[3][6] On 5 March 2006, Uchida made his professional football career for Kashima Antlers at the age of 17 in the season-opener against Sanfrecce Hiroshima, since which he has remained a fixture in the starting eleven as a right–back.

[11] In the 2007 season, Uchida continued to regain his first team place for the side, playing in the right–back position and helped Kashima Antlers go on a nine-match winning streak between 2 May 2007 and 23 June 2007.

[12] After missing one match due to his commitment in the FIFA U-20 World Cup, he made his return to the starting line–up, in a 1–0 win against Ventforet Kofu on 11 August 2007.

[19] Uchida also made his AFC Champions League debut, starting a match and played 76 minutes, in a 9–1 win against Krung Thai Bank on 12 March 2008.

[20] Seven days later on 19 March 2008, he set up two goals In his second AFC Champions League's appearance, in a 6–0 win against CLB Nam Định.

[25] After missing four matches, due to his international commitment for the Summer Olympics, he returned to the starting line–up, in a 2–1 win against Vissel Kobe on 27 August 2008.

[40] Things went worst for him a week later on 5 July 2009 when he gave away a penalty for handball, resulting in him receiving a red card and was successfully converted by Juninho to give Kawasaki Frontale a lead, in an eventual 1–1 draw.

[49] Amid the transfer move, he started the whole game and helped Kashima Antlers win the Japanese Super Cup after beating Gamba Osaka 5–3 on penalty shootout following the match being played throughout 120 minutes.

[52] After missing one match due to a knee injury, Uchida returned to the starting line–up, in a 2–1 loss against Cerezo Osaka on 5 May 2010, in what turned out to be his last league appearance for Kashima Antlers.

[57] He made his league debut for the club in the opening game of the season, coming on as a second–half substitute for Joël Matip, in a 2–1 loss against Hamburger SV.

[60] After returning to the first team, Manager Felix Magath commented on his performance, saying: "Uchida still lacks physical robustness, but he sets the best accents forward.

[64] After missing out throughout January, due to international commitment for the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, he made his return to the starting line-up and helped the club's defence kept a clean sheet, in a 0–0 draw against Borussia Dortmund on 4 February 2011.

[67] Following a 2–1 win against Eintracht Frankfurt on 12 March 2011, Uchida wore a shirt which in response to the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, saying: "Dear friends in Japan.

[69] On 13 April 2011, Uchida made history by becoming the first Japanese footballer to play for a team that reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champion's League by helping the club beat Inter Milan 7–4 on aggragate.

[87] On 9 March 2013, Uchida returned to the starting line-up and played a vital role in the Revierderby against Borussia Dortmund, setting up two goals in a 2–1 win.

[92] In a return leg, he set up the open goal of the game for Ádám Szalai, in a 3–2 win over PAOK to help the club reach the group stage of the Champions League.

[113] But on 7 December 2016, Uchida made his first appearance for Schalke 04, coming on as a late substitute, in a 2–0 loss against Red Bull Salzburg in the UEFA Europa League match.

[121] Having made just two appearances before the winter break, Uchida left Union Berlin to return to his native Japan signing with former club Kashima Antlers.

[124] Uchida made his first Kashima Antlers’ appearance in eight years, starting a match and played 84 minutes, in a 0–0 draw against Shimizu S-Pulse in the opening game of the season.

[140] On 14 August 2019, he made his return from injury, coming on as a late substitute, in a 4–0 win against Tochigi SC in the third round of the Emperor's Cup.

[141] Since returning from injury, Uchida resumed his captaincy role despite being placed on the substitute bench in a number of matches for the rest of the 2019 season.

At the start of the 2020 season, Uchida appeared as an unused substitute for the AFC Champions League against Melbourne Victory on 28 January 2020, as Kashima Antlers lost 1–0.

[147] Once the league resumed, he made his first appearance of the season, starting a match and played 60 minutes before being substituted, in a 2–1 loss against Kawasaki Frontale on 4 July 2020.

[150] Three days later on 23 August 2020, Uchida made his last appearance in professional football against Gamba Osaka, coming on as a 16th-minute substitute for the injured Rikuto Hirose, as Kashima Antlers drew 1–1.

[160] Uchida later helped Japan reach the finals of the AFC Youth Championship by beating South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

[170] Uchida finally made a full international debut for the Samurai Blue on 26 January 2008 in a friendly against Chile at National Olympic Stadium in Tokyo.

[174] It was his first international goal and Uchida became the youngest Japanese's goalscorer in FIFA World Cup qualification at age 20 years and 87 days, beating an 11-year-old record that was held by Hidetoshi Nakata.

[178] Later in the year, Uchida helped Japan keep four consecutive clean sheets between 10 October 2009 and 18 November 2009, all of them were friendly matches.

FC Nürnberg on 26 February 2011, 90 women from Japan visited the Veltins-Arena to see Uchida play, and his popularity has led to him being referred to as a Japanese Beckham.

[209] Uchida's popularity during his time at Schalke 04 led to the club launching an official Japanese website and Twitter account.