Ayase Ueda
Ayase Ueda born on August 28th, 1998, in Mito, Ibaraki, Japan, began playing football at age six, inspired by his father’s hat-trick, and progressed through local youth setups including Yoshidagaoka SSS, Kashima Antlers, and Kashima Gakuen High School before representing Hosei University from 2017 to 2019.
Club Career
International Career
Received his first senior call-up from Japan’s head coach in May 2019 while still playing in university—a rare achievement
Made his senior debut during Copa América 2019, starting in a 4–0 loss to Chile.Later featured in the 2019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship, playing full matches and helping Japan finish as runners-up.
Named in Japan’s squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup; debuted against Costa Rica in group stage but was subbed off at halftime and didn’t play further in the tournament
Scored his first senior international goal in a 6–0 win over El Salvador in June 2023, then registered a hat-trick in November 2023 during World Cup qualifying vs Myanmar. He also scored three goals in the 2023 AFC Asian Cup.
Club Career
Hosei University
Star performer in university football: scored 15 goals in 27 matches, earning league Rookie of the Year; later helped Hosei win the All-Japan University Championship and was named Best Forward.
Kashima Antlers (2019–2022)
Signed professionally post-university. In league play: 86 appearances, 38 goals. By early 2025 stats: 86 league games, 38 goals; overall 103 games and 47 goals in all competitions. Top scorer for Kashima in 2021 with 19 total goals across competitions, and in 2022 recorded 14 total goals.
Cercle Brugge (2022–2023)
Joined in July 2022. Made 40 league appearances, scoring 22 goals. Across all competitions, he tallied 23 goals in 42 games. Notably, by World Cup time he had already scored 8 in 18 league matches.
Feyenoord
On 3 August 2023, Ueda signed a five-year contract with Dutch champions Feyenoord for a fee of €8 million. He was given the number 9 shirt. He scored his first goal for the club on 3 September, scoring the fourth goal in a 5–1 away win against FC Utrecht.
Ueda made his Champions League debut in October 2023, in a 3–2 defeat to Atlético Madrid.
International Career