juvenile between 1995 and 2002 and Tokiwagi Gakuen High School LSC from 2003 until 2005. In 2006, she joined TEPCO Mareeze, the club owned by the Tokyo Electric Power Company. During her time at Mareeze she lived in the J-Village Sports complex in Hirono near Fukushima, and like other players, she worked at the TEPCO-run Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant to earn a living whilst playing for the club.

Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami and subsequent nuclear disaster, during which the team were in a training camp in the south of the country, the club pulled out of the L.League for the remainder of the season. Sameshima then began training with the Boston Breakers in March 2011, before signing for the club permanently, the first former Mareeze player to sign for another club. She made her debut for the Breakers against Sky Blue on 12 June as a second-half substitute for Alex Scott, becoming the first Japanese international to play for the club.

On 19 September 2011, Sameshima joined French club Montpellier, joining compatriot Rumi Utsugi at the club. She returned to Japan to play for Vegalta Sendai in 2012, before joining Houston Dash in January 2014. However, due to injuries she failed to contract, and rejoined Vegalta Sendai in July 2014. She subsequently signed for INAC Kobe Leonessa for the 2015 season.

National team career

After playing for the Japanese team at the AFC U-19 Championship in 2006, Sameshima made her full international debut on 10 March 2008, against Russia, and played in the 2008 Asian Cup that year, scoring the first goal in an 11–0 win over Chinese Taipei. In 2010, she played in the 2010 Asian Games, winning a gold medal as Japan won the tournament. In 2011, she was part of the Japan squad for the 2011 World Cup, playing in every match for the World Cup Champion Japanese team. She was part of the Japanese team that won the silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. She also played in the 2015 World Cup where Japan were the runners-up. In 2018, she played at 2018 Asian Cup, helping Japan win the championship. She played 103 games and scored 5 goals for Japan.

Club statistics

National team statistics

National team goals

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	31 May 2008	Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam	Chinese Taipei	0–1	0–11	2008 AFC Women's Asian Cup
2	20 May 2010	Chengdu, China	Myanmar	4–0	8–0	2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup
3	28 October 2014	BC Place, Vancouver	Canada	2–3	2–3	Friendly
4	12 June 2015	BC Place, Vancouver	Cameroon	1–0	2–1	2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
5	1 April 2018	Isahaya, Japan	Ghana	7–1	7–1	Friendly

Honors

• FIFA Women's World Cup
  • Winner, 2011
• Football at the Asian Games
  • Gold Medal, 2010
• East Asian Football Championship
  • Winner, 2010

See also

• List of women's footballers with 100 or more caps

References

1. "FIFA Women's World Cup Germany 2011 – List of Players: Japan" (PDF). FIFA. 28 July 2014. p. 9. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 November 2019. Retrieved 11 November 2021.
2. ^ Nadeshiko Japan resumes play in U.S. friendlies Archived 6 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine ESPN, 15 May 2011
3. Japan: Roster Archived 21 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Our Game
4. SOCCER/ Sameshima plays for fans, friends in disaster areas Asahi, 17 July 2011
5. Breakers Draw With Sky Blue FC, Extend Unbeaten Streak to Two Archived 16 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine Women's Professional Soccer, 12 June 2011
6. Breakers Add Japanese International Aya Sameshima To Roster Women's Professional Soccer, 13 June 2011
7. Signature d'Aya Sameshima Archived 26 September 2011 at the Wayback Machine Montpellier HSC, 22 September 2011
8. Houston Dash sign Japanese international Aya Sameshima Archived 28 January 2014 at the Wayback Machine Houston Dynamo
9. News > April 2006 Bhangra Boys
10. ^ FIFA.com. "FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015™ - Aya-SAMESHIMA - Matches Played". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
11. Aya Sameshima Soccerway
12. "Aya Sameshima Bio, Stats, and Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
13. Japan Football Association(in Japanese)
14. List of match in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Archived 11 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, 2016, 2017 Archived 23 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine, 2018, 2019 at Japan Football Association (in Japanese)

External links

• Aya Sameshima – FIFA competition record (archived)
• Aya Sameshima at Soccerway
• Aya Sameshima at WorldFootball.net
• Aya Sameshima at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Japan Football Association

