Tomoki Iwata

Tomoki Iwata
岩田 智輝
Iwata training with Celtic in 2024
Personal information
Date of birth (1997-04-07) 7 April 1997 (age 27)
Place of birth Usa, Ōita, Japan
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Birmingham City
Number 24
Youth career
Yokkaichi Minami SSC
0000–2015 Oita Trinita
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2016–2020 Oita Trinita 113 (7)
2021–2022 Yokohama F. Marinos 66 (2)
2023 → Celtic (loan) 13 (0)
2023–2024 Celtic 19 (1)
2024– Birmingham City 10 (4)
International career‡
2015 Japan U18 5 (0)
2016 Japan U19 7 (0)
2017 Japan U23 3 (0)
2019– Japan 4 (0)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Japan
EAFF Championship
Winner 2022 Japan Team
AFC U-19 Championship
Gold medal – first place 2016 Bahrain
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 22:03, 24 November 2024 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 15:03, 23 November 2024 (UTC)

Tomoki Iwata (岩田 智輝, Iwata Tomoki, born 7 April 1997) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for EFL League One club Birmingham City and the Japan national team.

Club career

Oita Trinita

Born in Ōita, Iwata began his youth career with Oita Trinita in 2015, before signing professionally the following year, in 2016.

Yokohama F. Marinos

In 2021, Iwata signed for J1 club, Yokohama F. Marinos. On 5 November 2022, he led the club to the 2022 J1 League title. Two days later, he was named among the Best XI of the season and also voted Player of the Year.

Celtic

On 30 December 2022, Iwata signed for Scottish Premiership side Celtic on an initial loan deal with a compulsory purchase clause.[1][2] This has seen Iwata reunited with his former Yokohama manager, Ange Postecoglou. On 21 January 2023, Iwata made his debut for the club in a 5–0 win against Greenock Morton in the Scottish Cup.[3]

Celtic confirmed in July 2023 that Iwata had signed for the club on a permanent basis.[4]

Birmingham City

On 30 August 2024, Iwata signed a three-year contract with recently relegated EFL League One club Birmingham City, for an undisclosed fee.[5]

International career

On 24 May 2019, Iwata was called up by Japan's head coach Hajime Moriyasu to feature in the Copa América played in Brazil.[6] He made his debut on 20 June 2019 in the game against Uruguay, as a starter.[7]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 23 November 2024[8][9]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Oita Trinita 2015 J2 League 0 0 1 0 — — — 1 0
2016 J3 League 24 1 1 0 — — — 25 1
2017 J2 League 12 0 0 0 — — — 12 0
2018 J2 League 20 0 1 1 — — — 21 1
2019 J1 League 27 4 1 0 3 0 — — 31 4
2020 J1 League 30 2 0 0 0 0 — — 30 2
Total 113 7 4 1 3 0 — — 120 8
Yokohama F. Marinos 2021 J1 League 34 0 1 0 7 1 — — 42 1
2022 J1 League 32 2 1 0 0 0 7[c] 0 — 40 2
Total 66 2 2 0 7 1 7 0 0 0 82 3
Celtic (loan) 2022–23 Scottish Premiership 13 0 4 0 1 0 — — 18 0
Celtic 2023–24 Scottish Premiership 19 1 2 0 0 0 3[d] 0 — 24 1
Total 32 1 6 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 42 1
Birmingham City 2024–25[10] League One 10 4 1 0 0 0 — 2[e] 1 13 5
Career total 221 14 13 1 11 1 10 0 2 1 257 17
  1. ^ Includes Emperor's Cup, Scottish Cup
  2. ^ Includes J.League Cup, Scottish League Cup
  3. ^ Appearances in AFC Champions League
  4. ^ Appearances in UEFA Champions League
  5. ^ Appearances in EFL Trophy

International

As of match played 27 July 2022[11]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Japan 2019 2 0
2022 2 0
Total 4 0

Honours

Yokohama F. Marinos

Celtic

Japan

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Celtic sign Japan midfielder Iwata". BBC Sport. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  2. ^ "Tomoki Iwata: Celtic sign Japanese player of the Year from Ange Postecoglou's former club Yokohama F Marinos". Sky Sports. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
  3. ^ "Kyogo reaches 20 goals as Celtic sail past Morton". BBC Sport. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  4. ^ @CelticFC (13 July 2023). "Following his initial six-month loan spell, Tomoki Iwata is now a full time Celt!" (Tweet). Retrieved 13 July 2023 – via Twitter.
  5. ^ "Blues sign Tomoki Iwata!". Bcfc.com. Birmingham City FC. Retrieved 31 August 2024.
  6. ^ "SAMURAI BLUE (Japan National Team) Squad, Schedule - CONMEBOL Copa America Brazil 2019 (6/14–7/7)". JFA. 24 May 2019.
  7. ^ "Uruguay v Japan game report". CONMEBOL. 20 June 2019.
  8. ^ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "J1&J2&J3選手名鑑ハンディ版 2018 (NSK MOOK)", 7 February 2018, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411529 (p. 189 out of 289)
  9. ^ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "2016J1&J2&J3選手名鑑", 10 February 2016, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411338 (p. 251 out of 289)
  10. ^ "Games played by Tomoki Iwata in 2024/2025". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
  11. ^ Tomoki Iwata at National-Football-Teams.com Edit this at Wikidata
  12. ^ a b c "2022 Jリーグアウォーズ受賞者一覧". Football Channel. 7 November 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2022.
  13. ^ Watt, Martin (7 May 2023). "Heart of Midlothian 0–2 Celtic: Ange Postecoglou's side seal back-to-back titles". BBC Sport. Retrieved 7 May 2023.
  14. ^ Duncan, Thomas (3 June 2023). "Celtic 3–1 Inverness CT: Ange Postecoglou's side win Scottish Cup to claim treble". BBC Sport. Retrieved 3 June 2023.
  15. ^ Moffat, Colin (26 February 2023). "Kyogo strikes twice as Celtic beat Rangers in final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 26 February 2023.


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