Chasing the J – Regional Update

Your friendly guide to the regional leagues in Japan is back, and @GifuRichy gives us an early season primer as to the runners & riders in the race to the J.League. Chasing the J – Regions 2017 With the JFA announcing that J3 would probably “be full” in the next couple of years and promotion/relegation […]

Chasing the J

Given that the JFL season has just started, what better time to make our first check-in with lower league nerd….er, expert @GifuRichy as he looks at the clubs in non-J.League represented prefectures that are looking to make the step up from the JFL & regional leagues to the promised land of the J.League. This […]

Chasing the J: JFL wrap

In the second part of @GifuRichy‘s look back at the non-professional Japanese leagues, he casts his eye over the JFL, and those clubs that were looking to get to the promised land of the J.League proper. 2016 overall standings of “J-chasing” teams: 3 Azul Claro Numazu (59pts) 7 Vanraure Hachinohe (46pts) 8 Reinmeer Aomori (45pts) […]

Chasing the J: The Final Act

It is not just the professional leagues that have (almost) finished, the regional league – and the race to ascend the Japanese football pyramid – also came to a climax in November. Regional connoisseur @GifuRichy tells us about how things turned out in the regional scene. Fukui – Saurcos Fukui After finishing first in […]

Chasing the J – The race

Apologies for the delay. It’s a bit out of date, but the info is still solid. @GifuRichy takes a look at the race for the J.League…. Chasing the J – The Regions (Final League Standings) In order to have a chance to be able to be promoted to the JFL teams have to first make […]

Chasing the J – Summer Report (Part 2)

In the second part of his mid-season assessment of those teams looking to ascend to J.League status, @GifuRichy looks at those clubs from Japan’s regional leagues that are making a concerted push for the promised land. * a quick note – this piece was given to me at the end of July, but due to time […]

Chasing the J – Summer Report

“In the summertime when the weather is hot, you can stretch right up and touch the sky” so sang Mungo Jerry. But for clubs in the JFL – Japan’s de-facto fourth tier, they’re not reaching out to touch the sky, rather reaching for that precious J.League place. From his self constructed, air conditioned igloo somewhere […]

Chasing the J – Miyazaki

Miyazaki, on the southern island of Kyushu is much more famous for its beautiful natural scenery than it is for football. The closest the residents of Miyazaki usually get to pro football is when some J.League teams go and do their pre-season camps down there. That isn’t to say that there aren’t J.League ambitions. As […]

Chasing the J – Nankatsu SC

Know anything about the Tokyo regional league third division? Thought not. Know anything about Captain Tsubasa? No? Well you should. From Lionel Messi to Yabecchi FC to Alessandro Del Piero to Fernando Torres, you aren’t anything in the modern football world unless you know about the diminutive Tsubasa Ozora, star of the aforementioned Captain Tsubasa […]

Chasing the J – Kochi

Situated on the island of Shikoku, Kochi is an oft-forgotten prefecture in many ways – in fact, if it wasn’t on the NHK weather forecast, I’m not sure that many people would know where it is. They need a J.League representative – and that is where @GifuRichy’s lowdown on Kochi United comes in handy. […]