Asahi Sasaki

Asahi Sasaki's path to Kawasaki Frontale ran through two rejections. As a boy he tried out for Omiya Ardija and FC Tokyo and was turned down by both, playing instead for FC Giocare in elementary school and EC Jogador in middle school. He went on to Saitama Heisei High School and then Ryutsu Keizai University, and it was from there, rather than from a professional academy, that Kawasaki Frontale signed him on a free transfer on 1 February 2022.

He made his J.League debut before the month was out, on 23 February 2022, and scored his first league goal three days later, on 26 February. Sasaki arrived too late to share in Kawasaki Frontale's league titles of 2020 and 2021, but he was part of the squad that finished as runner-up in 2022. Silverware followed soon enough: he won the Emperor's Cup with the club in 2023 and the Japanese Super Cup in 2024.

His form has continued to build since. In 2025 he was named the J1 League's Outstanding Player. International recognition has so far stayed just out of reach: he has not been called up to the senior Japan national team, though former international Ryota Moriwaki named him as a candidate for the 2025 E-1 Championship squad.