Homare Sawa

Homare Sawa
	Sawa at the 2015 World Cup
Personal information
Full name	Homare Sawa
Date of birth	September 6, 1978 (age 46)
Place of birth	Fuchu, Tokyo, Japan
Height	1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team
1991–1999	NTV Beleza
1999–2000	Denver Diamonds
2001–2003	Atlanta Beat
2004–2008	Nippon TV Beleza
2009–2010	Washington Freedom
2009	→Nippon TV Beleza (loan)
2010	Nippon TV Beleza
2011–2015	INAC Kobe Leonessa
Total
National team
1993–2015	Japan
Honours
Nippon TV Beleza
INAC Kobe Leonessa
Representing Japan
Olympic Games
FIFA Women's World Cup
AFC Women's Asian Cup
Asian Games
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Homare Sawa (澤穂希, Sawa Homare, born September 6, 1978) is a former Japanese football player. She played for the Japan national team.

Biography

As a professional athlete, she was played with the Women's United Soccer Association from 2001 to 2003. In 2004 she was named Women's Player of the Year for the Asian Football Confederation. In 2009 and 2010, Sawa was part of Women's Professional Soccer.^[1]

Sawa has played for the Japan national team, including the team which won the 2011 World Cup.^[2] She participated in the last five World Cups.^[3] Sawa was part of the women's team at the 1996, the 2004, the 2008.^[4] She was a member of the team which won a silver medal in the 2012 Summer Olympics at London.^[5]

Statistics

^[6]^[7]

Japan national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1993	4	4
1994	6	1
1995	8	0
1996	10	3
1997	7	13
1998	10	4
1999	8	0
2000	1	1
2001	8	6
2002	8	5
2003	12	10
2004	8	2
2005	9	3
2006	17	7
2007	14	6
2008	15	7
2009	1	0
2010	15	3
2011	14	5
2012	10	1
2013	2	0
2014	8	1
2015	8	1
Total	205	83

Honors

In 2012, Sawa was named the "FIFA Women's World Player of the Year". In ceremonies in Switzerland, she was awarded the 2011 FIFA Ballon d'Or.^[8] Japanese government officials commented that Sawa and her team-mates inspired confidence after the devastation caused by 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.^[9]

References

↑ Women's Professional Soccer, "WPS Holds Initial International Draft," Archived 2011-08-07 at the Wayback Machine September 24, 2008; retrieved 2012-3-12.
↑ "Women's World Cup: Japan celebrate win on penalties," BBC. July 18, 2011; retrieved 20112.
↑ CBC Sports, "Team profile: Japan"; retrieved 2012-3-13.
↑ SportsReference.com (SR/Olympics), Homare Sawa Archived 2009-12-16 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-3-12.
↑ London2012.com, Homare Sawa Archived 2013-05-02 at the Wayback Machine; "Japan's women footballers irked by Olympic flight seating," BBC. July 18, 2012; retrieved 2012-8-10.
↑ Japan Football Association(in Japanese)
↑ List of match in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 at Japan Football Association (in Japanese)
↑ FIFA.com, "Homare Sawa at the FIFA Ballon d'Or 2011 Gala," Archived 2012-10-10 at the Wayback Machine January 9, 2012; retrieved 2012-3-12.
↑ "Japan's Women on Top of the World," Highlighting Japan, October 2011; "Japan's PM hails FIFA award-winning captain, coach," Xinhua. January 10, 2012; retrieved 2012-3-23.

Other websites

This short article about a Japanese sports person can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.

[1] Women's Professional Soccer, "WPS Holds Initial International Draft," Archived 2011-08-07 at the Wayback Machine September 24, 2008; retrieved 2012-3-12.

[2] "Women's World Cup: Japan celebrate win on penalties," BBC. July 18, 2011; retrieved 20112.

[cbc-3] CBC Sports, "Team profile: Japan"; retrieved 2012-3-13.

[sr-4] SportsReference.com (SR/Olympics), Homare Sawa Archived 2009-12-16 at the Wayback Machine; retrieved 2012-3-12.

[5] London2012.com, Homare Sawa Archived 2013-05-02 at the Wayback Machine; "Japan's women footballers irked by Olympic flight seating," BBC. July 18, 2012; retrieved 2012-8-10.

[6] Japan Football Association(in Japanese)

[7] List of match in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 at Japan Football Association (in Japanese)

[8] FIFA.com, "Homare Sawa at the FIFA Ballon d'Or 2011 Gala," Archived 2012-10-10 at the Wayback Machine January 9, 2012; retrieved 2012-3-12.

[9] "Japan's Women on Top of the World," Highlighting Japan, October 2011; "Japan's PM hails FIFA award-winning captain, coach," Xinhua. January 10, 2012; retrieved 2012-3-23.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]