Japan squads

v t e Japan squad – 2008 AFC Women's Asian Cup third place 1 Fukumoto 2 Kinga 3 Ikeda (C) 4 Iwashimizu 6 Kato 8 Miyama 9 Arakawa 10 Sawa 11 Ohno 12 Yamago 14 Utsugi 16 Nagasato 17 Ando 18 Yanagita 20 Sakaguchi 22 Kaihori 23 Kitamoto 24 Maruyama 25 Shimokozuru 27 Sameshima 29 Kumagai 36 Kawasumi 43 Goto Coach: Sasaki v t e Japan squad – 2010 AFC Women's Asian Cup third place 1 Yamago 2 Iwashimizu 3 Yano 4 Kumagai 5 Kinga 6 Sameshima 7 Ando 8 Miyama 9 Nagasato 10 Sawa 11 Ohno 12 Kaihori 13 Yamaguchi 14 Utsugi 15 Toyoda 16 Sudo 17 Kamionobe 18 Nakano 20 Sugasawa 21 Fukumoto 22 Takase 24 Kawasumi 36 Minamiyama Coach: Sasaki v t e Japan squad – 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup winners (1st title) 1 Yamago 2 Kinga 3 Iwashimizu 4 Kumagai 5 Yano 6 Sakaguchi 7 Ando 8 Miyama 9 Kawasumi 10 Sawa (c) 11 Ohno 12 Fukumoto 13 Utsugi 14 Kamionobe 15 Sameshima 16 Tanaka 17 Nagasato 18 Maruyama 19 Takase 20 Iwabuchi 21 Kaihori Coach: Sasaki v t e Japan women's football squad – 2012 Summer Olympics – Silver medalists 1 Fukumoto 2 Kinga 3 Iwashimizu 4 Kumagai 5 Sameshima 6 Sakaguchi 7 Ando 8 Miyama (c) 9 Kawasumi 10 Sawa 11 Ohno 12 Yano 13 Maruyama 14 Tanaka 15 Takase 16 Iwabuchi 17 Ōgimi 18 Kaihori Coach: Sasaki v t e Japan squad – 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup runners-up 1 Fukumoto 2 Kinga 3 Iwashimizu 4 Kumagai 5 Sameshima 6 Sakaguchi 7 Ando 8 Miyama (c) 9 Kawasumi 10 Sawa 11 Ohno 12 Kamionobe 13 Utsugi 14 Tanaka 15 Sugasawa 16 Iwabuchi 17 Ōgimi 18 Kaihori 19 Ariyoshi 20 Kawamura 21 Yamane 22 Nagasato 23 Kitahara Coach: Sasaki v t e Japan squad – 2018 AFC Women's Asian Cup winners (2nd title) 1 Ikeda 2 Utsugi 3 Sameshima 4 Kumagai (c) 5 Ichise 6 Ariyoshi 7 Nakajima 8 Iwabuchi 9 Kawasumi 10 Mi. Sakaguchi 11 Tanaka 12 Naomoto 13 Sugasawa 14 Hasegawa 15 Mo. Sakaguchi 16 Sumida 17 Takagi 18 Yamashita 19 Masuya 20 Yokoyama 21 Hirao 22 Shimizu 23 Miyake Coach: Takakura v t e Japan squad – 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup 1 Ikeda 2 Utsugi 3 Sameshima 4 Kumagai (c) 5 Ichise 6 Sugita 7 Nakajima 8 Iwabuchi 9 Sugasawa 10 Sakaguchi 11 Kobayashi 12 Minami 13 Takarada 14 Hasegawa 15 Momiki 16 Miyagawa 17 Miura 18 Yamashita 19 Endō 20 Yokoyama 21 Hirao 22 Shimizu 23 Miyake Coach: Takakura

• 1987 births
• Living people
• Association football people from Tochigi Prefecture
• Japanese women's footballers
• Japan women's international footballers
• Nadeshiko League players
• Women's Professional Soccer players
• TEPCO Mareeze players
• Boston Breakers players
• Montpellier HSC (women) players
• Mynavi Vegalta Sendai Ladies players
• INAC Kobe Leonessa players
• Expatriate women's soccer players in the United States
• Japanese expatriate sportspeople in the United States
• Expatriate women's footballers in France
• FIFA Women's World Cup–winning players
• 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup players
• 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup players
• Olympic footballers for Japan
• Olympic silver medalists for Japan
• Olympic medalists in football
• Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
• Asian Games medalists in football
• Asian Games gold medalists for Japan
• Footballers at the 2010 Asian Games
• Medalists at the 2010 Asian Games
• Women's association football fullbacks
• People from Utsunomiya, Tochigi
• Division 1 Féminine players
• Footballers at the 2018 Asian Games
• Medalists at the 2018 Asian Games
• FIFA Women's Century Club
• 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup players
• Omiya Ardija Ventus players
• 21st-century Japanese sportswomen