Joel Chima Fujita

Joel Chima Fujita came through Machida Okura FC before joining the Tokyo Verdy academy, and he was promoted to the club's senior squad in 2020, where he made 45 league appearances and scored three goals. A move to Tokushima Vortis followed in January 2021, and a year later he joined Yokohama F. Marinos, where he won the J1 League title in 2022 after 46 league appearances and three goals. In July 2023 he left Japan for Belgium, signing for Sint-Truiden, where he made 58 league appearances and scored once, his first goal coming against Standard Liège in a 1-1 draw on 27 December 2023.

St. Pauli signed Fujita from Sint-Truiden in June 2025 for a fixed fee of €3.5 million, with add-ons that could take the deal to €2 million more, and he put pen to paper on a contract running until 30 June 2029. He has made 34 league appearances for the Hamburg club, scoring once, and he set up the second goal in a 2-0 win over Hamburger SV in the Hamburg derby. He has also had to sit out matches through yellow-card accumulation, missing the fixture against 1. FC Köln in the 2025/26 season.

Internationally, Fujita has won eight caps for Japan's senior side since his debut in 2022 and was part of the squad at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. At youth level, he was named MVP as Japan won the AFC U-23 Asian Cup in 2024, having finished third in the same competition in 2022, and he also won the EAFF E-1 Football Championship with the senior side in 2022. He has 20 caps and a goal for Japan's U23 side and four caps at U17 level.