Yamasaki Ryogo

Ryogo Yamasaki's career carried him through six J.League clubs before he arrived at V-Varen Nagasaki, but the moment most attached to his name came in the AFC Champions League. On 28 June 2021, playing for Nagoya Grampus against Rachaburi FC, he scored a hat-trick, becoming only the second Japanese player to do so in the competition's history. A month later he was on the losing end of a far grimmer outcome: playing against Sagan Tosu, the club where he had started his professional career, he ruptured ligaments in his left ankle.

Yamasaki turned professional with Sagan Tosu in 2014. A loan to Tokushima Vortis in 2016 became permanent the following year, and across the 2017 and 2018 seasons he scored 17 goals there. Shonan Bellmare signed him in July 2018, and he won the J.League Cup with the club that year. His move to Nagoya Grampus followed in January 2020, setting up the AFC Champions League hat-trick and the injury that interrupted his time there.

He continued moving after recovering, joining Kyoto Sanga in December 2021 and then Cerezo Osaka in July 2024, before signing for V-Varen Nagasaki in January 2025. He has scored four league goals for Nagasaki so far. Despite his club career, he has not been capped by the senior Japan national team, though he represented the All-Japan University Selection in 2012 and 2013.