Description
Hiroshi Kiyotake, born in November 12th 1989, is a professional soccer player from Oita prefecture Oita city. Presently he is playing for J. League’s Cerezo Osaka, but has represented Japan in international tournaments, played in foreign teams and his technique is on par with world class players.
In 2008 when he promoted from his local club Oita Trinita Youth to their top team, then on his first year he was able to change the tide of a game as the super-sub.
The following year he established himself as a regular player, but in 2010 he switched over to Cerezo Osaka, reason being Oita’s relegation to J2. Together with Akihiro Ienaga and Takashi Inui, he worked to fill the gap that Shinji Kagawa left, when he transferred to Borussia Dortmund.
In 2012 Kiyotake transferred to Bundesliga’s 1. FC Nurnberg. On his first year he secured himself as a starter and his 10 assists placed him 4th in the league with most assists that year. He played as a regular for Nurnberg for 2 seasons, but joined Hannover 96 of the same league after his team relegated to the 2nd division. He scored and assisted in many of the goals and was the central player in the team, helping them to remain in their 1st division. The following year he was given the No. 10 jersey and became one of the most valuable players in Hannover.
However, when he injured himself during the 2015-2016 season in the national team training camp, he couldn’t play for a long time and as a result the team fell apart. Once again Kiyotake experienced relegation to the 2nd division.
Consequently, he moved to the veteran team Sevilla FC in Liga Espanola before the beginning of the 2016-2017 season. He kicked off his debut in Liga in style by scoring a goal and getting an assist right in the opening match. Together with the Sevilla FC he even made it to the UEFA Champions League, but didn’t receive many opportunities to play and later announced he would be returning to his old team Cerezo Osaka.
As a member of the senior national team he made his debut in August 10th 2011 in the match against South-Korea, held in Sapporo Dome, when he replaced Shinji Okazaki before the first half on the 36 minute mark. When he stepped into play, he suddenly made 2 assists and helped win the match. After that, he appeared in the 2012 London Olympics and in the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. Currently he is fighting for a spot in the national team for the 2018 World Cup Russia.
