Mio Backhaus

Mio Backhaus, also known as Mio Nagata is a German professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Werder Bremen. He has represented both the Germany and Japan at underage level.

Club career

From Baesweiler, in Aachen, Backhaus joined the Werder Bremen youth team in 2018, having previously been at Alemannia Aachen. He featured for the Bremen second team in the Regionalliga Nord as a teenager, and played for the German age-group teams, up to representing the U19 team. He agreed a new contract with Bremen tying him to the club until 2026.
In July 2023, Backhaus joined FC Volendam on a season-long loan from Werder Bremen, in order to get first-team minutes. Volendam’s goalkeeper from the previous two seasons, Filip Stankovic had also been a loanee, but had returned to Inter Milan from the Eredivisie club. During his season with Volendam he made the most saves of any goalkeeper in the division.

Backhaus has represented Germany internationally at youth levels since 2019, winning 12 international caps in the Germany U15, Germany U16, Germany U18 and Germany U19 sides. In early 2023, the head coach of Japan Hajime Moriyasu visited him with representatives from the Japanese FA whilst he was in training in Bremen according to Werder Bremen managing director for sport, Clemens Fritz. In March 2025, he played for the Germany national under-20 football team, starting the match and keeping a clean sheet as they beat Czechia U20 1-0.

Backhaus was born in Germany to a German father and Japanese mother.