Factfile
Name: Takefusa Kubo
Age: 22
Position: Winger
Caps: 29
Goals: 3
Club: Real Sociedad (Spain)

Spanish giants Barcelona snapped up the Japanese wonderkid when he was just 10 years old and Kubo justified the hype by playing a starring role for the club's youth teams. After four years of honing his skills at the famed La Masia, the youngster returned to Japan in 2015. 

 

He continued to make waves in Japan, making his senior debut for FC Tokyo at the age of 15 years, 10 months and 30 days in 2017 before becoming the youngest player to score in the J.League Cup the following year when his strike helped the capital city club down Albirex Niigata 1-0. 

 

His exploits in Japan once again earned him a ticket to Europe – this time to Real Madrid. Breaking into the star-studded Los Blancos squad was always going to be a tall ask, so the 18-year-old was sent out on loan to fellow La Liga side Real Mallorca where he was a standout performer during the 2019-20 campaign. 

Subsequent loan stints at Villarreal, Getafe and a return to Mallorca, however, failed to take off as Kubo’s European sojourn seemed to be fizzling out. “I couldn’t fail anymore, because I knew that I was on the verge of people not wanting me,” Kubo said last season, recalling the difficult times.

 

But fortunes have changed for Kubo and how! He has looked right at home at La Real where he has flourished into a star of the game and attracted interest from some of the top clubs in the world. 

 

Former Japan head coach Philippe Troussier summed up the abundance of his talent perfectly. "The quality of Kubo is something that special players can bring, something more, like the high-level players do, like Lionel Messi, like Neymar, like Kylian Mbappe,” the French tactician said in 2021. 

Having made his international debut on the week he turned 18 in 2019, Kubo went on to star for Japan’s U-23 team at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, scoring three goals in three group stage matches  as the East Asians reached the semi-finals before ultimately finishing fourth. 

 

Kubo scored his first goal for the senior Samurai Blue side in a 4-1 win over Ghana at the Kirin Cup in 2022. However, Moriyasu continued to use him sparingly and his participation was limited to two halves of football at his maiden FIFA World Cup in Qatar.  

But he played a starring role and bagged a goal and an assist playing in the No. 10 role in a 5-0 win against Syria in Japan’s latest outing at the Preliminary Joint Qualification - Round 2 for the FIFA World Cup 2026 and the AFC Asian Cup Saudi Arabia 2027™ last month.   

 

So, the signs are that Kubo will be pivotal for Japan in Qatar as Moriyasu’s men set their sights on improving their record as the most successful team in Asia by winning a fifth continental title come February 10, 2024.