<ul class="summary-list"><li><keyword id="672310" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Yuki-Nagasato">Yuki Nagasato</keyword> is set to make history as the first women's <keyword id="3071" type="SPORT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Soccer">soccer</keyword> star to play professionally for a men's club.</li><li>The 2011 World Cup champion and <keyword id="4451139" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="nwsl">NWSL</keyword>'s 2019 assists leader signed with Hayabusa Eleven, which plays in Kanagawa Prefecture League’s second division.</li><li>Nagasato will play with the Japanese club on loan from the <keyword id="3626874" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="chicago-red-stars">Chicago Red Stars</keyword> until the 2021 NWSL preseason begins.</li></ul><ul class="read-more-links"><li></li></ul><p>Yuki Nagasato is breaking barriers in professional soccer.</p><p>The 2011 World Cup champion and the National Women's Soccer League's 2019 assists leader has signed with Hayabusa Eleven, setting the stage for Nagasato to become the first woman ever to play professionally for a men's club, <a href="https://www.japantimes.co.jp/sports/2020/09/11/soccer/womens-world-cup-winner-yuki-nagasato-mens-club/">according to The Japan Times</a>.</p><p>"Honestly, how much I can contribute among men is unknown," Nagasato said during a press conference, per The Times. "But I was really inspired by messages on the gender gap by [Megan] Rapinoe at the World Cup, and I was wondering if I could also send a message to the society."</p><div type="image" title="yuki nagasato" height="3000" width="1983" msid="78263351" hostid="261"></div><p>Nagasato has already enjoyed quite an impressive career on the women's side. She has represented <keyword id="6355311" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="japan">Japan</keyword> in three World Cups and two Olympic games, accumulating 132 caps and 58 goals for her home country since 2004. The 33-year-old has also shined for her NWSL club, the Chicago Red Stars, recording eight goals and eight assists to help the franchise to its first-ever championship game last season.</p><p>"My performance and condition are improving as I get older," Nagasato said. "I'm looking forward to taking on the challenge."</p><p>Hayabusa Eleven plays in the Kanagawa Prefecture League's second division. The star striker's decision to join the club — which ranks several levels below teams in Japan's premier soccer league, the J-League — may have been influenced by her older brother, Genki, who currently plays midfield for Hayabusa Eleven.</p><div type="image" title="yuki nagasato" height="1666" width="2223" msid="78263355" hostid="261"></div><p>Nagasato won't suit up for Hayabusa Eleven until October, and since she's with the Japanese club on loan from the Red Stars until the 2021 NWSL preseason begins, she'll only have a few months to make her mark. Still, merely stepping on the pitch will constitute a landmark feat — something Nagasato doesn't take for granted.</p><p>"I thought I could show that women can also play in a men's team," she said. "I want to help create a community where there is no boundary regarding gender or race."</p><ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/european-soccer-clubs-poaching-american-stars-covid-19-pandemic-2020-9">European soccer clubs are capitalizing on the United States' disastrous handling of the coronavirus pandemic to poach America's best women's soccer players</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/utah-royals-sexism-sexy-photoshoots-players-too-ugly-for-ads-2020-9">An executive for a club in the women's top soccer league is accused of pushing for 'sexy' photoshoots and preventing players deemed 'too ugly' from being featured in ads</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/kelley-ohara-hosts-new-podcast-interviewing-female-sports-superstars-2020-7">We spoke to USWNT star Kelley O'Hara about interviewing iconic female athletes for her new podcast with Just Women's Sports</a></li><li><a href="https://www.insider.com/video-nahomi-kawasumi-sky-blue-goal-identical-world-cup-screamer-2020-7">A women's soccer star scored a screamer from more than 40 yards out, and it was uncannily similar to her World Cup goal from nine years earlier</a></li></ul>

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A women's World Cup champion is set to make history as the first female soccer star to play professionally with a men's club

Meredith Cash