Shindo Ryosuke

Around V-Varen Nagasaki, opposition fans have taken to muttering the same question when the ball reaches the edge of their own box: "Why is Shindo there?"

Shindo came through the SSS Sapporo Soccer School before joining the Consadole Sapporo academy, and he stayed with the Hokkaido club as it became Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo, working his way into the first team in 2015. He spent six seasons there, made 119 league appearances and scored ten goals. A loan spell with the J. League U-22 Selection and a call-up to the Japan national side for a friendly against Venezuela in November 2019 followed, though the cap itself never came.

Cerezo Osaka signed him on a free transfer at the start of 2021, and it was there that Shindo grew into a leadership role, wearing the captain's and vice-captain's armbands across five seasons. The spell was productive on the pitch, 75 league appearances and seven goals, but repeatedly interrupted by injury: surgery on his right leg in 2021, a strain in his right lower leg the following year, and a torn tendon in his right hamstring in 2024 that cost him much of that season.

V-Varen Nagasaki completed his signing in January 2026, and Shindo has since made nine league appearances for the club. He plays as a centre-back, aggressive in the challenge and alert in his positioning, with the eye for a set-piece that earned him his nickname intact.