Another year, another run of J3 League – the division which never disappoints us. Two promotions, with a close fight until the end, and the first scare for relegation (which it didn’t happen in the end – lucky Giravanz Kitakyushu…). To review the season, we summed up a small panel to pick the possible options, then saw the votes coming through polls by our readers and followers:
J3 League is probably the most interesting division in Japanese football in terms of development. 2024 will be pivotal:
- Omiya Ardija will play third tier football for the first time, Zweigen Kanazawa will be back after 10 years.
- A decade will have gone by since the inaugural edition.
- No promotions from JFL for the first time in a few years.
- Playoffs are finally here!
But first, a recap of what’s been happening in 2023.
Best Team | Ehime FC (85,7%)
Ehime FC just took the J3 by storm this year. Through the Summer, they flew away from the competition – in this article here we’ve explained how they indeed went through a rebuild and what they have to do to sustain it.
Flop Team | FC Ryukyu (56,3%)
Usually, it’s not super easy to go back to J3, especially once you’ve been establishing yourself as a solid side in the championship. That goes as well for FC Ryukyu, who got relegated with a lot of games to play in 2022 and were probably expecting a different season in 2023. They ended 17th, showing concerning signs, and having only a few silver linings in this season.
With Okinawa SV debuting and almost getting relegated right away from JFL (they won the playoffs against VONDS Ichihara to avoid the drop), maybe Okinawa reached a sealing in terms of development. Despite much experience with expert J.Leaguers on the squad, Ryukyu rarely showed improvement. The big senators – Tomidokoro, Kiyotake, Kanazaki, T. Abe – didn’t leave the expected mark.
There were a few positives: Katsuya Nakano is an interesting resource, Kosei Okazawa had an impact on loan from Cerezo Osaka, and Ryunosuke Noda scored 10+ goals in J3. But the rest looked dreadful – including heavy defeats at home. And when we say heavy, we mean really disastrous: 0-3 against Tegevajaro, 1-3 against FC Osaka, 0-4 against a struggling SC Sagamihara.
MVP | Riki Matsuda, Ehime FC (46,7%)
Riki Matsuda has been hard to read. For years, we’ve asked ourselves why he should play in J1. And he did so, but he wasn’t scoring – although many underlined his tactical acumen and his will for sacrifice. But Matsuda has gone through nine seasons of mostly J1 football without getting even closer to a season with 10+ goals. And not in J1 or J2, but in all competitions – the best season was in Fukuoka with Avispa in 2019 (8).
After leaving Cerezo Osaka in 2021, he signed for J3 League-side Ehime FC. And it seemed finally the right fit – yes, Matsuda scored eight goals again in the third tier, but he did so in a side that was struggling. And then he evolved again in 2023, taking over Kenta Tokushige’s armband and becoming the captain. Furthermore, he reached 13 goals, won the MVP and has been featured in the “Best XI” of the league. Well played, sir.
Best Goalkeeper | Tatsunari Nagai, FC Osaka & Hiromu Musha, Azul Claro Numazu (35,7%)
We were hoping that one of the two would have won, but in the end it seems fair. Both deserve the award for different reasons. It’s easy to identify the ones for Nagai – he’s kept 16 clean sheets with a side that was newly-promoted to J3. It wasn’t granted to happen – Nagai has been really good. That’s a 42,1% of clean sheets – the highest among keepers who featured in at least 25 games this season. For a player that had to restart four years ago from the second division of the Kansai Soccer League, that’s a major achievement.
Different story and numbers for Hiromu Musha, but impressive feat nonetheless. In a side struggling that much in the last four seasons, Musha initially didn’t feature as a pro. After attending the Kanto Gakuin University, he didn’t have the plan to enter the league right away – but accepted an offer from Iwate Grulla Morioka in 2021. Then switched to Azul Claro Numazu, where he kept a good average of goals conceded – 1.28 in 2022, 1.23 in 2023.
MIP | Noah Kenshin Browne, Azul Claro Numazu (64,3%)
Azul Claro Numazu showed this year how much is important to have a good coach in the dugout. We didn’t know how Masashi Nakayama would have performed in his first gig as a head coach, although he was rumored to be this year’s Jubilo Iwata manager last Winter. Then he picked Azul Claro, an environment that he knows well – he was there for six seasons as a “player”, but we would call it in a representation role.
And just like Musha, Nakayama has been fundamental for the progress of Noah Kenshin Browne – an unidentified object as a player. Launched by Marinos, he found a few minutes with Kamatamare Sanuki, then almost disappeared at Mito HollyHock. And he took his sweet time to perform in Numazu, where he arrived in mid-2021. But this year he had his breakthrough – 13 goals in 37 games, plus six assists and one goal in the Emperor’s Cup.
