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Paul McNamara

Five days away from one of the biggest matches of his young life, it would have been understandable had Sohgo Ichikawa reined in his efforts when his club team, Lee Man, faced Eastern District.
Instead, the 22-year-old buzzed about on Friday in the manner that has made him the outstanding young player of the early part of the Hong Kong Premier League season.
He will step out for the under-23s’ opening Asian Games fixture against his birth country, Japan, next Wednesday cradling fresh memories of scoring both Lee Man goals in a 2-1 win against opponents who last season boasted the league’s stingiest defence.
Ichikawa has already twice played against Japan: once on his senior Hong Kong debut, aged 17, as a late substitute in the 2022 East Asian Championship, then again off the bench when the city team lost 4-0 in the Games semi-finals three years ago.
A technically superb, direct and dynamic wide attacker, Ichikawa expects that next week he will be “more involved and one of the main players”.

“I’m more excited for this game [than the previous two], and I want to prepare myself to be as fit as possible,” he said. “Playing Japan is always much more meaningful for me. It gives me an extra boost to fight harder and perform better.
“I also want to show that, although I have Japanese blood, I want to fight for Hong Kong.”
His parents will travel to watch the match, while his grandparents, who he visits every year in Japan, will also be in the 45,000-capacity Toyota Stadium, health permitting.
Born in Osaka, Ichikawa was just two months old when his Japanese mother and Chinese father moved the family to Hong Kong.
By the age of 13, he was playing for Hong Kong under-15s and on the books of Kitchee, while also training with FC Vandore, a Japanese junior club.
In December 2021, months after he turned 17, Ichikawa was given his league debut, coming on early for injured Kitchee striker Dejan Damjanovic and scoring in a 6-1 drubbing of BC Rangers.
“It was really a good confidence boost, and a valuable step for me to keep pushing myself harder,” Ichikawa said.
It was somewhat unfortunate that the game at Rangers was Kitchee’s last of a campaign ruined by the coronavirus pandemic. When football resumed nine months later, Ichikawa found a host of senior players blocking his first-team opportunities.
“It was difficult for me to really showcase my abilities, or to get minutes and keep working hard,” Ichikawa said. “I think I could have been doing much more and, maybe, I could have gone out on loan earlier.
“Also, tournaments and overseas games were cancelled during Covid, so there were quite a few missed opportunities, which wasn’t great for me.”
Ichikawa moved in 2023, agreeing a season-long loan to Southern. The district club borrowed him again for 2024-25, a campaign Ichikawa crowned with a man-of-the-match display in a 4-0 Sapling Cup final hammering of Lee Man.
Still, he was in and out of the team for two seasons, before joining permanently last term and becoming a mainstay.
A former pupil at Kiangsu-Chekiang College in North Point, Ichikawa mastered English to the extent it is “my best language”.
He speaks Japanese at home with his parents, while he has picked up Cantonese from teammates and coaches.
Ichikawa’s parents supported his decision to quit full-time education at 16 because “they want me to reach the highest level possible”.
He had a private tutor and studied alone for A levels in mathematics, psychology and business. His grades? “Average,” Ichikawa said.
“Not having to study any more has allowed me to focus much more on off-field things like recovery and extra training,” he added.
In 2024, Ichikawa had a salutary experience with Real Union, the Spanish club where Hong Kong’s Shanghai Shenhua left-back, Shinichi Chan, went on loan the previous year.
“It was my first time with an overseas club, and it was very hard to adapt to a completely new environment and language,” Ichikawa said.
“But Spanish football is top. The intensity and quality of every player, even the reserves, were really high. It was a good learning experience.”
Much like his start with Kitchee fizzled out somewhat, Ichikawa’s early international recognition proved a false dawn. After that brief 2022 outing in 6-0 humbling by Japan, he waited three years to play 15 minutes of a dreary 0-0 draw with Nepal last June.
In June this year, he came on for the closing stages of a 2-0 friendly defeat in Cambodia.
Going back overseas and gaining regular Hong Kong selection are “things I aim to do”, although of more immediate concern to Ichikawa is becoming indispensable at Lee Man.
Nineteen at the previous Asian Games, Ichikawa was limited to one start in a meaningless group game against Uzbekistan, and confined to a watching brief for the landmark knockout victories over Palestine and Iran.
Tsang Chiu-tat, the Hong Kong u23 head coach, believes the “smart and technically brilliant” Ichikawa has sufficient talent to put himself in the spotlight this month, when his side will also play Thailand and Kyrgyzstan.
“He’s very mobile in running and turning, and he provides good agility in attack,” Tsang, who is also Ichikawa’s club technical director, said. “His understanding has improved at Lee Man and I see him playing much better now.”
Recalling his experience from three years ago, Ichikawa said: “The emotions and excitement were incredible, and I was really happy with the results, but I also really wanted to be on the field.
“We showed we could compete, and that’s given us motivation, and the confidence that we can at least get out of the group this time.”


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Sport

Football

Sohgo Ichikawa poised for prominent role in city team’s daunting opener against hosts and country of his birth


Sohgo Ichikawa poised for prominent role in city team’s daunting opener against hosts and country of his birth.


Asian Games 2026

Asian Games: meet the footballer with Japanese blood ‘ready to fight for Hong Kong’

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Sohgo Ichikawa poised for prominent role in city team’s daunting opener against hosts and country of his birth

Sohgo Ichikawa poised for prominent role in city team’s daunting opener against hosts and country of his birth