It was reported on the 23rd that J1 side Machida Zelvia have all but finalized the signing of Japan national team striker Koki Ogawa (29, NEC in the Dutch Eredivisie). With word of a lucrative contract worth over ¥300 million ($2 million+) a year, along with mixed opinions about his World Cup goal against the Netherlands and his return to Japan after three years abroad, reactions on the forum thread were divided.
Machida’s signing of Japan national team striker Koki Ogawa now all but decided — offered over ¥300 million a year, persistent courtship pays off… the striker who set up the equalizer against the Netherlands at the North/Central America World Cup
It became all but certain on the 23rd that J1 club Machida will sign Japan national team striker Koki Ogawa (29), currently with NEC in the Dutch Eredivisie. An official announcement is expected in the near future.
According to multiple sources, the club has offered Ogawa’s camp an estimated salary exceeding ¥300 million a year. This marks Ogawa’s first return to Japanese football since he left Yokohama FC in 2023, three years ago.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
A 29-year-old riding the bench at NEC making the next World Cup squad is a stretch to begin with.
Most Dutch NEC fans rated Ogawa below Shiogai anyway.
Kamada stole the spotlight from Tanaka Ao's goal too, come to think of it.
He never really produced results abroad anyway.
What a fearsome 'goal thief'… if it weren't me, I'd have missed it. (riffing on the famous JoJo's Bizarre Adventure line "If it were anyone but me, I'd have missed it")
Who?
Is he more popular than Kazu and Mitoma in football circles?
No way.
Don't disrespect the national team like that.
So Ogawa's going to get 'Machida-fied' too, just like Soma, Masako, Sento, and Fujio? 🤣🤣
and in the Netherlands he's been just a bit-part player,
but score a goal (well, assist) at the World Cup and suddenly it's ¥300 million? Wild.
Ah, so that's why there were reports of Fujio transferring to Kashiwa or Nagasaki.
But he won't get called up for Asian qualifiers anymore.
If anything, my impression is that Moriyasu has treated Ogawa pretty coldly.
I mean, he started Machino against Brazil.
There's also a chance he ends up washed up, like Takahara after coming back from the Bundesliga.
Lol, this is the same crowd that was saying 'Cerezo's winning it' back in 2014, now predicting Machida for the title.
Might as well call it a retirement home.
most regular people just don't care that much.
Such a waste.
There are posters at the station with Soma front and center, but I doubt anyone even recognizes him.
Such a nobody getting ¥300 million, lol.
He's even less impressive than Satoteru or Nakano lmao (Satoteru = nickname for Hanshin Tigers slugger Teruaki Sato; Nakano = fellow Hanshin infielder Takumu Nakano)
Playing Soma and Ogawa together is weak.
They were terrible at the Toulon Tournament too.
That runner-up finish was basically thanks to Tanaka Ao, Hatate, and Obi anyway.
so they'll probably win the title.
That's not a prediction, that's just wishful thinking.
Machida's leading the charge, but others will follow.
Surpassing pro baseball is close.
https://image-tm.s2mr.jp/i/original/1787505728657.jpeg
Teruaki Sato — salary ¥450 million
Takumu Nakano — salary ¥300 million
Koki Ogawa — salary ¥300 million 🤣🤣
Sato >>>>>> Nakano >>>>>>>>>> Ogawa (lol)
Hanshin Tigers >>>>>>>>>>>> Machida Zelvia (lol)
By the way, Morishita will probably hit ¥300 million too this offseason 🤣🤣
Naming a bunch of nobodies doesn't really prove anything.
Guess we've reached the era where people bring up Hanshin salaries, red-faced and desperate, just to compete with J.League player salaries.
In 10 years, every player on Machida Zelvia and Vissel Kobe will probably be making ¥300 million lol
He was copying Ryunosuke's move.
Not exactly a great example for kids.
Depends how you spin it.
He fled Iwata, where the tactical demands were heavy, and produced results at Yokohama FC where he was let off the hook.
But once he went to the Netherlands, he faced the same kind of demands as Iwata again and couldn't deliver — that's basically what happened.
I hadn't even heard of them until around 2024.
Surprised they're stronger than Urawa, Kawasaki, and Kashima now.
Because a wealthy owner took over management and went all in on reinforcements —
coach, staff, players, everything.
Background and Key Points
Machida Zelvia only reached J1 in 2024, three years after a takeover by CyberAgent chairman Susumu Fujita, and their subsequent spending spree — reportedly a dozen-plus players now on eight-figure-yen deals — has made them the league’s most talked-about (and, to many older fans, most resented) club, associated as much with direct, set-piece-heavy football and gamesmanship controversies as with results. Koki Ogawa’s path is separate: he broke out at Yokohama FC in 2022 after struggling under Jubilo Iwata’s tactical demands, moved to Eredivisie side NEC Nijmegen in 2023, and became a fringe player there before appearing off the bench for Japan at the 2026 World Cup, where he was credited with setting up an equalizer against the Netherlands.
The thread’s real disagreement isn’t about the transfer itself but about what that one World Cup contribution should be worth — several posters argue a squad player at a mid-table Dutch club shouldn’t command Machida’s reported ¥300 million-plus salary, while others treat the number as simply what a rich J1 club can now pay.
What’s easy to miss from outside Japan is how unusual this figure still is: J.League salaries remain far below NPB baseball or Europe’s top divisions, so a ¥300 million deal is newsworthy precisely because it’s concentrated in one club’s ownership-driven spending rather than a league-wide trend. Also unstated in the thread is that national-team manager Hajime Moriyasu has reportedly used Ogawa sparingly since that World Cup moment, undercutting the idea that the goal contribution secured his international future.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread「[Football] J1 Machida’s signing of Japan national team striker Koki Ogawa now all but decided — official announcement coming soon… Offered over ¥300 million a year, persistent courtship pays off, first domestic return in 3 years」.
