Issei Kumatoriya

Issei Kumatoriya played through Hamamatsu Kaiseikan High School before joining Meiji University in 2021. Verdy brought him in as a free agent, and he joined the club on 1 February 2025.

He stands out physically for a forward, small and light, and though his stronger foot is his right, he has mostly been used out on the left flank rather than through the middle. His J1 League debut season in 2025 brought eleven appearances and a first goal, scored on 6 May. He has continued to feature this season, adding further league appearances and goals along with a strike in the Emperor's Cup, taking his overall tally for the club past thirty appearances.

Kumatoriya's football education included international recognition well before his move to Verdy. Japan called him into the U-16 side during his high school years, and later, between 2023 and 2024, he earned six caps and a goal for the Japan U-20 team, featuring at the AFC U-20 Asian Cup in Uzbekistan, where he played against China, Kyrgyzstan and Saudi Arabia.

Tokyo Verdy now form the next stage of a career built through the university system rather than a professional academy, with the forward still establishing himself in the J1 League.