Makoto Hasebe

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Hasebe started his professional playing career with Urawa Red Diamonds in 2002, joining the club from his hometown Fujieda Higashi high school team. In January 2008, he moved to the German Bundesliga, where he remained for the rest of his playing career; he first joined VfL Wolfsburg, winning a league title during the 2008–09 season, before moving to 1. FC Nürnberg late into the 2013 summer transfer window. Following Nürnberg's relegation at the end of the 2013–14 season, Hasebe joined Eintracht Frankfurt in July 2014, where he played over 300 matches across ten seasons and won a DFB-Pokal and UEFA Europa League title. Hasebe made his senior debut with the Japan national team in 2006. He earned 114 international caps and scored twice, making him one of ten most capped players in the history of the team. He additionally served as captain from 2010 to his retirement from international football in 2018. He was part of the Japanese squads at the 2010, 2014 and 2018 editions of the FIFA World Cups, as well as 2011 and 2015 editions of the AFC Asian Cups. He captained the starting line-up that won the 2011 Asian Cup final.

In Their Own Story

The air in Rostov-on-Don was thick and heavy. Hasebe, at 34, knew this was his last dance. He looked at the young faces around him—Kagawa, Honda, Kagawa—and felt a quiet pride. The final whistle against Poland had blown, but the real drama was elsewhere. He gathered the team in a huddle, his voice steady over the roar of the crowd. 'We wait,' he said simply. The minutes crawled. Then, the news came: Colombia had beaten Senegal. Japan advanced on fair play points. Hasebe allowed himself a small smile. This was not the glory of a goal, but the triumph of discipline—the very thing he had built his career upon. He walked off the pitch, a captain's duty fulfilled, leaving a legacy of calm in the storm.

Reader's Guide

Hasebe played mainly as a defensive midfielder early in his career, but under Frankfurt coach Niko Kovač he was first used at centre-back in October 2016 and played that position from then on. He was known for his leadership, serving as captain of Japan from 2010 to 2018 and occasionally captaining Eintracht Frankfurt after David Abraham's departure in January 2021. He retired from professional football at the end of the 2023–24 season after roughly 700 games and 22 years, including 380 matches in the Bundesliga, making him the third non-German player with the most Bundesliga appearances behind Robert Lewandowski and Claudio Pizarro.

Did You Know?

• Hasebe became the second Japanese player to win the Bundesliga title, with Wolfsburg in 2008–09.
• He surpassed South Korean Cha Bum-kun to become the Asian player with the most appearances in the Bundesliga.
• At age 40 years and 121 days, he became the oldest Frankfurt player in Bundesliga history in his final match.
• He played in goal for the final nine minutes of a Bundesliga match against 1899 Hoffenheim in September 2011.