The most successful Japanese football player of all time: Who is Shinji Kagawa?
Since making his senior international debut in May 2008, he has won over 90 caps and scored over 30 goals. On 29 November 2012, Kagawa was named Asian Football Confederation International Player of the Year.
He is the embodiment of the phrase 'You are Japanese, you are a smart man'.
No no, not from Tusubasa; I'm talking about Kagawa.
Born in Kobe, Japan in 1989, Shinji Kagawa fell in love with football at a very young age.
He never left the football with him. He even cried on the days he couldn't take him to school.
Because of this passion, his family enrolled him in the academy of the city's local football team.
At only 12 years old, he was invited to the Miyagi Barcelona Academy, where he would receive a better education.
Shinji Kagawa (born 17 March 1989) is a Japanese professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for J1 League club Cerezo Osaka. He is widely regarded as one of the best Japanese players of all time.
This academy had nothing to do with Barcelona as we know it, but Barcelona was the only team that Kagawa fell in love with in his childhood.
He transferred to Osaka at the age of 17 and became the first Japanese to sign a professional contract before graduating high school.
He was talented, smart, productive, cold-blooded, a good passer, and a shooter. Thanks to these features, he quickly excelled and was transferred to Dortmund 4 years later.
After playing here for 2 seasons, he moved to world giant Manchester United.
By scoring 3 goals against Norwich, he became the first Japanese to score a hat-trick in the Premier League.
He returned to Dortmund in 2014 and played for 5 years.
He was loaned to Beşiktaş in January 2019.
He made a great start in his first match, scoring a goal 19 seconds after entering the game and another goal 2 minutes later.
He scored 4 goals and 2 assists in 14 matches in half a season.
Kagawa, who later played for Real Zaragoza, Paok, and Sint-Truiden respectively, is now 34 years old and continues to play football at Cerezo Osaka, the club where he first became a professional.