Gakuji Ota

Gakuji Ota's route to professional football ran through university. After progressing through Oyamada SS, Ryosei Junior High School and Akatsuki High School, he studied at Osaka Gakuin University, and it was from there that FC Gifu signed him on a free transfer in January 2013. He spent three seasons with the club, making 20 league appearances as Gifu competed in the J3 League and then the J2 League, though his time there ended with relegation in 2015.

A move to Tokyo Verdy followed in 2016, but first-team football did not come with it — Ota made no league appearances for Verdy across two seasons. He found game time again only after a loan to Kataller Toyama in 2018, a switch he made permanent the following year, adding seven league appearances for the club across his two spells there.

Kyoto Sanga signed him on a free transfer from Kataller Toyama in January 2020, passing 74 league appearances for the club. His contract runs until January 2026.

He has not been capped at any level for Japan, from the youth sides through to the senior national team, and his career has so far gone without individual awards or team honours attached directly to his own appearances.