On 21 September 2011 Gōtoku Sakai was in the starting line-up of the Japan under-22 team in the first group match of his team in the 2012 Summer Olympics Asian Qualifiers against Malaysia [REF].
Sakai underlined his outstanding potential in late 2012 when he was selected by influential football website IBWM in their list of the 100 most exciting players in world football for 2013 [REF].