is a Japanese footballer who plays as a right back for club Kashima Antlers and has represented the Japan national team.
Born in Hyōgo, Anzai came through the ranks at Tokyo Verdy and played 150 games for them before moving to J1 League club Kashima Antlers in 2018. After 18 months at Kashima, he moved to Portuguese side Portimonense and in 2019 made his debut for the national team. After two seasons in Europe, Anzai moved back to Japan and Kashima in the 2021 season.
Youth career
Born in Hyōgo, Anzai started playing football from an early age – beginning as a midfield player in elementary and junior high school, but converting to a full-back in his first year of high school. Whilst at Tozuka-higashi Elementary School, he played youth football firstly for Tozuka FC Juniors in Kawaguchi, Saitama and then moved through the youth ranks of Tokyo Verdy whilst at Meguro Nihon University High School. Despite being small in stature, Anzai was given confidence by Verdy's youth coach Satoshi Tsunami that he would become a professional player and encouraged him to continue in their youth ranks rather than play high school football. Anzai made 48 appearances for Tokyo Verdy's youth teams from 2011 to 2013 in both the Prince Takamado Trophy and the Japan Club Youth Cup – making his U18 debut at just 15 years old.
Club career
Tokyo Verdy
In 2014, aged 19, Anzai was promoted to Tokyo Verdy's first team squad, taking the number 34 shirt. He made his debut in a 3–1 J2 League defeat to Matsumoto Yamaga in the first league game of the 2014 season, where he played the full 90 minutes. In May 2014, Anzai scored his first professional goal in a 1–0 league victory over Kamatamare Sanuki. Anzai made more appearances than any of his teammates in his debut season, playing all but one league game including 34 starts and playing over 3000 minutes of football. Verdy however did not have a successful season and finished in 20th out of 22 teams, narrowly avoiding the relegation playoff game.
For the 2015 season, Anzai was given the number 2 shirt at Tokyo Verdy, highlighting his prominence in the first-team squad. In pre-season, Anzai visited English Premier League club West Ham as part of a week long training camp, where he met the likes of Andy Carroll, Alex Song and Mark Noble. Playing alongside such players, Anzai said that he felt the biggest difference was the physicality of the game in England and started more strength training on his return to Japan. He went on to make 35 league appearances in the 2015 season, helping Verdy to a much improved 8th-placed finish in the J2 League. Tokyo Verdy continued to be inconsistent performers in the league, finishing the 2016 season in 18th place and the 2017 in the play-off places, where they were beaten at the semi-final stage by Avispa Fukuoka. Anzai continued to impress and was ever-present throughout, and by the end of the 2017 season was playing under his third manager at Verdy, following the dismissals of Yasutoshi Miura and Koichi Togashi. Manager Miguel Ángel Lotina also started to push Anzai further up the pitch and started to be used increasingly as a right midfielder from the middle of the season. By the end of the 2017 season, Anzai had made 153 appearances for Verdy, scoring 6 goals.