Yuki Watari


Sayuri Yuki Watari is a professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for USL Super League club Tampa Bay Sun. Born in Japan to Brazilian parents, she played college soccer for the UT Southern FireHawks and led the team to the NAIA championship in 2021. She began her professional career with FC Juárez in 2023.

Early life

Watari was born in Saitama Prefecture, Japan, to Brazilian parents, and has an older brother. She began playing football at age nine and soon joined the Urawa Red Diamonds academy. She later moved to Okinawa Prefecture and joined FC Ryukyu at age seventeen. She received several scholarship offers to play college soccer in the United States but did not have good enough TOEFL scores for many of them and ended up accepting an offer at the NAIA–level Martin Methodist College. She grew up aspiring to play for the Brazil national team.

College career

Watari scored 19 goals in 22 games for the Martin Methodist RedHawks as a freshman in 2019, being named the Southern States Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year and third-team All-American by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. She scored 19 goals in 18 games as a sophomore in 2020, earning first-team All-American honors after leading the NAIA with 8 game-winning goals as a sophomore in 2020. She also helped lead the RedHawks to the Mid-South Conference regular-season title in their first season in the conference.
Watari scored 17 goals and led the NAIA with a career-high 26 assists in 23 games in her junior year in 2021, being named the Mid-South Player of the Year. She led the renamed UT Southern RedHawks to the third NAIA championship in program history and was named the championship MVP. She was named the NAIA Player of the Year by United Soccer Coaches. She was named team captain in her senior year in 2022. She scored a career-high 21 goals in 24 games and was named first-team All-Mid-South and first-team NAIA All-American for the third consecutive time.
During college, Watari also played for Nashville Rhythm FC in the Women's Premier Soccer League alongside several other Japanese-born college soccer players.

Club career

In July 2023, Watari signed her first professional contract with Liga MX Femenil club FC Juárez. She was the first Japanese-born player to play in the Liga MX Femenil and the second Japanese player overall after Akemi Yokoyama. On 29 July, she scored twice in her professional debut in a 3–2 loss to Atlas. In March 2024, she sprained her left ankle and missed two months with injury. She played in 22 league games and scored 8 goals before leaving the club at the end of the season.
In June 2024, Watari joined USL Super League club Tampa Bay Sun before the league's inaugural season. The following month, she tore her anterior cruciate ligament and would miss the entire season. Shortly before she was cleared to return in June 2025, she tore the ACL in her other knee and remained sidelined as the Sun won the inaugural USL Super League championship.

Honors and awards

UT Southern FireHawks
Tampa Bay Sun
Individual
  • United Soccer Coaches NAIA Player of the Year: 2021
  • First-team NAIA All-American: 2020, 2021, 2022
  • Third-team NAIA All-American: 2019
  • First-team All-Mid-South: 2020, 2021, 2022
  • First-team All-SSAC: 2019
  • Mid-South Player of the Year: 2021
  • SSAC Freshman of the Year: 2019
  • NAIA championship MVP: 2021