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 Polish
Ekstraklasa club
Górnik Zabrze, on loan from
Schalke 04.
Club career
Kōzuki 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
1. Fußball-Club Düren e.V., commonly known as 1. FC Düren, is a German association football club based in the town of Düren, North Rhine-Westphalia.
History
FC Düren-Niederau
FC Düren-Niederau was founded in the year 1908 as ''FC 08 ...
of the fifth-tier
Mittelrheinliga in February 2022.
On 26 August 2022, Kōzuki agreed to join
Bundesliga side
Schalke 04, where he was initially assigned to the
reserve team. However, following his performances in the
Regionalliga West, 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.
He scored his first Bundesliga goal in his second debut against
RB Leipzig.
On 30 January 2024, Kōzuki moved on loan to
Górnik Zabrze in Poland until the end of 2024, with an option to buy.
International career
Kōzuki 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
Profileat the FC Schalke 04 website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kōzuki, Sōichirō
2000 births
Living people
People from Uji, Kyoto
Association football people from Kyoto Prefecture
Japanese men's footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Kyoto Sanga FC players
FC Schalke 04 II players
FC Schalke 04 players
Górnik Zabrze players
Bundesliga players
2. Bundesliga players
Regionalliga players
Oberliga (football) players
J2 League players
Ekstraklasa players
Japanese expatriate men's footballers
Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Germany
Expatriate men's footballers in Germany
Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Poland
Expatriate men's footballers in Poland