| Masato Saito 斉藤 雅人 | |
| Fullname: | Masato Saito |
| Birth Date: | 1 December 1975 |
| Birth Place: | Saitama, Saitama, Japan |
| Position: | Midfielder |
| Youthyears1: | 1991–1993 |
| Youthclubs1: | Bunan High School |
| Youthyears2: | 1994–1997 |
| Youthclubs2: | Komazawa University |
| Years1: | 1998–2009 |
| Clubs1: | Omiya Ardija |
| Caps1: | 304 |
| Goals1: | 14 |
| Totalcaps: | 304 |
| Totalgoals: | 14 |
is a former Japanese football player.
Saito was born in Saitama on December 1, 1975. After graduating from Komazawa University, he joined Japan Football League club Omiya Ardija based in his local in 1998. He played many matches as defensive midfielder from first season. The club was promoted to J2 League from 1999 and J1 League from 2005. Although he played many matches for a long time, he could not play many matches in 2009 and retired end of 2009 season.
Saito filled various coaching and directors roles at Omiya Ardija after retiring as a player. He finally retired as Academy director and Under-18 director in August 2024.[1]
| Club performance | League | Cup | League Cup | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Club | League | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |
| Japan | League | Emperor's Cup | J.League Cup | Total | |||||||
| 1998 | Omiya Ardija | Football League | 15 | 1 | 3 | 0 | colspan="2" | - | 18 | 1 | |
| 1999 | J2 League | 22 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 0 | ||
| 2000 | 24 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 29 | 2 | |||
| 2001 | 31 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 34 | 1 | |||
| 2002 | 35 | 3 | 3 | 0 | colspan="2" | - | 38 | 3 | |||
| 2003 | 36 | 2 | 3 | 0 | colspan="2" | - | 39 | 2 | |||
| 2004 | 43 | 2 | 3 | 0 | colspan="2" | - | 46 | 2 | |||
| 2005 | J1 League | 21 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 28 | 0 | ||
| 2006 | 25 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 29 | 0 | |||
| 2007 | 26 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 30 | 1 | |||
| 2008 | 22 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 25 | 2 | |||
| 2009 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 7 | 0 | |||
| Career total | 304 | 14 | 23 | 0 | 21 | 0 | 348 | 14 | |||