2024 was a very long year, with a new J.League Cup format, the double by Vissel Kobe, and the first win for Nagoya Grampus in four years, despite a terrible run of form in the league. But once the names started dropping for retirements, we feared of being forced to do a longer list and/or two special articles.
Nevertheless, for now we stopped at this 11 special names, with the one being the “Top Retirement” coming in a later article. And to think we had to leave out some prestigious names – goalkeepers Masahiro Okamoto and Kentaro Seki, international J.Leaguer Aria Jusuru Hasegawa or Northern bandiera Koji Hachisuka.
To select eleven figures – with the usual “10+1 format” we chose back in 2020 –, we looked through the retirements from this year and pitched this list. No time for honourable mentions, but some players came close to being featured.
Tsukasa Umesaki came just out of our selection.
- Yoshihiro Shoji (庄司悦大)
14/09/1989, 2012-2024 | Machida Zelvia, Renofa Yamaguchi, FC Gifu (x2), Vegalta Sendai, Kyoto Sanga
The master, the regista, the fantasy generator of one of the most iconic mid-table teams in J2 history (the FC Gifu version we saw mid-2010s + the Renofa Yamaguchi side that won J3 and had a solid J2 maiden season). In the end, Yoshihiro Shoji was a genius no. 6 wrapped in a no. 10 jersey, and it’s a bummer that his career peaked way before he actually retired.
He didn’t hold up against the challenge of J1, failing with Vegalta Sendai and having not being able of to appear even once in a J1 match. Nevertheless, Shoji has been a joy to the eyes – and despite his last four years haven’t shown the best of his repertory, he managed to have another 3.5 J2 seasons with Kyoto Sanga and three more in Gifu. We wouldn’t be surprised to see him again on the bench, this time guiding as a head coach.
- Tatsuya Yamashita (山下達也)
07/11/1987, 2006-2024 | Cerezo Osaka (x3), Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo, Kashiwa Reysol
His career has been very long – Yamashita didn’t go through university, and at 19 years old he was already in the Cerezo Osaka squad. For him – a Hyogo native, from Akashi – it was a test. He didn’t play that much in the first five years of his career, but a passage in Sapporo gifted him the breakthrough he needed. Once he came back to Cerezo, the stars were mostly gone (no Inui, no Kagawa, Kiyotake for just a few months), but he became an anchor.
Yamashita was really close to the national team, right when the pairing of Yasuyuki Konno and Maya Yoshida didn’t seem enough to make it, and Masato Morishige was struggling to get a starting spot. In the end, he never made it to the Samurai Blue – not even for an EAFF E-1 Championship. He left Osaka for Kashiwa Reysol and then came back again, to be a senator. He played a few matches this season, but it was time to call it a day.
- Tomoya Ugajin (宇賀神友弥)
23/03/1988, 2010-2024 | Urawa Red Diamonds (x2), FC Gifu
The guy was so embedded with Urawa Red Diamonds – having spent 90% of his career there and being born in Toda, Saitama Prefecture – that we actually feel like his retirement happened already in 2021, when he left Reds to join FC Gifu. It felt like a retirement, just like for Tomoaki Makino. Nonetheless, Ugajin played two years in J3 and, just like Yosuke Kashiwagi, it left a bitter taste in the mouth.
It wasn’t strange indeed to see him going back to Urawa last Winter, although he had nothing to give anymore to the pitch. Fun fact – Ugajin wanted so much to play for Reds that, when he was at Ryutsu Keizai University and he wasn’t getting his wish granted, he even though of joining rivals Omiya Ardija and defeat Reds on the pitch. Luckily for them, head coach Volker Finke made Ugajin come around and history was written.
- Naoyuki Fujita (藤田直之)
22/06/1987, 2010-2024 | Sagan Tosu (x2), Vissel Kobe, Cerezo Osaka
A Fukuoka-native, Fujita played for the local university and then moved to Saga at the right time. He joined the club one year before its leap to J1, becoming one of the most revered figures of the history of Sagan Tosu. He left in 2016 to join the Kobe-cticos, staying three years before moving to Cerezo Osaka. After another three seasons, he came back to Sagan Tosu and oversaw the last bits of the club in J1.
