Tractorsazi Hires Japanese Player

Tabriz-based football club Tractorsazi hired the first Japanese player in the history of the Persian Gulf Pro League on Sunday.

According to IRNA, the club signed a three-year contract with the Japanese attacking midfielder, Yukiya Sugita after hiring Anthony Stokes from Ireland and Brit Harry Forrester from the UK.

Sugita, 24, played in the Dalkurd FF Football Club in the top tier of the Sweden football league, Allsvenskan, in the past season. The midfielder had played in Spain football leagues from 2013 to 2015 with Jove Espanol and Heracules clubs respectively.

Tractorsazi FC management board reshuffled after their weak performance in the 2017-18 season of the league where they finished the league in tenth place. They also did not advance through the group stage of the current AFC Champions League.

On their revival path, the club hired Scottish manager, John Toshack in June with a three-year contract to rebuild the team.

Toshack, 69, had his management time with Real Madrid for three seasons as well as Real Sociedad and Portuguese Sporting CP team in the top-flight of the Portugal football league.

The manager now has three foreign players in the combination of the Tabriz-based club and used seven players from Iran U21 national team to refresh the team with junior players.