Usually, when you’re leading in the 91st minute, you should be able to win. Heck, at least you need to get a point for your efforts. And that’s what probably Thespa Gunma thought about yesterday, when they were leading 3-2 at the Hanazono Rugby Stadium, in front of just 374 spectators. A late goal by Taishi Tamashiro seemed enough to bring home a win and crack the bleak form they’ve been in this return to J3.
Unfortunately for them, the hosts thought otherwise. And they already showed it – yes, because Gunma went up 2-0 in the first half only to squander the double advantage. But the hosts were not done: substitute Masaki Nishimura scored a brace in a couple of minutes to win the game for the home team and threw Gunma into a state of desperation. But after the final whistle, the important stat was another one.
FC Osaka are pulling this off with a strange setup. They’re the squad with the most players (37) and foreigners in their roster (6, mostly South Koreans), plus they’re consistent. In the eight times they went ahead, they won seven and drew once. Speaking of efficiency, you can see that in the conversion rate chart too – FC Osaka are 14th for shots taken (126), but FIRST for percentage of goals (11,1%!) generated from those shots.
And don’t worry, your eyes are not misleading you – FC Osaka are leading the J3 League table after 11 games. And it will stay that way at least until next week – when they’re gonna have to focus on an important match. But for now, Naoko Otake and his players can dream longer than expected.
Small Frog in a Pond?
It took a while for FC Osaka to get to the pro-world, since they got promoted from the Japan Football League only in 2022 – after eight years in the fourth tier. And we knew already it was going to be a tall order for the club, given that the city can already feature two powerhouses – Cerezo and Gamba -, both playing in the top flight. And you could tell it was going to be a challenge also for other reasons.
Osaka is a wonderful place in Japan, but FC Osaka have rotated their roster a lot in the last seasons. Plus, they’re one of the few promoted teams in the history of the J3 League which didn’t record an uptick in their average attendance once they reached the pro world. They had an average of 2,563 spectators in the last year of the JFL – which turned into 2,680 in 2023, and decreased to 2,470 in 2024.
It’s funny how in the piece re-telling their rise before they kick any ball in the pro-world, we asked openly: “FC Osaka, what are you going to do? Just surviving, like Azul Claro Numazu and YSCC are doing? Or something more? We’ll find out soon”. And we did find out, discovering that this club wasn’t there just for the sake of existing on the major stage.
Life in J3
Instead, things went better than expected – already from the get-go. In 2023, FC Osaka got an 11th-place finish under the guidance of head coach Ryo Shigaki (who did well and then moved to Renofa Yamaguchi in the J2). Sure, Nara Club – the other promoted team – reached fifth and played wonderful football, but FC Osaka were a solid side, with the third-best defence of the whole league.
And if in 2024 Nara Club suffered a steep fall, FC Osaka instead improved. From 11th on the table, with a new coach, the club reached a sixth-place finish – which meant participating to the first-ever play-offs in the J3 League, this time with the BEST defence of the championship. The 1-1 away draw in Toyama wasn’t enough to go through against Kataller, but it showed the progress of the club.
The market could have been a problem – excluding loans, FC Osaka have let go of 23 players (!) from their 2024 squad and took in as many players to rebuild the roster for the 2025 season. And not general names – they lost Hayate Take (a clinical J3 striker), Daigo Furukawa (who moved to Renofa Yamaguchi), and Tatsunari Nagai (the best keeper in the last two years of the third tier).
Nonetheless, defender Shunsuke Tachino and forward Takahiro Kitsui are the second and third-longest serving player in the J3 League this season (they’ve been at FC Osaka for nine years). Change, but also pillars to cement that change around. And the new additions of Ryu Kawakami (a J3 title-winner), Ryo Sato, Hagumi Wada (he did very well with Numazu), Daizo Horikoshi, and Riku Hashimoto – among others – helped.
Unbelievable
The credit – or at least a lot of it – must go to Naoto Otake. His career was already particular as a player – born in 1968, Otake was one of the stars at the Tokai University Daiichi High School, who won the national championship in 1986. Then Otake went on to become a pro, playing mostly for the Yokohama Flügels. He indeed won the 1993 Emperor’s Cup, the 1994-95 Asian Cup Winners’ Cup and the 1995 Asian Super Cup with them.
Then Otake retired as a Kyoto Purple Sanga player in 2001, opting to become a coach. He had a wonderful career in women’s football, leading Iga FC Kunoichi to league titles both in the second and the first division. He already had a nice run with Kagoshima United FC in 2022-23 as the first head coach job he got, but his work at FC Osaka proves he’s really good.
And now, what? Well, Otake and his squad will have a tough test in the next match, because they will play Tochigi City FC away. And if they win, it might be a small attempt at creating a cushion and dreaming something bigger. In the end, FC Osaka already dreamt last season of reaching J2 – the dream might be just postponed.
