Riko Ueki

Riko Ueki (植木 理子) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a striker for the Women's Super League club West Ham United and the Japan national team.

Early life
Ueki was born in Kanagawa Prefecture on 30 July 1999. She started playing football in 2011 at the age of 12. From the day she first started football, Ueki has always played as a forward, never playing in any other position in her career so far. She had stated that her role model growing up was fellow Japanese forward Mana Iwabuchi She joined Tokyo Verdy Beleza youth team in 2012.

Ueki attended Waseda University, one of the most selective and prestigious universities in Japan, majoring in sports science. While at college she took courses in sports management and marketing. She graduated from the university in March 2022.

Tokyo Verdy Beleza
Ueki joined Nadeshiko League club Tokyo Verdy Beleza from the youth team in 2015, and was first called up to the senior team in June 2016. She marked her debut with a goal as a substitute in a League Cup match against Speranza Osaka. She was part of the squad which won four consecutive Nadeshiko League title from 2016 to 2019. In the inaugural 2021–22 WE League season, Ueki was chosen amongst the recipients of the Most Outstanding Players award. She had her breakout season the 2022–23 WE League season, as she finished as the league's top scorer with 14 goals and was named to the 2022–23 WE League Best Eleven. in In total, she has scored 81 goals in 152 appearances in all competitions for Tokyo Verdy Beleza.

West Ham United
On 12 September 2023, Ueki joined West Ham United ahead of the 2023–24 Women's Super League season. She made her debut in the opening league match defeat to Manchester City on 1 October 2023. She would score her first goal for the club in a 2–0 victory against Brighton & Hove Albion on 8 October 2023.

Youth
In 2016, Ueki was selected to the Japan U-17 national team for the 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup. She played in 6 matches and scored 4 goals, and Japan finished as runners-up in the tournament. In 2018 Ueki was selected to the Japan U-20 national team for 2018 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup. She played in all 6 matches and scored 5 goals, including a crucial goal in their semi-final victory over England and helped Japan win the title.

Senior
On 4 April 2019, Ueki debuted for the senior Japan national team against France. Later that year, Ueki was named to Japan's squad for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup; however, she was forced to withdraw due to injury on 31 May. Ueki experienced a breakout year with the national team in 2022, as she began to establish herself as a starting striker and finished the 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup as Japan's top scorer with five goals, and joint second-highest goalscorer of the tournament as a whole.

On 13 June 2023, she was included in the 23-player squad for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023. On July 31, 2023, Ueki scored in Japan's 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup Group C Round 3 match against Spain.

Personal life
One of Ueki's main hobbies is reading manga, also known as Japanese comics or graphic novels, and she revealed that she has a collection of over 1000 copies of such books at home. She was even invited to make a cameo appearance in a television drama adaptation of the manga series Shiyakusho that aired on TV Tokyo from October to December 2019.

International

 * Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Ueki goal.

Honours
Tokyo Verdy Beleza
 * Nadeshiko League: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019
 * Nadeshiko League Cup: 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020
 * WE League Cup runner-up: 2022-23
 * Empress's Cup: 2014, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2022
 * AFC Women's Club Championship: 2019

Japan U19 Japan U20
 * AFC U-19 Women's Championship: 2015
 * AFC U-19 Women's Championship: 2017
 * FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup: 2018

Japan
 * EAFF Women's Football Championship: 2019, 2022

Individual
 * WE League Best XI: 2022–23
 * WE League Golden Boot: 2022–23
 * WE League Outstanding Players Award: 2021–22, 2022–23
 * West Ham United Young Player of the Year: 2023–24