Ayase Ueda

Ayase Ueda (上田 綺世, Ueda Ayase, born 28 August 1998) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a striker for Eredivisie club Feyenoord and the Japan national team. After showing a high goalscoring form for Japan's youth teams, on 24 May 2019, Ueda was called up by Japan's head coach Hajime Moriyasu to feature in the Copa América played in Brazil. At the time of his call-up, he was still playing for his university team, the first time a university player was called up since Kensuke Nagai and Kazuya Yamamura were selected in 2010. He made his debut on 17 June 2019 in a 4–0 defeat against Chile, as a starter. He went on to make two more appearances as a substitute in the competition, before Japan were knocked out at the group stage with Ueda missing some big chances throughout. Despite his performances at Copa América, Moriyasu once again named Ueda in the Japan squad, this time for the 2019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship. He appeared in all three of Japan's games and played his first full 90 minutes in a senior international in a 2–1 victory over China PR. Japan finished runners-up in the tournament after a 1–0 defeat to South Korea in the final. In November 2022, Ueda was called up to Japan's squad for the 2022 World Cup. He made his World Cup debut when starting in Japan's second group game against Costa Rica, however Ueda struggled to make an impact on the game and was substituted at half-time for Takuma Asano. Japan went on to lose the game 1–0 to a late Costa Rica winner. This was Ueda's first and last appearance at the 2022 World Cup as he was then unused for the rest of the tournament, as Japan got knocked out in the Round of 16 by eventual semi-finalists Croatia. On 15 June 2023, Ueda scored his first senior international goal in a 6–0 thrashing of El Salvador in the 2023 Kirin Challenge Cup.