Hotaru Yamaguchi

Hotaru Yamaguchi
	Yamaguchi lining up for Japan at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Full name	Hotaru Yamaguchi
Date of birth	6 October 1990 (age 36)
Place of birth	Nabari, Mie, Japan
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team	Vissel Kobe
Number	96
Youth career
2003–2008	Cerezo Osaka
Senior career*
Years	Team
2009–2015	Cerezo Osaka
2016	Hannover 96
2016–2018	Cerezo Osaka
2019–	Vissel Kobe
International career‡
2010–2012	Japan U23
2013–2019	Japan
Medal record
Representing Japan
Asian Games
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 3 December 2023 (UTC); ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 19 November 2019

Hotaru Yamaguchi (山口蛍, Yamaguchi Hotaru; born October 6, 1990) is a Japanese football player. He played for the Japan national team.

Biography

Yamaguchi was born in Nabari on October 6, 1990. He joined J2 League club Cerezo Osaka from their youth team in 2009. Cerezo was promoted to J1 League from 2010. He played many matches as defensive midfielder from 2011. In 2013, he played all 34 matches and was selected Best Eleven award. However Cerezo was relegated to J2 end of the 2014 season. In January 2016, he moved to German Bundesliga club Hannover. However he could not play many matches and Hannover was relegated to 2. Bundesliga end of the 2015/16 season. In summer 2016, he returned to Cerezo and Cerezo was promoted to J1 end of the 2016 season. In 2017, Cerezo won the champions in the J.League Cup and Emperor's Cup. He was also selected for the Best Eleven award. In 2019, he moved to Vissel Kobe. Vissel won the champions in the 2019 Emperor's Cup which is first major title in the club history.

In July 2012, Yamaguchi was selected for the Japan U-23 national team for 2012 Summer Olympics. He played all 6 matches as defensive midfielder and Japan got fourth place. In July 2013, he was selected for the Japan national team for 2013 East Asian Cup. At this tournament, he debuted against China on July 21. In 2014, he was selected for Japan in the 2014 World Cup and played all 3 matches. In 2018, he played at the 2018 World Cup and Japan qualified to the knockout stage.

Career statistics

Club

As of 17 March 2021

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club	Season	League			National Cup		League Cup		Continental		Other		Total
Club	Season	Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Cerezo Osaka	2009	J2 League	3	0	0	0	–		–		–		3	0
	2010	J1 League	2	0	0	0	2	0	–		–		4	0
	2011		17	1	4	0	0	0	2	0	–		23	1
	2012		30	2	4	2	6	0	–		–		40	4
	2013		34	6	0	0	8	1	–		–		42	7
	2014		19	1	1	0	0	0	8	0	–		28	1
	2015	J2 League	35	1	0	0	–		–		2	0	37	1
	2016	J2 League	19	1	1	0	–		–		2	0	22	1
	2017	J1 League	32	2	5	1	2	0	–		–		39	3
	2018	J1 League	33	0	1	0	1	0	4	0	–		39	0
	Total		226	14	16	3	19	1	14	0	4	0	279	18
Hannover 96	2015–16	Bundesliga	6	0	0	0	–		–		–		6	0
Vissel Kobe	2019	J1 League	34	3	5	2	2	1	–		–		41	6
	2020		34	6	–		1	0	7	1	–		42	7
	2021		5	0	0	0	1	0	–		–		6	0
	Total		73	9	5	2	4	1	7	1	0	0	89	13
Career total			305	21	21	5	23	2	21	1	4	0	374	31

↑ Appearances in J2 Play-offs

International

As of 19 November 2019

Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team	Year	Apps	Goals
Japan	2013	8	0
	2014	7	0
	2015	9	1
	2016	6	1
	2017	8	0
	2018	7	0
	2019	3	1
Total		48	3

Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Yamaguchi goal.

List of international goals scored by Hotaru Yamaguchi
No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	5 August 2015	Wuhan Sports Center Stadium, Wuhan, China	South Korea	1–1	1–1	2015 EAFF East Asian Cup
2	6 October 2016	Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan	Iraq	2–1	2–1	2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
3	19 November 2019	Panasonic Stadium Suita, Suita, Japan	Venezuela	1–4	1–4	2019 Kirin Challenge Cup