Takuma Asano (Japanese浅野 拓磨, Asano Takuma; born November 10, 1994 in Komono, Mie Prefecture) is a Japanese soccer player. The striker is under contract with VfL Bochum and is a senior international. Asano started playing football during his elementary school days where he played for club Perna SC in Komono. After that, he was a member of the Happū Middle School football club. He then attended the Technical High School Yokkaichi – Chūō in neighboring Yokkaichi, which produced a variety of top footballers. After graduating from school, he was signed by the first division club Sanfrecce Hiroshima in 2013. From 2014 to 2015 he played three times in the J.League U-22 selection. This team, which played in the third division, the J3 League, was made up of the best young players from the higher-tier clubs. The team was formed with the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro in mind. The players were selected on a weekly basis from a pool for which each club could nominate eligible talent; the composition of the team therefore varied greatly from game to game. On July 3, 2016 he moved to Arsenal FC. As a result, VfB Stuttgart loaned Asano out on August 26, 2016 until the end of the season with the option for another season. On September 9, 2016 he made his debut in the 2-1 defeat in a home game against 1. FC Heidenheim in the 2nd Bundesliga. He scored his first goal on October 30, 2016 in a 3-1 away win against Karlsruher SC, scoring 1-0 in the 10th minute. At the end of the season, Asano was promoted to the Bundesliga with Stuttgart as second division champions, after which Stuttgart took the option to extend the loan. There he scored his first Bundesliga goal on November 24, 2017 in a 1-1 draw against fellow promoted team Hannover 96. For the 2018/19 season, Asano was loaned out to Hannover 96 within the Bundesliga. Under the coaches André Breitenreiter and Thomas Doll, Asano played 13 Bundesliga games (no goal) and two games (one goal) in the DFB Cup by the end of March. At the beginning of April it became known that Doll had been ordered by the managing director Martin Kind not to use Asano anymore in order to circumvent a purchase clause. He was then no longer used and left the club after relegation to the 2nd Bundesliga at the end of his contract. At the beginning of August 2019, Asano moved to the Serbian first division club Partizan Belgrade. After his contract was terminated, he switched to Bundesliga promoted VfL Bochum for the 2021/22 season and signed a contract until the summer of 2024. National team Asano made his debut for the Japanese national team in 2015. With the Japanese national team, he qualified for the 2015 East Asia Championship. At the 2016 Asia U-23 Championship, Asano scored twice in the final, helping the Japan U-23 team to defeat South Korea after falling behind to become Asian champions. He scored his first senior international goal against Bulgaria on June 3, 2016 at the Kirin Cup. With the Olympic team Japan, he again scored one goal each against Nigeria and Colombia in the preliminary round of the 2016 Olympic Football Tournament.
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