Legendary Japanese football reporter Hiroshi Kagawa passes away 24 days before his 100th birthday
Hiroshi Kagawa of Japan (L) receives the FIFA Presidential Award from FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter during the FIFA Ballon d’Or Gala 2014 at the Kongresshaus on January 12, 2015 in Zurich, Switzerland. (Photo by Philipp Schmidli/Getty Images)
TOKYO, December 14, 2024 - Hiroshi Kagawa, who covered the World Cup Finals 10 times, starting from 1974 in West Germany until the 2014 edition in Brazil, a hall of fame award winner of the Japan Football Association, passed away on 5 December 2024, only 24 days shy of his 100th birthday.
Born and raised in Kobe, Kagawa was a little but fast running forward player. His team won the national high school championships only one month before the World War II broke out. After the War he decided to become a sports reporter and joined Sankei Newspaper in 1952.
PASSION FOR FOOTBALL At that time Japan was very much a sumo and baseball-loving country. Not so many people were interested in football. In 1974, Kagawa’s passion for football made him ask his boss to allow him to cover the World Cup Finals in West Germany, only for cold water to be poured on him.
But he was so eager to report on the World Cup on the spot that he finally and successfully persuaded his supervisors to allow him travel to Germany for one full month. He was delighted to be able to watch the World Cup matches with his own eyes, although his company did not cover his travel expenses. He was only guaranteed the company’s coverage of potential financial loss on the occasion of unforeseeable accidents. He managed to get financial aid from a sports goods company.
A DREAM COME TRUE During the early-stage matches, his sharp eyes caught the significantly improved technical ball control by many European teams. He wrote a story by emphasising that European teams were clearly catching up with the once dominant South American opponents in overall skills.
His dream came true. Covering the World Cup Finals gave him deeper insights into reporting football. He loved high-profile international matches and tournaments. He covered the European Championship five times.
FIFA PRESIDENTIAL AWARD Years passed, he was promoted to the position of Editor-in-Chief of Sankei Sports Newspaper, before he retired and became a freelance football writer. He was a producer for the Japan Football Archives from 2007. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Japan Football Association in 2010 and was honoured with the FIFA Presidential Award in 2015.
He encouraged the Japan National Men’s Team in September 2024 by saying, “No other team in the world has achieved such highly technical development in such a short period like Japan.”
Born and raised in Kobe, Kagawa was a little but fast running forward player. His team won the national high school championships only one month before the World War II broke out. After the War he decided to become a sports reporter and joined Sankei Newspaper in 1952.
PASSION FOR FOOTBALL At that time Japan was very much a sumo and baseball-loving country. Not so many people were interested in football. In 1974, Kagawa’s passion for football made him ask his boss to allow him to cover the World Cup Finals in West Germany, only for cold water to be poured on him.
But he was so eager to report on the World Cup on the spot that he finally and successfully persuaded his supervisors to allow him travel to Germany for one full month. He was delighted to be able to watch the World Cup matches with his own eyes, although his company did not cover his travel expenses. He was only guaranteed the company’s coverage of potential financial loss on the occasion of unforeseeable accidents. He managed to get financial aid from a sports goods company.
A DREAM COME TRUE During the early-stage matches, his sharp eyes caught the significantly improved technical ball control by many European teams. He wrote a story by emphasising that European teams were clearly catching up with the once dominant South American opponents in overall skills.
His dream came true. Covering the World Cup Finals gave him deeper insights into reporting football. He loved high-profile international matches and tournaments. He covered the European Championship five times.
FIFA PRESIDENTIAL AWARD Years passed, he was promoted to the position of Editor-in-Chief of Sankei Sports Newspaper, before he retired and became a freelance football writer. He was a producer for the Japan Football Archives from 2007. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Japan Football Association in 2010 and was honoured with the FIFA Presidential Award in 2015.
He encouraged the Japan National Men’s Team in September 2024 by saying, “No other team in the world has achieved such highly technical development in such a short period like Japan.”
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