Ai Kitagawa

A former Japanese youth national team call-up and the top midfielder in the American Athletic Conference, Ai Kitagawa joins Aurora FC for her first season in 2026.

A native of Itami City in Japan, Kitagawa attends the University of Memphis, where she has spent the last two seasons, logging over 2,500 minutes while scoring 16 career goals to go along with 11 career assists.

During the 2024 season, Kitagawa stormed onto the college soccer scene, earning the American’s annual Freshman of the Year award and landing a spot on the all-conference Second Team. Kitagawa contributed 17 points that season, helping the Tigers to the American Conference Final.

She followed a productive freshman campaign with her best collegiate season to date, registering career highs in appearances (20), minutes (1609) and goals (10) in 2025.

Kitagawa notched three multi-goal matches, including in an NCAA Tournament win over Illinois, en route to conference Midfielder of the Year honors, as well as United Soccer Coaches All-South Region honors.

Prior to arriving in Memphis, Kitagawa was twice named Player of the Year at Osaka Gakugei Senior High School in Japan and earned a call-up to the Japan U15 Youth National Team’s training camp.