Sagan Tosu U-18

Sagan Tosu U-18 is the under-18 team of Sagan Tosu, a J.League club from a town of about 75,000 people in Saga, the smallest prefecture in Kyushu. It has no big city and no big company behind it, and for years it lost the best local teenagers to famous school teams in Nagasaki and Fukuoka. In 2022 it became the national champion of the Premier League, beating Kawasaki Frontale U-18 3-2 at the National Stadium. Since then it has become known for something else as well: sending players straight from its academy to Europe.

Saga · head coach HIDAKA Takuma

2026 season

Currently 4th in the Premier League WEST with 24 points from 14 matches (7W 3D 4L, 21-14). Updated daily.

Playing style

Two things are combined. The first is the club's founding character — running, fighting, never giving up — which every Tosu team is expected to show. The second came from a partnership with Ajax that began in 2018: positional play, decision-making and creativity, and the idea that players should be able to solve problems themselves. The result is a team that can press high and hard, but can also sit in a compact mid-block and let the opponent have the ball when that is the better option, as it did in the 2022 final. HIDAKA Takuma is the under-18 head coach.

Honours

Competition	Year	Notes
Premier League Final	2022	3-2 against Kawasaki Frontale U-18
Premier League WEST	2022	In the Premier League since 2020
Japan Club Youth (U-18) Championship	2020	Runners-up in 2019
Prince League Kyushu	2019	Promoted through the play-off

The 2022 final was the first played at the National Stadium in Tokyo. Tosu went a goal down, equalised just before half-time, and scored twice early in the second half; the captain, FUKUI Taichi, scored the third.

History

1997 — Sagan Tosu is founded after the collapse of the town's previous professional club, and an academy begins with it.
2000s–2010s — A long period as the underdog. The best players in the region choose famous school teams; Tosu builds its identity on hard work.
2018 — The partnership with Ajax begins, including an exchange trip to the Netherlands for the junior-youth team.
2019 — Prince League Kyushu champions and runners-up in the Club Youth Championship; promotion to the Premier League for 2020.
2020 — The Club Youth Championship, the first national title at this age.
2022 — Premier League WEST champions, then national champions.
2023 — FUKUI Taichi moves to Bayern Munich.
2026 — SHINKAWA Shion, promoted from the academy in 2025, moves to Sint-Truiden in Belgium. IZAWA Riku signs a professional contract as a second-year.

Development pathway

Two junior-youth teams. Besides the main under-15 team in Tosu, the club runs a second one in Karatsu, on the other side of the prefecture, so that talent in Saga and neighbouring Fukuoka and Nagasaki is not missed. Players from both reach the under-18s.
Recruiting beyond Kyushu. The 2026 squad includes players from academies in Osaka, Shiga, Nagano and Aichi, and one from FC Seoul's youth system in South Korea.
A dormitory and a partner school. Players from outside the area live in the club's dormitory, where meals and daily routines are managed, and study at a partner high school in Saga that has its own strong football team.
Straight to Europe. FUKUI went to Bayern Munich at 18; SHINKAWA to Sint-Truiden at 19. The club treats this as part of its model: the players get the career they want, and the solidarity and training payments help to fund the academy.

Former players

FUKUI Taichi (midfielder, Arouca) — through the club's under-12, under-15 and under-18 teams, captain and scorer in the 2022 final, then Bayern Munich and, from 2025, Arouca in Portugal.
SHINKAWA Shion (forward, Sint-Truiden) — promoted in 2025, called up by Japan's under-22s, and moved to Belgium in January 2026.
NARAHARA Yoshiki (midfielder, Sagan Tosu) — from the club's under-12s, part of the 2022 champion team, promoted in 2023.
SAKAIYA Keisuke (midfielder, Sagan Tosu) — promoted in 2024.
SUZUKI Daichi (forward, Sagan Tosu) — promoted in 2025, now wearing the number 10.
MIZUMAKI Tokito (midfielder, Sagan Tosu) — promoted in 2026.

The academy has sent at least one player to the first team almost every year since 2019.

Players to watch in 2026

Players worth knowing in the 2026 season:

IZAWA Riku (midfielder, second year, no. 10) — signed a professional contract with Sagan Tosu in July 2026 (first-team no. 47). He came from Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo's under-15s.
EJIKE Ibuki Vincent Jr (goalkeeper, third year, no. 12) — in Japan's under-18 squad at the J-Village Cup in March 2026, and registered with the first team (no. 46).
SUZUKI Soma (defender, third year, no. 5) — named in the J.League U-18 selection for the NEXT GENERATION MATCH in February 2026, and has played every minute of the league season.
ONO Ren (midfielder, third year, no. 8), KOMINATO Yuya (defender, third year, no. 4) and KATO Koichiro (midfielder, third year, no. 14) — the senior core. KATO was recruited from Matsumoto Yamaga's under-15s.
HARADA Rentaro (forward, third year, no. 6) and MADONO Kyosuke (forward, third year, no. 9) — the front line; MADONO came from Gamba Osaka's junior-youth system.
TANI Daichi (forward, third year, no. 18) — joined from FC Seoul's under-15 team.
ERI Kanto (forward, second year, no. 22) and YOSHIHARA Kankuro (defender, second year, no. 25) — second-years from the Karatsu under-15 team; ERI has three league goals.

Notes

Full profile in Japanese, with the current squad list and every result: サガン鳥栖U-18.

Where a player has no official English spelling published by the JFA or the J.League, the name is shown in Japanese.