Masafumi Kawaguchi

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Masafumi Kawaguchi is an American Football player from Japan. Born on February 19, 1973 in Kawanishi, Hyogo,

Kawaguchi was introduced to football during his senior year at San Clemente High School [1]. He enrolled at Ritsumeikan University in Kyoto as an international relations major. He played for six years with the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe from 1997 to 2003. He was named to the All-NFL Europe Team in 1999 [2].

In 1998 he was among the first four Japanese players to participate in an NFL training camp when he participated in the Green Bay Packers camp [3]. In 2003, he was invited to the San Francisco 49ers training camp in 2003, and participated in the American Bowl exhibition game in the Osaka game between the 49ers and the Washington Redskins [4]. He made the practice squad, but was dropped from the roster before the season began[5].

Kawaguchi played a key role on the Japanese national team that won the International Federation of American Football 1999 World Cup[6].