Shio Fukuda

Shio Fukuda (福田 師王) is a Japanese footballer currently playing as a forward. He currently playing for Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach.

Club career
Fukuda was born in Kanoya City, Kagoshima Prefecture, and started his footballing career with Takayama FC. He enrolled at the Kamimura Gakuen High School, and continued to play football for the school team. He was noted for his performances at the 2021 All Japan High School Soccer Tournament, where he was named as one of the best forwards. He scored one goal and got one assist in a 3–2 loss as Kamimura Gakuen were knocked out by Teikyo Nagaoka High School in the second round.

A noted goal-scorer, Fukuda regularly finished as one of the top scorers in each of the tournaments he played in. Following these good performances for the Kamimura Gakuen High School football team, Fukuda was included in The Guardian's "Next Generation" list for 2021.

In September 2021, Fukuda trained with J1 League side Kashima Antlers.

On 27 October 2022, Fukuda was announced by Borussia Mönchengladbach as a new signing for their youth team, despite never playing for a professional club in Japan, signing for the club as a Kamimura Gakuen High School graduate. He joined the German club in January 2023, after the winter vacation period in Japan. Speaking about Fukuda, Mönchengladbach's academy director Mirko Sandmöller stated: "We are pleased that Shio Fukuda has chosen us, even though he had numerous offers from the J1 League. He is a technically adept, agile and developable striker with great potential". In January 2024, it was announced that he would play in the top team.

International career
Fukuda has represented Japan on all youth categories up to under-19 level, selected multiple times for the national team while at Kamimura Gakuen's Middle and High School.

Participated in the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup as a grade skipping, and on November 18, 2023, at the age of 19, he scored a goal for the Argentina national under-22 football team.