Gotoku Sakai is a Japanese defender born in New York in 1991 and raised in Japan. He began his professional career with Albirex Niigata before moving to Germany, where he played for VfB Stuttgart and later Hamburger SV. At Hamburg he became captain, an uncommon role for a Japanese player in a major European league. Sakai returned to Japan with Vissel Kobe in 2019 and helped the club win domestic honours. Internationally, he represented Japan across youth and senior levels and was part of World Cup squads in 2014 and 2018.