Tomoe Kato

(former name; Tomoe Sakai, 酒井 與惠) is a former Japanese football player. She played for Japan national team.

Club career Kato was born in Tokyo on May 27, 1978. She played for Nippon TV Beleza from 1993 to 2008. The club won L.League championship 8 times. She played 246 matches in L.League. She was selected MVP awards 2 times in 2001 and 2002. She was also selected Best Eleven for 12 years in a row (1996-2007).

National team career On June 8, 1997, when Kato was 19 years old, she debuted for Japan national team against China. She was a member of Japan for 1999, 2003, 2007 World Cup, 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. She played 114 games and scored 8 goals for Japan until 2008.

Personal life Kato got married and changed her name to Tomoe Kato (加藤 與惠) from Tomoe Sakai (酒井 與惠) in November 2007.

National team statistics

International goals No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1. 9 June 2003 Rajamangala Stadium, Bangkok, Thailand 14–0 15–0 2003 AFC Women's Championship 2. 11 June 2003 1–0 7–0 5. 30 November 2006 Grand Hamad Stadium, Doha, Qatar 12–0 13–0 2006 Asian Games 6. 7 April 2007 Japan National Stadium, Tokyo, Japan 2–0 2–0 2008 Summer Olympics qualification 7. 4 August 2007 Lạch Tray Stadium, Hải Phòng, Vietnam 2–0 2–0 8. 31 May 2008 Thống Nhất Stadium, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 8–0 11–0 2008 AFC Women's Asian Cup