He didn’t win any trophies in his long career, but he did play for Japan once in 2015, and featured in a lot of J1 matches. Funnily enough, he wouldn’t have joined Sagan Tosu if he hadn’t gone through a certain match. In a practice, when he was still a sophomore at Fukuoka University, he squared off against Yoon Jong-Hwan, who was then finishing his career at Sagan Tosu. He then became Fujita’s coach in his key-years in Tosu.
- Hiroki Yamada (山田大記)
27/12/1988, 2011-2024 | Júbilo Iwata (x2), Karlsruher SC (GER)
Honestly, Yamada is a really good embodiment of a player that, if he was born 4-5 years earlier, he would have easily made it to the national team. Class-wise, he was a joy for the eyes; he made it to Europe, featuring 2.5 years in Germany. He’s been a legend for Júbilo Iwata, being a trait d’union between the last winning era (lifting the Suruga Bank Championship in 2011) and the struggling current era (between J1 & J2).
If you look at his highlights reel from his prime, Yamada was indeed flashy and very showing. He had a lot of success – he took the no. 10 at Júbilo in his rookie year, became captain in his sophomore season, and trained with Celtic FC (who then though didn’t make any offer for him). His career lacked the final leap because of “what ifs” – the missed promotion to Bundesliga, the lack of national team opportunities.
His final game at home was pretty emotional, and so was Yamada: “I was finally able to play soccer to the fullest without injuries for the first time in a while. But I feel as well I don’t have the force anymore to lead a team like this in J1. Nevertheless, I have no regrets about retiring”. Even his favourite player, Masashi “Gon” Nakayama, homaged him in that occasion – couldn’t ask for more.
- Yasushi Endo (遠藤康)
07/04/1988, 2007-2024 | Kashima Antlers, Vegalta Sendai
Speaking of classy players, here’s another excellent example – and we have talked marvellously about him already back in 2022, when he decided to leave Kashima Antlers and re-join his home town by signing with Vegalta Sendai. Endo played there for three years and, although he didn’t manage to bring Sendai back to J1, he had the chance of enjoy these moments in front of his home fans.
In the end, we could say that Yasushi Endo was the most accomplished version of Takuya Nozawa – another Antlers legend, another one who joined Sendai, but who didn’t feature at all with the national team. Injuries haven’t let Endo perform at his best in Sendai, but he did experience all the success Antlers had between the 2000s and 2010s. Now Endo plans to say in the Miyagi Prefecture and help Sendai to shine.
- Ryota Moriwaki (森脇良太)
06/04/1986, 2005-2024 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Ehime FC (x2), Urawa Red Diamonds, Kyoto Sanga
Moriwaki really adheres to the category of J.Leaguers who made great this championship – colourful characters, with a lot of success, and a long career. At the same time, to a foreign eye, he could look so unknown – he played just three matches with the Japanese national team, and won the 2011 AFC Asian Cup just because Gotoku Sakai got injured pre-tournament and left a spot open.
Nevertheless, you could tie the career of Moriwaki to three main spots, leaving out to the successful stint in Kyoto. First, Hiroshima – Moriwaki is born there, and he’s gone through several youth ranks of Sanfrecce to reach first team. He was part of the renaissance team of 2008, he won the maiden J1 title in 2012, and he’s been there through thick and thin with a lot of key-characters (Tomoaki Makino, Yojiro Takahagi).
Secondly, Saitama – he joined Urawa Reds just after winning the first championship ever of Sanfrecce and planned to give the same boost to Reds with Mihailo Petrovic as his coach. He partially did that – Moriwaki won a J.League Cup, an AFC Champions League, a Suruga Bank Championship, an Emperor’s Cup, and (technically) another J1 title – but unfortunately the infamous two stage-model was in place.
Last but not least, Ehime – a place to which Moriwaki wanted to give back after being loaned from Hiroshima back in ’06. The defender rejoined the club in 2022, and they won the J3 the year after – making Moriwaki one of the three players to won a J1, a J2, and a J3 title in their careers (alongside Ryuta Koike and Tomotaka Okamoto). His shiny character will be definitely missed.
