Hotaru Yamaguchi

Hotaru Yamaguchi
山口 蛍
Yamaguchi lining up for Japan at the 2018 FIFA World Cup
Personal information
Full name Hotaru Yamaguchi
Date of birth (1990-10-06) 6 October 1990
Place of birth Nabari, Mie, Japan
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Position Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
 V-Varen Nagasaki
Number 5
Youth career
2000–2002 Minowa West SC
2003–2008 Cerezo Osaka
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2009–2015 Cerezo Osaka 140 (11)
2016 Hannover 96 6 (0)
2016–2018 Cerezo Osaka 85 (3)
2019–2024 Vissel Kobe 192 (23)
2025– V-Varen Nagasaki 53 (4)
International career‡
2010–2012 Japan U23 29 (1)
2013–2019 Japan 48 (3)
Medal record
Representing  Japan
Asian Games
Gold medal – first place2010 GuangzhouTeam
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 11 August 2026
‡ National team caps and goals as of 19 November 2019

Hotaru Yamaguchi (山口 蛍, Yamaguchi Hotaru; born 6 October 1990) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder and currently plays for J1 League club, V-Varen Nagasaki. He was also a member of the Japan national team until 2019.[2]

Club career

Early career

Yamaguchi began playing football in the third grade, playing mostly as an attacking midfielder. Upon entering junior high, he participated in trials with the Cerezo Osaka, Gamba Osaka and Kyoto Purple Sanga youth academies and ultimately joined the Cerezo Under-15 team, from whom he received an invitation on the spot. He enjoyed steady progress at the club, being selected to be part of the first entering class of the Japan Football Association Elite Program at the end of his first year. In 2006 Yamaguchi was promoted to the Cerezo Under-18 team, which later won the JFA Prince League U-18 in the 2008 season, in which he served as captain and was named league MVP.

Cerezo Osaka

Along with academy teammate Yusuke Maruhashi, Yamaguchi was promoted to the senior team in 2009, spending three months of the season training with the Palmeiras Under-21 academy. He was named to the Japan Under-21 team in his second season and played in all of the matches in a gold medal campaign at the 2010 Asian Games in Guangzhou.

Yamaguchi began to receive substantial playing time with Cerezo in 2011, scoring his first league goal on Matchday 24 against Urawa Reds. The addition of Fábio Simplício resulted in Yamaguchi being increasingly deployed as an attacking midfielder toward the latter part of the season, which he finished with 30 appearances. He followed up by winning a regular position on the Cerezo side in 2012, combining with Takahiro Ogihara in central midfield for both club and country, and being named to the Under-23 team.

Hannover 96

On 21 December 2015, Hannover 96 announced that they signed Yamaguchi.[3] Yamaguchi played for Hannover 96 in 2016, however returned to Cerezo Osaka mid-season.

Vissel Kobe

On 19 December 2018, Yamaguchi sympathized with the goal of seriously aiming for the J1 League and AFC Champions League and officially completed a transfer to Vissel Kobe[4] (later, he achieved the league championship as his goal). According to the media, it was a three-year contract with an annual salary of over ¥100,000,000, totaling over ¥400,000,000.[5]

V-Varen Nagasaki

On 23 December 2024, Yamaguchi announcement officially transfer to J2 club, V-Varen Nagasaki from 2025.[6]

International career

Yamaguchi represented the U-23 national side under Takashi Sekizuka in Japan's successful qualification for the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was included in the final squad at the 2012 Summer Olympics, contributing to a fourth-place finish at the tournament.

In July 2013, Yamaguchi received his first call up to the senior Japan side by Alberto Zaccheroni for the 2013 EAFF East Asian Cup, where he played in all three matches and was named tournament MVP.

In May 2018, he was named in Japan's preliminary squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[7]

Career statistics

Club

As of the match played 23 February 2025.[8]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Continental Other[a] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Cerezo Osaka 2009 J.League Div 2 3000———30
2010 J.League Div 1 200020——40
2011 171400020—231
2012 3024260——404
2013 3460081——427
2014 191100080—281
2015 J2 League 35100——20371
2016 19110——20221
2017 J1 League 3225120——393
2018 330101040—390
Total 226141631911404027918
Hannover 96 2015–16 Bundesliga 6000———60
Vissel Kobe 2019 J1 League 3435221——416
2020 346—1071—427
2021 3253081——436
2022 332302060—442
2023 3243020——374
2024 2733000—303
Total 192231721521310023728
V-Varen Nagasaki 2025 J2 League 200000——20
Total 200000––20
Career total 426373353432714052446
  1. ↑ Appearances in J2 Play-offs

International

As of 19 November 2019[9]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Japan 201380
201470
201591
201661
201780
201870
201931
Total483
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[10]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
15 August 2015Wuhan Sports Center Stadium, Wuhan, China South Korea1–11–12015 EAFF East Asian Cup
26 October 2016Saitama Stadium 2002, Saitama, Japan Iraq2–12–12018 FIFA World Cup qualification
319 November 2019Panasonic Stadium Suita, Suita, Japan Venezuela1–41–42019 Kirin Challenge Cup

Honours

Cerezo Osaka

Vissel Kobe

Japan

Japan U-23

Individual

References

  1. ↑ "National Team Squad". jfa.or.jp. Japan Football Association. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  2. ↑ "Stats Centre: Hotaru Yamaguchi Facts". Guardian.co.uk. Archived from the original on 1 October 2012. Retrieved 13 January 2010.
  3. ↑ "96 verpflichtet japanischen Nationalspieler Yamaguchi". Retrieved 22 December 2015.
  4. ↑ セレッソ大阪よりMF山口蛍選手 完全移籍加入のお知らせ ヴィッセル神戸 2018年12月19日
  5. ↑ C大阪・山口蛍、神戸移籍決定的 3年総額4億円 中日スポーツ 2018年12月12日
  6. ↑ 山口 蛍選手 完全移籍加入のお知らせ V・ファーレン長崎 2024年12月23日
  7. ↑ "World Cup 2018: All the confirmed squads for this summer's finals in Russia".
  8. ↑ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2017 J1&J2&J3選手名鑑 (NSK MOOK)", 8 February 2017, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411420 (p. 145 out of 289)
  9. ↑ Japan National Football Team Database(in Japanese)
  10. ↑ "Yamaguchi, Hotaru". National Football Teams. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
  11. ↑ "神戸が悲願の初優勝！井出、武藤のゴールで名古屋に競り勝つ【速報：明治安田J1第33節】". J.League. Retrieved 25 November 2023.
  12. ↑ "神戸が連覇&2冠達成! 磐田は1年でJ2降格決定...得点王は24発アンデルソン・ロペス/J1最終節". Soccer King (in Japanese). 8 December 2024. Retrieved 9 December 2024.
  13. ↑ "Andrés Iniesta skippers Vissel Kobe to first trophy in David Villa's final match". AS. 1 January 2020. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 2 January 2020.
  14. ↑ "G大阪vs神戸の試合結果・データ(天皇杯:2024年11月23日)". J.League (in Japanese). Retrieved 23 November 2024.
  15. ↑ "Andres Iniesta lifts Japan Super Cup after nine straight pen misses". ESPN. 8 February 2020. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
  16. ↑ "2023年Jリーグベスト11は神戸と浦和が最多タイ4名！ 大迫勇也や西川周作ら". Goal.com. Retrieved 5 December 2023.
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