Minori Sato (佐藤 穣, Satō Minori, born 2 March 1991) is a Japanese former football player.

Minori Sato
Personal information
Full name Minori Sato
Date of birth (1991-03-02) 2 March 1991 (age 33)
Place of birth Gunma, Japan
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
2006–2008 Maebashi Ikuei High School
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009 Thespa Kusatsu 21 (0)
2010 Indiana Invaders 10 (1)
2010–2011 Puebla 1 (0)
2010Gulbene (loan) 7 (10)
2011 Ventspils 12 (0)
2011–2012 Skonto 36 (4)
2013 Dinamo Brest 27 (0)
2014–2016 Bunyodkor 71 (10)
2017 Muaither 12 (2)
2017 Riga 10 (0)
2018 Gwangju 12 (0)
2019 Riga 10 (1)
2019–2020 SKA-Khabarovsk 11 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 13 February 2020

Club career

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Sato started his professional career in the J2 League. In 2010,[1] after a trial with the Primera División de México club Puebla FC, he signed a 4-year contract. The same year he was sent on loan to FB Gulbene, that time playing in the Latvian First League, in order to gain experience before joining Puebla FC back from loan. He scored 10 goals in 7 games there, attracting interest from other Latvian clubs. In March, 2011 he signed a contract with Virsliga club FK Ventspils for one season. He won the Latvian Cup with the team, beating Liepājas Metalurgs in the final.[2] He played 12 matches there, without scoring any goals before being transferred to another Latvian Higher League team Skonto Riga in August 2011. Sato played 38 league matches, scoring 3 goals for Skonto during 2 seasons in the Latvian Higher League with the club. In March 2013 he was transferred to the Belarusian Premier League club Dinamo Brest.[3]

In March 2014, Sato signed a two-year contract with FC Bunyodkor in the Uzbek League,[4][5][6] and upon making his debut became Bunyodkor's 25th foreign representative.[7]

In January 2018, Sato signed Gwangju FC.[8]

On 27 August 2019, he signed with Russian Football National League side SKA-Khabarovsk.[9]

As of 2023, he played for FC Bunyodkor in Uzbekistan.[10]

Club statistics

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Club

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As of match played 23 November 2019[11]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Other1 Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Thespa Kusatsu[12] 2009 J2 League 21 0 1 0 22 0
Gulbene-2005 (loan) 2010 Latvian First League 7 10 1 1 8 11
Ventspils 2011 Latvian Higher League 12 0 3 0 1 0 3 0 19 0
Skonto 2011 Latvian Higher League 13 3 0 0 0 0 13 3
2012 23 0 3 1 0 0 26 1
Total 36 3 3 1 - - 0 0 - - 39 4
Dinamo Brest 2013 Belarusian Premier League 27 0 3 0 30 0
Bunyodkor 2014 Uzbek League 15 1 4 0 - 0 0 0 0 19 1
2015 28 4 5 0 - 7 0 - 40 4
2016 27 5 6 1 - 6 0 - 39 6
Total 71 10 15 1 - - 13 0 0 0 99 11
Muaither 2016–17 Qatar Stars League 12 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Riga 2017 Latvian Higher League 10 0 4 0 14 0
Gwangju 2018 K League 2 12 0 0 0 12 0
Riga 2019 Latvian Higher League 10 1 1 0 0 0 11 1
SKA-Khabarovsk 2019–20 FNL 11 0 2 0 13 0
Career total 230 23 33 3 - - 14 0 3 0 280 26

3Includes Baltic League.

Awards and honours

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Club

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Gulbene 2005
Ventspils
Skonto FC

References

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  1. ^ "Players 4 year signing contract". Archived from the original on July 25, 2010. Retrieved November 12, 2010.
  2. ^ "Lapa īslaicīgi nav pieejama". sportacentrs.com. Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  3. ^ "All about Skonto FC".
  4. ^ "Бунёдкор" подписал японца. Championat.asia (in Russian). 2014-03-13.
  5. ^ О Экс-игрок брестского "Динамо" Минори Сато подписал контракт с чемпионами Узбекистана. Прессбол (in Russian). 2014-03-13.
  6. ^ "Bunyodkor sign contract with Minori Sato". UZdaily. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  7. ^ "Sato Minori is 25-foreigner". FC Bunyodkor. Retrieved 11 April 2014.
  8. ^ "광주FC, 일본 MF 미노리 사토 영입". Archived from the original on 2018-01-25. Retrieved 2018-01-25.
  9. ^ "СОСТАВ АРМЕЙЦЕВ ПОПОЛНИЛ ПОЛУЗАЩИТНИК ИЗ ЯПОНИИ" [Army side joined by Japanese midfielder] (in Russian). FC SKA-Khabarovsk. 27 August 2019.
  10. ^ "Статистика всех легионеров ташкентского "Бунёдкора"". Olamsport.com (in Russian). Retrieved 2023-11-17.
  11. ^ Minori Sato at Soccerway
  12. ^ J.League Data Site(in Japanese)
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