Yuki Watari

Yuki Watari
Personal information
Full name Sayuri Yuki Watari
Date of birth (2000-06-13) 13 June 2000
Place of birth Saitama, Japan
Height 1.61 m (5 ft 3 in)
Position Midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Tampa Bay Sun
Number 10
Youth career
Honjo Sumire
2013–2017 Urawa Red Diamonds
2018–2019 FC Ryukyu
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2019–2022 UT Southern FireHawks 85 (77)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2022–2023 Nashville Rhythm FC – (23)
2023–2024 FC Juárez 22 (8)
2024– Tampa Bay Sun 0 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of December 20, 2025

Sayuri Yuki Watari (渡 ユキ, Watari Yuki; born 13 June 2000) is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for USL Super League club Tampa Bay Sun. Born in Japan to Brazilian parents, she played college soccer for the UT Southern FireHawks and led the team to the NAIA championship in 2021. She began her professional career with FC Juárez in 2023.

Early life

Watari was born in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, to Brazilian parents, and has an older brother.[1] She began playing football at age nine and soon joined the Urawa Red Diamonds academy.[1] She later moved to Okinawa Prefecture and joined FC Ryukyu at age seventeen.[2] She received several scholarship offers to play college soccer in the United States but did not have good enough TOEFL scores for many of them and ended up accepting an offer at the NAIA–level Martin Methodist College (later the University of Tennessee Southern).[1] She grew up aspiring to play for the Brazil national team.[1]

College career

Watari scored 19 goals in 22 games for the Martin Methodist RedHawks as a freshman in 2019, being named the Southern States Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and third-team All-American by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).[3] She scored 19 goals in 18 games as a sophomore in 2020, earning first-team All-American honors after leading the NAIA with 8 game-winning goals as a sophomore in 2020.[3] She also helped lead the RedHawks to the Mid-South Conference regular-season title in their first season in the conference.[4]

Watari scored 17 goals and led the NAIA with a career-high 26 assists in 23 games in her junior year in 2021, being named the Mid-South Player of the Year.[3] She led the renamed UT Southern RedHawks to the third NAIA championship in program history and was named the championship MVP.[5] She was named the NAIA Player of the Year by United Soccer Coaches.[6] She was named team captain in her senior year in 2022.[1] She scored a career-high 21 goals in 24 games and was named first-team All-Mid-South and first-team NAIA All-American for the third consecutive time (her fourth NAIA All-American selection in four years).[7] Her career totals of 77 goals and 69 assists were the most in program history.[8]

During college, Watari also played for Nashville Rhythm FC in the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) alongside several other Japanese-born college soccer players.[9]

Club career

In July 2023, Watari signed her first professional contract with Liga MX Femenil club FC Juárez.[10] She was the first Japanese-born player to play in the Liga MX Femenil and the second Japanese player overall after Akemi Yokoyama.[10] On 29 July, she scored twice in her professional debut in a 3–2 loss to Atlas.[11] In March 2024, she sprained her left ankle and missed two months with injury.[12] She played in 22 league games and scored 8 goals before leaving the club at the end of the season.[13]

In June 2024, Watari joined USL Super League club Tampa Bay Sun before the league's inaugural season.[14] The following month, she tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and would miss the entire season.[15] Shortly before she was set to return in June 2025, she tore the ACL in her other knee and remained sidelined as the Sun won the inaugural USL Super League championship.[16]

Honors and awards

UT Southern FireHawks

Tampa Bay Sun

Individual

  • United Soccer Coaches NAIA Player of the Year: 2021
  • First-team NAIA All-American: 2020, 2021, 2022
  • Third-team NAIA All-American: 2019
  • First-team All-Mid-South: 2020, 2021, 2022
  • First-team All-SSAC: 2019
  • Mid-South Player of the Year: 2021
  • SSAC Freshman of the Year: 2019
  • NAIA championship MVP: 2021

References

  1. ^ a b c d e "過去の放送 #675" (in Japanese). Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation. 22 November 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  2. ^ "【News】2018シーズン新加入選手のお知らせ：渡ユキ(わたり ゆき)" (in Japanese). FC Ryukyu. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  3. ^ a b c "Yuki Watari". UT Southern RedHawks. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  4. ^ "2020 Mid-South Conference Standings" (PDF). Mid-South Conference. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  5. ^ "Tennessee Southern Wins Penalties Thriller for National Title". National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. 6 December 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  6. ^ "2021 NAIA Men's and Women's All-Americans Announced". United Soccer Coaches. 8 December 2021. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  7. ^ "2022 NAIA Women's Soccer All-Americans Announced". National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. 7 December 2022. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  8. ^ "Women's Soccer Career Leaders". UT Southern RedHawks. Retrieved 11 March 2026.
  9. ^ "Japanese Influence Giving Nashville Its Rhythm". Women's Premier Soccer League. 28 July 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  10. ^ a b Palma Hernández, Erendira (12 August 2023). "Watari, primera futbolista japonesa en venir a México; refuerza a Bravas de Juárez". La Jornada (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  11. ^ Rodríguez, Claudia (2 August 2023). "Una japonesa brava". OnceDiario (in Spanish). Retrieved 28 January 2026.
  12. ^ "FC Juárez: Fuera Yuki Watari por lesión de las Bravas". Cancha y Diamante (in Spanish). 15 March 2024. Archived from the original on 17 April 2024.
  13. ^ Yuki Watari at Flashscore
  14. ^ Tampa Bay Sun FC [@tampabaysunfc]; (24 June 2024). "Signed, Sealed, SUN ..." Retrieved 28 January 2026 – via Instagram.
  15. ^ Watari, Yuki [@yuki2000613]; (15 August 2024). "I think it's time to announce this ..." Retrieved 28 January 2026 – via Instagram.
  16. ^ Watari, Yuki [@yuki2000613]; (5 June 2025). "Hey everyone, I owe you all an apology for my latest setback ..." Retrieved 28 January 2026 – via Instagram.
  17. ^ "Tampa Bay Sun crowned inaugural USL Super League champions with 1–0 win against Fort Lauderdale United". USL Super League. 14 June 2025. Archived from the original on 15 June 2025. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
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