Shio Fukuda

ClubKamimura Gakuen High School PositionStriker Born8 April 2004 Opportunities have been scarce for the current generation of young players to test themselves at higher levels with the pandemic causing the cancellation of both Under-20 and Under-17 World Cups, and with them virtually the entire programme of international matches for the age category teams. But Shio Fukuda tops the list of promising high-school talent hoping to fire Japan to medal success at the 2024 Paris Olympics after their agonising fourth-place finish on home ground this year. At just 174cm in height and weighing 62kg, Fukuda is hardly the biggest but at high-school level he has demonstrated a precocious ability to dominate both physically and aerially. He is tenacious in the press and in 50-50s, possesses excellent footwork, fine anticipation, as well as cool composure in front of goal. Enhanced his domestic reputation this August with five goals at the Inter-High School Sports Festival, earning him the player of the tournament award. He followed that with a callup to the under-18 national team for a training camp later that month, and pros at leading J League club Kashima Antlers were reportedly impressed with how naturally he fit in when invited to train with them in September. **[Ben Mabley](https://twitter.com/BenMabley?lang=en)** **September 2022 update** Regarded as the hottest striking talent in Japanese high school football, Fukuda is reported to have more professional clubs chasing his signature for when he graduates next spring than any compatriot over the past quarter of a century. Having spent time training with Bayern Munich this March, as well as a handful of other clubs in Germany and the Netherlands, he could skip the J League altogether and move straight to Europe. **October 2023 update** Fukuda has continued to live up to the hype and, as anticipated, bypassed Japanese club football entirely to sign professional terms with Borussia Mönchengladbach straight out of high school in early 2023. He immediately struck seven goals in eight Under-19 games at the back end of the 2022-23 season before appearing at the Under-20 World Cup for Japan. He spent part of pre- season with Gladbach’s first team and has started this season as a regular for the second team in the German fourth tier.