is a Japanese professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who plays as a winger for

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

club

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as FC Schalke 04 (), Schalke 04 (), or abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional German football and multi-sports club originally from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine ...

Club career

Kozuki was promoted to the first team of

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yas ...

club

Kyoto Sanga is a Japanese professional football club based in Kyoto. "Sanga" comes from the Sanskrit word ''sangha'', a term meaning "group" or "club" and often used to denote the Buddhist priesthood, associating the club with Kyoto's many Buddhist temp ...

in 2018. He joined German club 1. FC Düren of the fifth-tier

Mittelrheinliga The Mittelrheinliga ( en, Middle Rhine League), sometimes also referred to as Oberliga Mittelrhein after its elevation to Oberliga status in 2012, is a German amateur football division administered by the Football association of the Middle Rhine, ...

in February 2022. On 26 August 2022, Kozuki agreed to join

side

, where he was initially assigned to the

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

. However, following his performances in the

Regionalliga West The Regionalliga West is a German semi-professional football division administered by the Western German Football Association based in Duisburg. It is one of the five German regional football associations. Being the single flight of the Western ...

, in December of the same year the Japanese player was promoted to the first team and signed his first professional contract in the process, by penning a deal until 2025, with an option for an automatic extension based on a certain number of appearances.

International career

Kozuki has represented Japan at various youth international levels, having played for all the national teams from the under-16 to the under-19 setup.

Career statistics

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kozuki, Soichiro 2000 births Living people Association football people from Kyoto Prefecture Japanese footballers Association football midfielders Kyoto Sanga FC players FC Schalke 04 II players FC Schalke 04 players Bundesliga players J2 League players Oberliga (football) players Regionalliga players Japanese expatriate footballers Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany