There’s nothing more legendary than seeing something become a worldwide attraction, the property of everyone, globally. J.League is trying to achieve that, but to do so, you need a global fanbase. And it’s there, although its numbers can certainly rise. In this series of pieces, which will all fall under the label “J. League Worldwide”, we’re trying to tell the personal and professional stories of Japanese football fans all over the world.
Before introducing the eleventh instalment of the series, I want to remind the efforts of Stuart Smith in starting this column. Twenty-three episodes are done, and in the last one – published a few months ago – we talked with Zach about his passion for the J.League, echoing all the way from Canada.
And if you can read here his interview with us, for Episode number 24, we come back to Europe and precisely to Spain, which has already been featured in a few episodes in this section. This time, we talked with a fan of one of the “elevator teams” in J.League history: Oita Trinita. And his passion for the Kyushu-based club wasn’t an accident.
Nacho has a pretty active Twitter account covering the club, but we sat down with him to discuss how this connection first started, what prompted this following, and how J.League has changed his image in Spain in the last decade. Enjoy!
Where are you from, and when did you first start following the J. League?
Hello there! I’m Nacho, and I’m from Spain. I started following the J. League around the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
Do you have a favourite team or player?
Yes, my team is definitely Oita Trinita. Currently, I don’t have a favourite player, but I can remember how it used to be Hirotaka Tameda, the player who made me fall in love with Oita Trinita, and now I support them thanks to his plays.
We’re used to seeing a lot of coverage around football here in Europe or South America. A tendency is growing as well in North America and Asia. How do you keep up with the news regarding the league?
I mainly follow Oita Trinita, so I try to follow the club through football apps (e.g. Sofascore) and on Twitter (or X). I think that the Internet and its possibilities have clearly made it easier to access information from all around the world.
Have you ever been to Japan for some matches? If so, how was the impact? And if not, which match and which aspect are you longing for the most?
No, unfortunately, I have not. I would like to visit the Oita Dome one day, and possibly meet some of the supporters I got to know on Twitter, maybe hang out with them before and after the game. That would be a wonderful experience.
From your point of view, how do you think the J. League has been perceived in your own country? And there’s a space to improve the image of the league around the world, just like they’re trying to do?
The J. League became a bit more popular with the arrival of Andrès Iniesta in the country (when he joined Vissel Kobe in 2018). However, the Japanese championship is still perceived as a minor, exotic league. I think that if La Liga imported more talent from Japan (a more common process happening right now in Germany or England), fans would start understanding that the J.League has a more than decent level.
I think that focusing on developing local talent, the way they have been doing for many years already, should be the way to go for any league around the world.
We want to thank Nacho for his time and availability: it was a nice chat, and you should check him out on his Twitter account (@nacho_trinita). Meanwhile, we hope to bring you another episode soon, so stay tuned with J. League Regista!
