A first for a Japanese! Sponsoring Kenyan professional soccer player Yuto Kusaba!
[CROSS TRADE sponsors Kusaba]
Starting June 1, 2024, Crosstrade Co., Ltd. has signed a sponsorship contract with Yuto Kusaba, a player for the Nairobi City Stars, a Kenyan professional football team in the first division.
From Kusaba's Instagram [Kusaba Yuto's career history]
In 2019, he enrolled in the Department of Business Administration at Momoyama Gakuin University in Osaka and joined the university's soccer club.
In 2022, when he was about to enter his fourth year at university, he left the university soccer club and transferred to FC EASY02 Akashi, which was then in the second division of the Kansai Amateur League. During his fourth year at university, he aimed to become a professional soccer player in the amateur league. He recorded 10 goals and 3 assists in 15 games.
In 2023, he traveled to Kenya and joined FC ZENSHIN, a team in the Kenyan fourth division. He joined the league in the second half of the season and scored eight goals in 10 games.
He then joined Nairobi City Stars FC in the Kenyan Premier League (Kenya's first division) in August 2023, becoming the first Asian player to play professional football in the Kenyan first division. He signed a professional contract in January 2024.
From Kusaba's Instagram (Source: kefootball)
Kusaba is the first Japanese professional soccer player to play in Kenya's first division league, and is a player who is expected to perform even better in the future. He also scored two goals in the final match, making him an indispensable member of the team.
He is an irreplaceable person who will become a bridge connecting Kenya and Japan in the future. As fellow workers in Kenya, we will do our utmost to support him, so we ask for your continued support.
