Itsuki Urata

Two years in Uzbekistan ended in a payment dispute rather than a transfer: Itsuki Urata left FC Bunyodkor in spring 2026 as the club fell into financial difficulty and stopped paying wages. In August 2026 FIFA ordered Bunyodkor to pay him more than $328,000 in arrears. A month earlier he had already signed for NK Slaven Belupo.

The Croatian league is where his career found a footing. Urata came to NK Varaždin in August 2020 on a free transfer and stayed three seasons. He made 19 league appearances in Slovenia before the move to Uzbekistan.

Getting there took longer than the early promise suggested. He came through the youth ranks at JEF United Chiba and signed for the senior side in 2015, but never played a league match for the club. Instead there were loans — the J.League U-22 Selection, PSTC, FC Ryukyu, and Giravanz Kitakyushu, where 13 appearances in 2017 persuaded Kitakyushu to sign him permanently. In 2018 he played 26 times and scored once. The move to FC Zorya Luhansk in March 2019 produced nothing: he left Ukraine without a senior appearance.

Urata wore Japan's shirt at U-17, U-18, U-19 and U-20 level. His single U-23 cap came on 10 January 2018, in a 1–0 win over Palestine at the AFC U-23 Championship in China. A left-back who plays on his stronger side, he has not been called up by the senior national team.