Shinji Kagawa

Shinji Kagawa (香川 真司 Kagawa Shinji) (born 17 March 1989) is a Japanese footballer who plays for German Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund. He previously played for Cerezo Osaka. He has been capped by Japan at international level.

Club Career

Kagawa started playing football in his primary school years. He joined Kobe NK Football Club and later moved to FC Miyagi Barcelona in Sendai, Miyagi Prefecture. Cerezo Osaka quickly noticed his talent and signed him at the age of 17. He was the first player in Japan to sign a professional contract before graduating high school, except players promoted from youth teams of the J. League clubs. In 2007, he gained a regular position but the club missed the promotion to the J. League Division 1.
By mid-2010, Kagawa was represented with a sports agency run by retired German professional footballer Thomas Kroth, which ultimately handled his transfer to Borussia Dortmund.

Borussia Dortmund

In the summer of 2010, Kagawa transferred from Cerezo to Borussia Dortmund for €350,000. The relatively modest cost of the transfer was because of a release clause in Kagawa's contract with Cerezo, which allowed him to leave the club cheaply if he had an opportunity to play in Europe.

On 23 August 2010, he made his debut appearance in the German Bundesliga, starting for his new club Borussia Dortmund. After scoring his first two competitive goals for the club in the Europa League qualifying tie against Qarabağ Ağdam, he continued this form with his first goal in the Bundesliga match against Wolfsburg, which Dortmund won 2–0. In the Revierderby against archrival Schalke 04, which Dortmund won 3–1, Kagawa said pre-match that he would score two goals, he then went on to score twice, making him one of the fans' favorites.

Kagawa missed half of the Bundesliga season because of an injury he picked up on international duty, but managed to score 8 goals in 18 appearances. His strong effort in the first half of the season helped his side finish as champions of the Bundesliga and he was even named in the Bundesliga Best XI.

Kagawa was back in time for the start of the 2011–12 Bundesliga campaign and quickly found his way back into the starting line-up. Kagawa scored his first goal of the new Bundesliga season on 18 September, coming in a disappointing 2–1 loss to Hannover 96, as his side gave up two goals in the last three minutes. On 22 October, Kagawa opened the scoring in the 7th minute as Dortmund crushed 1. FC Köln 5–0 in front of 80,200 home fans at the Signal Iduna Park. Kagawa scored again on 5 November, as Dortmund brushed aside Wolfsburg 5–1 and moved within two points of league leaders Bayern Munich. He scored a late consolation against Arsenal FC in a 2-1 loss.

International Career

Kagawa played as a member of the Japan national under-20 football team in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup held in Canada.

In 2008 he was also selected to play as a member of the Japanese team for the 2008 Summer Olympics.On 24 May 2008 he made his senior international debut in a friendly Kirin Cup match. Japan won the match against Côte d'Ivoire 1–0. He was not selected in Takeshi Okada's final 23 squad for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. In September 2010 he scored the only goal of the game in Japan's 1–0 win over Paraguay in Yokohama. It took Kagawa five months to rehab his injury from the AFC Asia Cup. He returned in Dortmund's final game as a substitute in the 87th minute.

2011 AFC Asian Cup

He was included in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup by coach Alberto Zaccheroni. In the quarterfinals against Qatar, he scored 2 goals. The game ended 3-2, a win for Japan. In the semifinal against South Korea, Kagawa broke his metatarsal and missed the final where Japan beat Australia after extra-time.