Best Rookie | Harumi Minamino, Tegevajaro Miyazaki & Shunsuke Tanimoto, Ehime FC (45,5%)
Among the secrets of success for Ehime FC’s run to the top, there’s been a rookie as well – Shunsuke Tanimoto, who represented the core of defensive midfield for the orange side. He’s the midfielder who played the most minutes after Motegi, scored two goals, and he’s a past within the Cerezo Osaka’s youth ranks. Surely he’s gonna be one to watch next year in J2.
Different reasoning for Harumi Minamino, who’s been a rookie in J3 with Tegevajaro Miyazaki and he’s pretty young (class 2004), but he was nevertheless impressive in his season. 10 goals, and four assists, and he played all the games from this J3 League – whenever he scored, Miyazaki snatched at least a draw. He already debuted in J1 with Gamba Osaka and we’re sure there’s a lot of curiosity around where he could end up next.
Best Signing | Ryo Kubota, Zweigen Kanazawa » FC Gifu (53,8%)
It was a deserved one. To be completely honest, the two years-loan seemed already farfetched by Zweigen Kanazawa – Kubota was one of the few positives from FC Gifu last season, and he could have been maybe useful for rotation in J2. But then Zweigen decided to let Kubota go and Gifu massively benefitted from it: he’s still young (class 2001), he joined pro football directly from high school, and he could develop further.
But if last year FC Gifu was a complete disaster and Kosuke Fujioka was by far the best player in the team, the squad slightly improved, and Kubota could make a case for being the best player of the season. The winger contributed to 15 goals – nine goals and six assists –, seventh in the charts and second among midfielders (only behind Matsumoto Yamaga’s Yusuke Kikui).
Best Wish | Daigo Furukawa, Iwaki FC » FC Osaka & Oriola Sunday, Tokushima Vortis » Vanraure Hachinohe (38,5%)
Speaking of goal contributions, Daigo Furukawa did pretty well in Osaka – with the newly-promoted side FC Osaka, the striker put together nine goals and four assists. He came on loan from Iwaki FC, where he was helpful in bringing the team up to J3, but then barely featured in their winning run in 2022. He seems a player cut for this division, and he’s just 24. FC Osaka seemed to have already confirmed his permanent move towards Kansai.
For Oriola Sunday, instead, there are different scenarios. Staying in Hachinohe another year? Finding another J3 side? Or going back to Tokushima, where Kaito Mori won’t probably stay another year, and find some minutes there? Retaining his spot with Vanraure could be a good move – the Nigerian striker speaks a solid Japanese, and Hachinohe will definitely need any possible help to even remotely repeat the campaign they had this year (seventh, 56 points!).
Best Foreign Player | Marcus Vinicius, FC Imabari (69,2%)
Arrived last year in Imabari among many foreigners, Marcus Vinicius – formerly Marcus Indio – confirmed his rise with the Ehime-bound side. Read here to see his journey and think about what might come next.
Best Goal | Haruto Shirai, FC Ryukyu v. Azul Claro Numazu (MD12 – 45,5%)
We mentioned Harumi Minamino, and another talent made by Gamba Osaka leads the way here. Haruto Shirai seemed very lost in the last two seasons, especially after Gamba Osaka had to fold their U-23 team in J3 League. Shirai has almost 100 games with the U-23 side, but he featured just twice with Gamba Osaka’s senior side – 45 minutes in J1 in 2021 (against Urawa Reds) and 11 minutes in the J.League Cup in 2020 (against Shonan).
Don’t get us wrong – there’s been a serious injury to his ACL that didn’t help. It just didn’t. But when he left Gamba for Fagiano Okayama in 2022, we were hoping that Shirai would have begun to fly. He didn’t – Tiago Alves, Mitchell Duke, and even veteran Kazuki Saito were better options for Takashi Kiyama. So he started just five times, and he played 22 matches, scoring just once.
So when he signed with FC Ryukyu last Winter – having the club with the likes of Abe, Nakano, Kanazaki, and Kelvin – we weren’t expecting that much. And indeed it hasn’t happened that much, but Shirai has played the biggest amount of minutes since 2019, and he put together this amazing goal against Azul Claro Numazu, reminding us of the player he could have been.
Best Manager | Kiyotaka Ishimaru, Ehime FC (46,7%)
As we mentioned in the article around the Ehime FC campaign, Ishimaru has been able to put everything together. He knows his way in Japanese football, he knows the environment (having already played and coached the club), and he needed a new platform to bounce back after some unfortunate adventures.
From our side, what Nobuhiro Ishizaki and Ryo Shigaki have done respectively with Vanraure Hachinohe and FC Osaka is comparable, but winning the league and rebuild the club so fast surely is a worthy achievement. Now the challenge is to keep EFC in J2, which will be a tough task.
Thank all our panellists for featuring here, we can’t wait to see them again in action for 2024. You can recover J1 League and J2 League awards at the links reported. It’s been a blast to have another year of the Regista Awards: thank you for the support, despite this year we’ve been on and off for a few months.
J. League Regista 