Yuki Abe

Yuki Abeimage:Yuki Abe|Yuki Abe is a professional Japanese football player, playing for the Urawa Red Diamonds of the J. League and also for the Japanese National team. This defensive midfielder, full back and central defender was born in 1981 in Ichikawa.

During his junior high school years, he played for JEF junior academy and got promoted in the youth academy which is for high school age students. This versatile player, plays in both defender and midfielder position and made his international debut in 1998 at the age of 16. At that time, he was the youngest of all time debutant in J. League, though the record has been broken. After this, he became the main player for JEF.

His playing skills improvised under the rule of Ivica Osim, who had coached JEF for three consecutive years from 2003. In 2005 and 2006, he was named in the J. League’s best XI squad prior to moving to Urawa Red Diamonds in 2007, a record fee for any Japanese player. This Ichikawa native player made an impressive contribution to the Reds to win the AFC Champions League in 2007 and even turned out at the FIFA Club World Cup the same year.

=== Career Highlights ===

With right to team honors, Yuki was honored with the J. League Cup in 2005 and 2006 whilst playing for JEF United Ichihara Chiba. With the Urama Red Diamonds, his team won the AFC Champions League in 2007.

Individually, he won the J. League Best Eleven in three consecutive years from 2005 to 2007 and the J. League Cup New Hero Award in 2005.