Stefan Ishizaki

Stefan Daisuke Ishizaki (Japanese: ステファン 大輔 石崎; born 15 May 1982) is a Swedish former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Starting off his career with AIK in the late 1990s, he went on to represent Genoa, Vålerenga, and LA Galaxy before retiring at Elfsborg in 2019. A full international between 2001 and 2012, he won 13 caps for the Sweden national team.

Club career

AIK

Born to a Swedish mother and a Japanese father, he started his career with Rågsveds and stayed with the club until 1999 when he signed a contract with major Swedish club AIK. He made his debut for the club in the same year in Svenska Cupen as he came on as a substitute in the 80th minute against Gefle, he later came on as a substitute again in the final, which AIK won 1–0 against Göteborg, making him the youngest in the country to win the Cup, being only 16 years and 364 days old.

His league debut was not until the 2000 season against his future club Elfsborg. He quickly established himself as a starting lineup player and really broke through as a player against Helsingborg, a 4–1 victory, scoring a goal and making two assists. He missed out the first game of the 2001 season due to an injury he got during the pre-season, which would continue to haunt him for the rest of the season, but he fully recovered for the 2002 season. Prior to the 2004 season, he was loaned out to Italian Serie B club Genoa over the spring part of the season, later when AIK was relegated to Superettan he signed with Norwegian club Vålerenga.

Genoa

During the winterbreak of the 2003–04 season Genoa signed Ishizaki on loan until the end of the season. Ishizaki did not play many games for the club, before returning to AIK. Genoa also had an option to buy the player, but it was never used.