Kansei Matsuzawa’s Path From Japan to the Raiders Is an NFL First

Kansei Matsuzawa is set to make history as the first player born in Japan to sign with an NFL team, joining the Las Vegas Raiders after a path that began not in a youth football program or a college combine – but in the stands at an Oakland Raiders game in 2018. What makes this story stand apart is not just where it started, but how little about it was supposed to work.

How Matsuzawa Found Football in Japan

Matsuzawa was 19 years old and visiting California as a tourist when he attended his first NFL game. He had never kicked a football before. He returned to Japan, bought two footballs and a kicking tee, and started training alone on public fields in Tokyo – using YouTube tutorials as his only coaching resource.

Kansei Matsuzawa (@kan08sei) taught himself how to kick by watching videos online. He was inspired by his first NFL game in 2018. Now, "The Tokyo Toe" is following his dream as a member of the @raiders 🇯🇵 #NFLHeritage pic.twitter.com/O2cdsz4Mfj

— NFL (@NFL) May 31, 2026

For roughly three years, he balanced self-training with shifts at a Morton’s Steakhouse in Tokyo, filming his own kicks on his phone and packaging the footage into highlight reels. He sent those reels to approximately 50 U.S. junior colleges. One in Ohio responded.

That single callback launched the next phase. He eventually earned a scholarship at the University of Hawai’i, where the structure and competition finally gave his self-taught mechanics something real to work against.

The Road From Hawai’i to an NFL Roster Spot

The 2025 season at Hawai’i removed any remaining doubt about whether Matsuzawa could compete at a high level. He went 27 of 29 on field goal attempts, finishing second nationally in makes.

The “Tokyo Toe” then opened the year by converting 25 consecutive field goals – tying a 43-year-old FBS record for most makes to start a season. He then extended the streak to 26 to set both the Hawai’i and Mountain West records.

He became the first consensus All-American in Hawai’i program history and was named a finalist for the Lou Groza Award, college football’s top honor for kickers. ESPN called him “one of the most improbable NFL prospects ever.”

From there, Matsuzawa was invited to the NFL Scouting Combine and selected for the league’s International Player Pathway (IPP) program.

The IPP provides international prospects with a structured entry point, including camp roster exemptions and a designated international practice squad spot. His signing with the Raiders made him the first Japanese player to enter the league through that program.

What Matsuzawa Represents for the NFL’s Global Push

The NFL has been deliberate in expanding its international footprint, scheduling regular-season games in cities like Paris and Madrid and building infrastructure to develop talent outside traditional markets. Matsuzawa is the clearest example yet of that infrastructure producing a legitimate prospect rather than a ceremonial one.

He is not arriving as a novelty. He is arriving as the second-most accurate field goal kicker in college football last season, competing for an actual roster spot. The IPP practice squad exemption gives him a safety net, but his numbers suggest he does not need to rely on it.

The realistic hurdle is the transition itself – NFL pressure, longer attempts, and a preseason competition where every miss is magnified. That is the next test, and it is fair.

All in all, Matsuzawa’s story is already remarkable enough – from tourist to consensus All-American to NFL signee in seven years, with no formal coaching until his early twenties.

Whether he wins the Raiders‘ kicking job outright or carves out a practice squad role, his presence in an NFL camp is an NFL first. What he does with it will determine how the story gets remembered.