Ko Itakura

Ko Itakura (板倉 滉, Itakura Kō, born 27 January 1997) is a Japanese footballer who plays as center-back or defensive midfielder for 2. Bundesliga club Schalke 04, on loan from Manchester City. He also represents the Japan national team.[1]

Ko Itakura
板倉 滉
Personal information
Full name Ko Itakura
Date of birth (1997-01-27) 27 January 1997
Place of birth Yokohama, Japan
Height 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Position(s) Centre-back, defensive midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Schalke 04
(on loan from Manchester City)
Number 3
Youth career
2006–2014 Kawasaki Frontale Youth
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2015–2018 Kawasaki Frontale 7 (0)
2015 → J. League U-22 (loan) 2 (0)
2018 → Vegalta Sendai (loan) 24 (3)
2019– Manchester City 0 (0)
2019–2021 → FC Groningen (loan) 56 (1)
2021– → Schalke 04 (loan) 24 (3)
National team‡
2013 Japan U-16 2 (0)
2015–2017 Japan U-20 8 (1)
2018–2021 Japan U-23 24 (6)
2019– Japan 8 (1)
Honours
Representing  Japan
Asian Games
2018 Jakarta-PalembangTeam
AFC U-19 Championship
2016 Bahrain
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 19:35, 20 March 2022 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 25 March 2022

Club career

Born in Yokohama, Ko Itakura joined J1 League club Kawasaki Frontale in 2015, with which he won the 2017 Japanese championship.

He was loaned to Vegalta Sendai in 2018.

In January 2019, he joined Premier League club Manchester City and was immediately loaned to Eredivisie club Groningen, until the summer of 2020.[2] On 24 July 2020, his stay with Groningen was extended with one more year after Groningen and Manchester City agreed.[3]

On 19 August 2021, Itakura signed a season-long loan deal with 2. Bundesliga club Schalke 04 with an option to make the move permanent for €4 million.[4]

International career

In May 2017, Itakura was called up to the Japan U-20 national team for the 2017 U-20 World Cup. At this tournament, he played 2 matches as defensive midfielder.

He was selected for the senior Japan national football team for 2019 Copa América and made his debut on 20 June 2019 in the game against Uruguay, as a starter.[5]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played on 19 March 2022.[6][7][8][9][10]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League Cup[lower-alpha 1] League Cup[lower-alpha 2] Continental[lower-alpha 3] Other[lower-alpha 4] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Kawasaki Frontale2015J1 League000000––00
2016J1 League203010–1070
2017J1 League50304031–151
Total 7060503110221
Vegalta Sendai (loan)2018J1 League2434040––323
Manchester City2018–19Premier League00000000–00
Groningen (loan)2018–19Eredivisie0000–––00
2019–20Eredivisie22010–––230
2020–21Eredivisie34110––10361
Total 56120––10591
Schalke 04 (loan) 2021–22 2. Bundesliga 24310–––253
Career total 11171309031201388
  1. Includes Emperor's Cup and KNVB Cup
  2. Includes J.League Cup
  3. Includes AFC Champions League
  4. Includes J1 League Championship and Eredivisie play-offs

International
As of match played on 24 March 2022.[11]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Japan 201930
202010
202111
202230
Total81
List of international goals scored by Ko Itakura
NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.28 May 2021Fukuda Denshi Arena, Chiba, Japan Myanmar10–010–02022 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Kawasaki Frontale

Individual

  • Groningen player of the year : 2020/21 [12]

References
  1. "Ko Itakura". worldfootball.net. HEIM:SPIEL. Retrieved 21 August 2021.
  2. "Akkoord FC Groningen met Manchester City over Japanner Itakura". FC Groningen (in Dutch). 14 January 2019. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  3. "Het nieuws uit Groningen - RTV Noord".
  4. "Ko Itakura joins Schalke on loan with an option to buy". FC Schalke 04. 19 August 2021.
  5. "Uruguay v Japan game report". CONMEBOL. 20 June 2019.
  6. Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "J1&J2&J3選手名鑑ハンディ版 2018 (NSK MOOK)", 7 February 2018, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411529 (p. 96 out of 289)
  7. Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2017 J1&J2&J3選手名鑑 (NSK MOOK)", 8 February 2017, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411420 (p. 28 out of 289)
  8. Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2016J1&J2&J3選手名鑑", 10 February 2016, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411338 (p. 55 out of 289)
  9. Ko Itakura at Soccerway
  10. Ko Itakura at WorldFootball.net
  11. Ko Itakura at National-Football-Teams.com
  12. "Football ITAKURA Kou - Tokyo 2020 Olympics". International Olympic Committee. Retrieved 17 October 2021.
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