-
News
- 17 hours ago
Kansei Matsuzawa set to make NFL history after failed soccer career
27 Apr 2026 19:01 CDT |
4 min read
News
Former soccer player Kansei Matsuzawa could be set to make NFL history after being signed by the Las Vegas Raiders.
The NFL draft initially seemed like it would not be a happy occasion for the 26-year-old place-kicker. Matsuzawa was not among the players chosen during the draft, but the evening did ultimately have a happy ending.
Shortly after the draft concluded, the Las Vegas Raiders signed the kicker as an undrafted free agent. If he makes the franchise's final roster, he will become the first-ever Japanese player in the NFL.
Previous Japan-born players in the league were the sons of American military personnel stationed in the country. Ichikawa-native Matsuzawa, by contrast, comes from a Japanese family and was raised there.
This in itself is remarkable, but there is so much more to Matsuzawa's story. Like most Japanese people, the 26-year-old did not grow up playing American football. He originally wanted to carve out a career in the other football.
From failed soccer player to NFL prospect
Matsuzawa played soccer growing up and wanted to become a professional after graduating from university. However, his career never even got off the ground because he failed his college entrance exam.
In Japan, it is quite common to launch a soccer career via the educational route. Though elite academies exist, many young players gravitate to high school and university soccer because of the more well-rounded environment on offer.
Many of Japan's current national team stars made their name on high school and university teams before going professional. Matsuzawa planned to go down that same route, but when he was rejected, he was shattered.
"I had no energy. I had no purpose," he recalled in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last year. His father, though, had a brilliant idea that would change his life.
Matsuzawa's dad was one of the few people in Japan who had played American football in his youth, so he decided to send his son to the United States in 2018 to attend an NFL game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Las Vegas Raiders.
This lit a fire in Matsuzawa, who realised that his soccer background could allow him to become a place-kicker. Back in Japan, though, he found that it was difficult to receive professional football training. It is estimated that only around 3,000 people play high school football in Japan.
He thus did what any person would do: he went online. "There were a lot of videos on YouTube, a lot of videos on Instagram," he told The Japan Times. "So I just watched a lot of NFL kickers and tried to imitate those top-level players."
He worked at Morton's Steakhouse in Tokyo for three years to save up enough money to move to the US. When he set footage of his kicking to schools in the US, only Hocking College showed any interest.
That was good enough for Matsuzawa, who packed his bags and flew to tiny Nelsonville in southeastern Ohio. He barely spoke any English, but he impressed with his kicking and was eventually spotted by scouts from more prestigious schools.
He transferred to the University of Hawaii in 2023 and felt much more at home than in rural Ohio, although it didn't immediately translate to success on the field. He didn't play at all in his first year.
His junior year, though, would prove transformative. He started every game and was rewarded with an athletic scholarship after leading the team in scoring. "As a Japanese, I struggled in Ohio, through the cultural differences. But Hawaii has everything for me," he explained last year.
He became a star for the Rainbow Warriors. Nicknamed the "Tokyo Toe," Matsuzawa finished 2025 as Hawaii's first-ever first-team All-American after completing a school-record 27 of his 29 attempts. It was clear that he was ready for the NFL.
Getting signed by the Raiders was a full-circle moment for Matsuzawa. It was one of their matches that inspired him to take up kicking, and now he could be about to do what others - like Noriaki Kinoshita in 2007 - failed to do: make an NFL roster.
The FootballTransfers app
Check out FootballTransfers' new app for all of football's big storylines, transfer rumours and exclusive news in one convenient place directly on your mobile device.
The FootballTransfers app is available in the Apple App Store. Download here:
Read more about:
MLS
