Items23The creator’s order
  1. 1Yasuhiko OkuderaYasuhiko OkuderaBorn 12 Mar 1952Japan's first professional in Europe signed for Köln in 1977 and won the Bundesliga and German Cup double in his first season. He then spent years at Hertha and Werder Bremen as a dependable wide player, which mattered as much as the headline: German clubs saw that a Japanese signing could last,…0
  2. 2Cha Bum-kunCha Bum-kunBorn 22 May 1953Cha Bum-kun scored 98 Bundesliga goals for Eintracht Frankfurt and Bayer Leverkusen between 1979 and 1989 and won the UEFA Cup with both clubs. For a decade he was the proof in German football that an Asian striker could be a first choice at the top level, and his record stood as the Asian…0i
  3. 3Kazuyoshi MiuraKazuyoshi MiuraBorn 26 Feb 1967King Kazu left Japan at 15 for Brazil, turned professional with Santos and came home as the face of the new J.League in 1993. A loan to Genoa made him the first Japanese player in Serie A. Born in 1967, he was still registered as a player in 2026, on loan at Fukushima United, a career length that…0i
  4. 4Mehdi MahdavikiaMehdi MahdavikiaBorn 24 Jul 1977Mahdavikia joined Hamburg in 1999 and stayed eight seasons on the right flank, including a Champions League campaign in 2000-01. Iranian players had moved to Germany before, but his long, settled stint at one club made Hamburg fans treat him as one of their own, a better advert for future signings…0i
  5. 5Hidetoshi NakataHidetoshi NakataBorn 22 Jan 1977Nakata scored twice on his Serie A debut for Perugia against Juventus in 1998, then won the Scudetto with Roma in 2001. Italy was the world's strongest league at the time, and his success showed Japanese clubs and players that a creative midfielder from the J.League could be valued there for his…0i
  6. 6Ali DaeiAli DaeiBorn 21 Mar 1969After a strong season at Arminia Bielefeld, Daei signed for Bayern Munich in 1998 and became one of the first Asian players to appear in the Champions League. His Bayern spell was short, but his 108 international goals for Iran, a men's world record for 15 years, gave a generation of West Asian…0i
  7. 7Bhaichung BhutiaBhaichung BhutiaBorn 15 Dec 1976Bhutia's move to Bury in 1999 made him the first Indian footballer to sign a contract with a European club and only the second to play professionally in Europe. He returned home as India's captain and record goalscorer of his era, and later players weighing a move abroad have pointed back to his as…0i
  8. 8Sun Wen (footballer)Sun Wen (footballer)Born 6 Apr 1973Sun Wen shared the Golden Ball and Golden Boot at the 1999 Women's World Cup, then captained the Atlanta Beat when the WUSA launched as the first fully professional women's league in the United States. FIFA later named her joint women's player of the century. She showed that Asian women could…0
  9. 9Sun JihaiSun JihaiBorn 30 Sept 1977A versatile defender, Sun Jihai spent six seasons at Manchester City from 2002 and became the first Chinese player to score in the Premier League. Not a star, which is the point: he showed English clubs that a Chinese full-back could be a useful squad player for years, and he was later inducted…0i
  10. 10Shunsuke NakamuraShunsuke NakamuraBorn 24 Jun 1978Nakamura's free-kicks at Celtic, above all the two that beat Manchester United in the 2006-07 Champions League group, made him the Scottish players' player of the year in 2007. Scotland had rarely looked to Japan for talent before him; Celtic's later Japanese signings arrived at a club where…0i