Women's World Cup 勝利者 Nagasato joins men's club in Japan
ATSUGI, Japan (AP) - Women´s World Cup 勝利者 Yuki Nagasato is joining Japanese men´s club Hayabusa Eleven on 貸付金 from the Chicago Red 星／主役にするs in the NWSL.
The men´s team plays in an amateur 地域の league that is several levels below the country´s 最高の，を越す プロの／賛成の サッカー league, the J-League.
Nagasato, who won the Women´s World Cup with Japan in 2011, joined Chicago in 2017 after playing in several other leagues. The Red 星／主役にするs said in a 声明 that Nagasato´s 貸付金 will end 事前の to the 2021 NWSL preseason.
"I want to get the message out to the girls who are playing サッカー with the boys that women can join the men´s team and challenge themselves," Nagasato said Thursday.
Nagasato said she is looking 今後 to playing for a team in her hometown of Atsugi, which is 位置を示すd 近づく Yokohama just 南西 of Tokyo.
"Honestly speaking, I don´t know how 井戸／弁護士席 I will be able to play on the men´s team, but I will do my best to make the most of my experience," she said. "My 業績／成果 and 条件ing are getting better as I get more experienced. This is good タイミング for me and I´m really looking 今後 to this challenge."
In this March 7, 2012, とじ込み／提出する photo, Japan's Yuki Nagasato, 中心, challenges Germany's Annike Krahn, left, and Josephine Henning during the Algarve Cup women's サッカー final match at the Algarve stadium outside Faro, southern Portugal. Nagasato won the Women's World Cup with Japan in 2011 and 現在／一般に plays for the Chicago Red 星／主役にするs in the NWSL. Now she is joining the Japanese men's club Hayabusa Eleven on 貸付金. (AP Photo/Armando Franca, とじ込み／提出する)
Nagasato said she was 影響（力）d by American player Megan Rapinoe.
"It was very 奮起させるing to hear the social message about gender 不平等 and other messages that Rapinoe was trying to 配達する during the (2019) World Cup," Nagasato said. "So I have been thinking about how I can do the same."
It was her older brother Genki, a former J-League player who plays for Hayabusa, who helped his sister join the team.
"For over a １０年間 she´s been telling me that her ultimate dream is to play in a men´s team," Genki Nagasato said. "So, as an older brother, I 手配中の，お尋ね者 to help my sister 達成する her dream."
___
More AP sports: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
