Mobility in J.League is a constitutional trait of this championship. With many players shining and opting for a European adventure, other are deciding to just stay put and give their best in their home country. And others – who might have faced a premature end to their careers’ trajectory – are actually blossoming again in the top-flight.
And it’s particular hard for the goalkeeper – once you lost that starting slot, it’s hard to grab it back. Especially if things start to go well for your team, or your squad changes the head coach, impacting directly your minutes. And we picked three examples which particularly shone throughout this season.
One used to be the heir of Hitoshi Sogahata at Kashima Antlers, THE keeper for many years of one of the most powerful dynasties in J.League. One used to be a bench-warmer and hasn’t played for a long time. And the last was a starter for one of the strongest sides to ever win J2 in the last decade, but struggled to find space in the top-flight. These are the stories of Takashi Oki, Koki Fukui, and Gakuji Ota – three keepers who are doing their best.
The Reject
Class ’95, Koki Fukui has been tied his whole career to Machida Zelvia. As you can see from the above video, his goodbye to the club last year was very heartfelt – because Fukui joined Zelvia in 2017, when they were still playing in the second division. He managed to keep his place despite having to deal with keepers like Toshiyasu Takahara, Takuya Masuda, and Yota Akimoto. And Fukui was instrumental to build the club’s reputation.
Nonetheless, when Go Kuroda was instated to the dugout, Zelvia decided to go in another direction. At 28 years old, suddenly, Fukui wasn’t the starter anymore. In the resounding winning campaign of 2023, Kuroda relied on William Popp, who then joined Yokohama F. Marinos. And once reached J1, Machida brought the heavy artillery, signing former wonderkid Kosei Tani from Gamba Osaka (first on loan, then permanently).
That could have been the end for Fukui, who played just 13 league games between 2023 and 2024. And when he signed for Cerezo Osaka, no one was expecting him to dethrone veteran Kim Jin-hyeon – the most present foreign player in the history of J.League, and a member of Cerezo since 2009 (who played all games last season). Instead, health problems have propelled Fukui into the starting spot and, despite a strange season by Cerezo, Fukui has conceded just 13 goals in 13 games.
The Bench-Warmer
Gakuji Ota turned 34 years old, and his career wasn’t exactly screaming no. 1 at all costs. He featured for FC Gifu when they were still playing J2, then a game less stint with Tokyo Verdy, an unsuccessful loan to Kataller Toyama in J3 before signing with perennial struggling side Kyoto Sanga. Between 2020 and 2022, Ota played just once in three seasons – for a small match of the J.League Cup in 2022, against Kashiwa Reysol.
When Kyoto finally came back to J1, Sanga had a clear favourite to play with – home prodigy Tomoya Wakahara. Problem is that Wakahara got heavily injured before the start of the 2022 season, and never came back to Kyoto. At that point, Naoki Kamifukumoto took over – before actually joining Kawasaki Frontale in 2023. And then Kyoto tried as well Gu Sung-yun, who’s been around for three years, but never really convinced.
So Ota – who, in 2021, almost risked to become the fourth keeper – started playing a few matches in J1: 12 matches in 2023, eight in 2024, and now he’s started every single match, conceding just 18 goals. In the end, defence has always been the strength for teams coached by Cho Kwi-jea, and Sanga are being no exception to this rule. That stat is also propelling Sanga to a wonderful season – with the side from Kyoto being in the Top 5.
The Lost Hope
Yuya Oki represents not just the youngest of these three keepers, but also the most interesting case. He’s just 25, but he’s been around for a while. After Hitoshi Sogahata left and with Kwon Sun-tae getting older, back-then head coach from Kashima Antlers, Antonio Carlos Zago, opted to rely on Oki for the whole season. The young keeper featured in 24 matches, conceding 27 goals and keeping 6 clean sheets – not bad for your debut.
Zago kept him on the goal, and Oki confirmed his good state, but when the Brazilian was let go, new head coach René Weiler saw it differently. He first reinstated Kwon Sun-tae, then the younger Tomoya Hayakawa – the current no. 1 at Kashima Antlers – rose through the youth ranks. Basically, no more space for Oki, sanctified and forgotten in the span of just 24 months. For two years, he featured in just two league matches. He needed to leave.
He was loaned then to Shimizu S-Pulse, a squad with notorious problems in picking a number 1. Bummer was they did find one – Shuichi Gonda, who was just coming out from a good World Cup. Gonda played most of the 2024 season, and for Oki it seemed a bad choice, until Gonda left the club and head coach Takahiro Akiba signed Oki permanently, even giving him the responsibility of being the vice-captain.
Oki is playing well, although it’s not super easy to defend a team like S-Pulse, who play an offensive brand of football and haven’t defence as a strong point. But it’s good to see Oki back on track – he already played 1710 minutes in J1 in 2025, more minutes than the last two seasons combined in all competitions.
