TORONTO — Tsubasa Endoh comes full circle Saturday when he retires as a Toronto FC player.
After being diagnosed with acute undifferentiated leukemia in December 2021, the 31-year-old winger from Japan had a dream.
"Every step of the treatment, every setback, the time that I had to spend in the hospital, I always dreamed of coming back to play here, as a TFC player, at BMO Field," said Endoh, who spent six seasons (2016-21) with Toronto.
But while his leukemia is in remission, it has taken a toll on his body — and he has not reached the five-year milestone.
Time for Plan B.
Toronto announced Friday that it has signed Endoh to a one-day contract to officially retire as a TFC player. Endoh will be honoured before Saturday's game against Atlanta United, delivering the match ball.
“It is truly a special moment for Toronto FC to have Tsubasa come back and officially retire as a Red,” Toronto GM Jason Hernandez said in a statement. “The club wanted to give him this recognition for all his contributions over six years and celebrate his career."
When Endoh entered Toronto's training centre Thursday, he was greeted by players and staff lined up in the lobby.
"That really gave me goosebumps. That shows what this club is about," he said. "It's all about the people who you work with."
After four seasons at the University of Maryland, the Japanese youth international was taken by Toronto in the first round (ninth overall) of the 2016 MLS SuperDraft.
After his TFC contract expired following the 2021 season. Endoh signed with Melbourne City FC in Australia’s A-League in early 2022. Later that year, he joined the Los Angeles Galaxy reserve side, scoring twice on his debut.
It was while in L.A., that his body started malfunctioning. Blood work showed an alarming white blood cell count. A trip to the ER turned into an eight-day hospital stay during which he was told he may have cancer.
Endoh returned to Japan to be with family, and it was there that he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia.
The five-foot-six Endoh played at 146 pounds and, while still sporting a smile, looks a little more slight these days.
Asked about his health these days, Endoh manages to be both upbeat and realistic having already had to deal with a relapse.
"It's OK," he said, before listing some of the issues he is dealing with.
They include chronic GvHDs (graft-versus-host disease), a systemic disorder occurring when immune cells from transplanted tissue recognize the recipient's body as foreign and attack its cells.
This works: He has survived four rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and a bone-marrow transplant. It has led to prolonged hospital stays in Japan.
COVID protocols and the fear of his immune system being compromised made hospital visits difficult. His last round of chemo lasted eight weeks and he had no visitors.
"You spend so much time alone … It's not easy," he said. "The silver lining was to get all the support from TFC fans and the Galaxy, the guys from Maryland."
Leukemia and its treatment have taken a toll on his immune system, opening the door to other nasties, from pneumonia to COVID.
Most recently, he has been suffering from debilitating body cramps.
"From the outside, I look fine and I can live like a normal life. But inside of my body there's a lot going on. It's not easy to live day-to-day," he confessed.
He is on 15 different medications, taking 20-25 pills daily. It will likely be that way the rest of his life.
He suffers from fascia inflammation (fascia is the thin cover of tissue that holds muscles in place), which means picking something up on the floor can be difficult because his muscles tighten so much. He sometimes has to stop typing when his fingers cramp. Putting on socks is painfully hard.
"Those are the little things that add up," he said. "But this is my life now. I try not to focus on negative things in life. It's what it is. You just have to adapt and accept it."
He is making the most of it.
Living in Tokyo with Australian-Japanese fiancée Jamie Shoshana Kats, Endoh is halfway through his master's in international sport management at the Global Institute of Sport.
He works out the best he can, usually after a morning coffee. Endoh makes a point of thanking the head of iDrinkCoffee, a Canadian company that manufactures espresso machines and coffee-makers. The owner, a generous TFC fan, shipped a deluxe espresso machine to Japan for him.
It's just one example of the support Endoh has received from friends and former teammates at Toronto, the Galaxy and Maryland.
"It's been surreal," he said with a smile. "That's the reason why I could keep going."
Endoh scored 10 goals and added five assists in 80 appearances for Toronto across all competitions. He was part of TFC's treble-winning side in 2017, helping the club to the Canadian Championship, Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup.
He also won the Voyageurs Cup in 2016 and '18 and set the franchise record for fastest goal when he scored 29 seconds into Toronto's 3-2 win over visiting Atlanta in June 2019.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 11, 2025
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
