You might think that the leap from an old season to a new one is relevant just for pro-football. It isn’t: although some questions are still up in the air when it comes down to the lower levels of Japanese football, even the amateur major division changed its calendar. And therefore, the Japan Football League will start in August for the first time, just like it happened for the three professional divisions in the J.League.
And it’s gonna be a strange season. A team came down from the J3 League for the second year in a row – after Iwate Grulla Morioka and YSCC Yokohama, it was time for Azul Claro Numazu to embrace the return to the JFL. Both times there’s been a relegation playout, the JFL team has won, with Kochi United in 2024 and Reilac Shiga in 2025 having the best in that scrap. Meaning that J3 isn’t safe as it used to be, and knives are coming out of the JFL.
But there’s more, because yes – there are a lot of known faces, but also new clubs. Some of them didn’t survive the test of the JFL, like Asuka FC, who got immediately relegated by finishing last. Or we’re finally over with Atlético Suzuka Club (or Suzuka Point Getters – you might remember them because Kazu Miura played there on loan for a year), who instead faced the descent back to the Regional Leagues after losing a play-out.
The beneficiaries of those relegations are two new teams, which could have a say in the JFL for different reasons. And with the possible proposal of a “J4” (to which, let me be clear, I’m frankly against – too soon) in the works, well… it’s better to know these teams. One came from Kyushu; the other is embedded in the Kanto area. J-Lease FC and Vonds Ichihara are very different stories in this 2026-27 season of the JFL.
Third time is the lucky one
Ichihara isn’t new to the J.League. If any of you is a long-time fan of Japanese football, you remember how JEF United Chiba used to have the “Ichihara” in their name, given their formation from the Furukawa Electric Chiba Plant Soccer Club, born in 1967. Even if JEF dropped that final part of the denomination, Ichihara remained in football through a small club, renamed “SAI Ichihara Soccer Club” in 2008.
2011 brought the current name: “Vonds” integrates the word “bond” (to symbolise unity) and the “V” for “victory” as a start. They started from the prefectural league in Chiba, and it took just two years to get out of there. Unfortunately, even if Vonds Ichihara quickly got promoted from the second division of the Kantō Soccer League, breaking through the top flight of that championship seemed impossible.
In 12 years spent in the first division of the Kantō Soccer League, Vonds Ichihara won it four times; they then reached the final group of the Japanese Regional Leagues Series in three separate occasions. In two, Vonds featured in a promotion playoff against a JFL team: they lost both times in heartbreaking ways. In 2023, they lost in extra-time against Okinawa SV; the year after, Vonds Ichihara lost again, this time against Minabea Mitsumi FC, for a goal conceded in injury time.
They seemed cursed, and instead a miracle happened. Despite finishing fourth in the Kantō Soccer League, they got a spot in the JRL Series because of the third-place finish in the All-Japan Football Championship (a tournament devoted specifically to amateur sides). They finished second in the JRL Series, and faced another playoff, but this time they’ve won it. Away in Suzuka, with a goal in extra-time: the curse was finally over.
A “guaranteed” win
I’d say the history of J-Lease FC is radically different. First of all, they’ve been founded way more recently: it was just 2018 when a company called exactly “J-Lease” engineered the birth of the club. It’s a company which was founded in Oita in 2004, acting as a guarantee to pay a bunch of utilities or commodities. They didn’t seem into sports at all, until a few years ago, when they kickstarted this project near their HQ.
And it’s been a really long journey, because J-Lease FC started by taking over the sporting title of Catiola FC – they merged within JLFC – and played their first season ever in the third division of the Oita Prefectural Amateur Soccer League. To put it shortly, it’s the eighth level of Japanese ladder in football. With three promotions in three seasons, J-Lease FC reached immediately the Kyushu Soccer League, and they imposed themselves as a force at that threshold.
Nonetheless, it wasn’t easy to get out of there, because a lot of good teams play in Kyushu. There were some sparks – like in 2024, when they defeated Verspah Oita 2-0 to enter the Emperor’s Cup, and they reached as well the Japanese Regional Leagues’ Series, reaching the final group, where though they didn’t win any match. 2025, though, was the call from destiny: J-Lease FC finally won the Kyushu Soccer League, and got promoted by winning the JRL Series.
A lot of former Oita Trinita and J.League players have been joining in the last years – Rei Matsumoto, Raisei Shimazu, Takuma Sonoda, Kohei Hattanda. Among others, “Mr. Trinita” himself, Daiki Takamatsu, is the CRO of the club, after having made some way in politics by becoming a city council member in Oita as an independent. There’s a different strength in their resources, and they might take over as the team from Kyushu in the JFL.
Where old meets new in the JFL
Let me be clear: none of these two teams holds (for now) a “J.League 100 Year Plan” status as a club. And I think it’s gonna be hard for them to change that, given that a lot of conditions must be respected to go up. They should be financially safe and sound (especially J-Lease FC, given the company’s support), but there are teams who should be better positioned to be at the top and hoping for a leap towards professionalism.
The JFL Cup – a transitional tournament, just like the “100-Year Vision League” for the professional divisions – gave us a glimpse of what the season might look like for both teams. Vonds Ichihara had a decent showing in the East, winning three games and losing one at PKs, coming sixth in their group. J-Lease FC, instead, surprised many in the West: they reached the runners-up spot, just two points shy of leaders Okinawa SV.
The city of Ichihara is clearly behind Vonds, despite the recent flooding in Chiba didn’t help with the preparation of the new season. Vonds will play the first game away, but they have already the goal of attracting 5,000 people for their home opener in Round 2 against Criacao Shinjuku. Even J-Lease FC had their own issues due to nature-related events, given that the strong earthquake in Kumamoto wasn’t that far away from Oita.
Unlike the pro-world – in the three divisions of the J.League, newly-promoted tend to do well, especially from JFL to J3 –, keeping a spot in the JFL is way harder. In the last decade, three teams who got promoted immediately went down in their maiden campaign (Cobaltore Onagawa in 2018, FC Kariya in 2021, and Asuka FC last season). So the first impact is the most important one – and both clubs will have to brace themselves for it.
