Azusa Iwashimizu

Azusa Iwashimizu
	Iwashimizu at the 2011 World Cup
Personal information
Full name	Azusa Iwashimizu
Date of birth	October 14, 1986 (age 38)
Place of birth	Takizawa, Iwate, Japan
Height	1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)
Position(s)	Defender
Club information
Current team	Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza
Youth career
	Nippon TV Beleza
Senior career*
Years	Team
2003–	Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza
National team
2006–2016	Japan
Honours
Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza
Representing Japan
Olympic Games
FIFA Women's World Cup
AFC Women's Asian Cup
Asian Games
	* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of end of the 2020 season

Azusa Iwashimizu (岩清水梓, Iwashimizu Azusa, born October 14, 1986) is a Japanese football player. She played for the Japan national team.

Biography

Iwashimizu was born in Takizawa on October 14, 1986. In 2003, she was promoted to Nippon TV Beleza (later Nippon TV Tokyo Verdy Beleza) from the youth team. She played 287 matches in Nadeshiko League until 2019. She was elected Best Eleven for 12 years in a row (2006-2017).

On February 18, 2006, when Iwashimizu was 19 years old, she debuted for the Japan national team against Russia. She has played in the 2007, 2011 and 2015 World Cups, winning the 2011 World Cup and winning a silver medal at the 2012 Summer Olympics. In the final minute of extra time in the 2011 World Cup Final, she was sent off after receiving a red card for slide tackling Alex Morgan. Japan would go on to win the match in the penalty shootout that followed.

Iwashimizu was instrumental in Japan's victory at the 2014 Asian Cup, scoring the winning goal in both the semifinal against China and the final against Australia. She played 122 games and scored 11 goals for Japan until 2016.

Personal life

Iwashimizu got married in October 2019 and she bore a child in March 2020.^[1] So, she took maternity leave in 2019 and 2020 season.

Statistics

^[2]^[3]

Japan national team
Year	Apps	Goals
2006	10	3
2007	13	2
2008	18	0
2009	3	0
2010	13	3
2011	17	0
2012	11	0
2013	10	0
2014	14	3
2015	10	0
2016	3	0
Total	122	11

References

↑ gekisaka.jp(in Japanese)
↑ Japan Football Association(in Japanese)
↑ List of match in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 at Japan Football Association (in Japanese)

Other websites

This short article about a Japanese sports person can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.

[1] saka.jp(in Japanese)

[2] Japan Football Association(in Japanese)

[3] List of match in 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 at Japan Football Association (in Japanese)

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