- Diego Oliveira (ディエゴ・オリヴェイラ)
22/06/1990, 2009-2024 | Paraná (BRA), Al-Mesaimeer (QAT), Noroeste (BRA), Suwon Bluewings (KOR), Bahia (BRA), Osasco Audax (BRA), Boa Esporte (BRA), Linense (BRA), Ponte Preta (BRA), Kashiwa Reysol, FC Tokyo
There’s a day that probably recaps the grandeur of Diego Oliveira – it’s April 14th, 2019. FC Tokyo are flying with Kenta Hasegawa, and the explosion of Take Kubo into a match-decider. But you need a no. 9 to win titles, and that day – in front of 38,000 people – the Brazilian takes hostage the hearts of FC Tokyo supporters. He scores a brace, and the second goal is a MASTERPIECE.
By that time, it wasn’t granted that Diego Oliveira would have been an unforgettable J.League foreign hero. Many Brazilians had his type of career – juggling around countries and a return to his homeland -, but Oliveira found the right place with Kashiwa Reysol, and then became a key-player for FC Tokyo. He scored almost 100 goals in J1, which is a lot to today’s standards.
His retirement decision came a bit surprisingly – he’s still 34, he could have had a couple of more years under his belt. He ended with five out of his eight J1 seasons in double digits of goals, a Best XI induction in 2019, and an unforgettable penalty routine. Lots of steps pre-shooting, then the will of sending the keeper the wrong way – and a good scoring percentage (21 out of 24).
- Shinzo Koroki (興梠慎三)
31/07/1986, 2005-2024 | Kashima Antlers, Urawa Red Diamonds, Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo
It’s honestly hard to say something we haven’t already mentioned back in 2017, when we wrote this piece around the importance of Koroki in the league. In the seven seasons following that moment, he reached the second all-time place for goals in J1, he went on loan to Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo and Mihailo Petrovic to find more pitch time, and then came back to Urawa Red Diamonds.
Just like Ryota Moriwaki – born in 1986, having a 20 years-career, playing not so much with Japan, and yet debuting as a pro without having enrolled into university -, Koroki wrote a lot of history. His decision to retire was already known in the Summer, but he’s written so many records: he became the first Urawa Reds player to score 100 goals in J1 with the club, he’s become as well the first player to score in 18 consecutive seasons in J1.
He won the J1 three times, three J.League Cups, four Emperor’s Cups, two Suruga Bank Championships, two Japanese Super Cups, two AFC Champions Leagues, played with two of the biggest powerhouses of Japanese football (including Kashima Antlers), and yet he’s been in the Best XI just once and played just 16 games with Japan (never scoring once throughout a decade and four different managers). A living contradiction – but a beautiful one to witness.
- Koji Homma (本間幸司)
27/04/1977, 1996-2024 | Urawa Red Diamonds, Mito HollyHock
We don’t think there are many words that could summon up what Koji Homma has been for J.League. We wrote an article back in 2017, when he was already 40, and the retirement was floating around – and it became official in September of this year, when this became clearer after a press conference.
We wouldn’t be surprised to see Mito dropping without his talisman, but it’s better for us to put his incredible career in numbers and time perspectives (and we’ll try to stick to Mito’s data, although he was four years with Urawa Red Diamonds without playing):
- All the teammates from the starting eleven of the last match played for Mito HollyHock (against Montedio Yamagata) were younger than his CAREER.
- His career is long that Homma faced clubs that don’t even exist anymore.
- Koji Homma’s career is longer than the existence of the J2 League in Japanese football.
- Homma debuted in J2 with Mito HollyHock against Urawa Red Diamonds, in the only year they’ve ever played in J2, and the team who initially welcomed Homma’s debut into pro-football.
- The keeper played 577 games in J2 – obviously an all-time record by a landslide -, but this also means he played more matches in the second division than 33 (!) clubs in the history of the league. And if some of them were occasional participants, some of those squads are Renofa Yamaguchi, V-Varen Nagasaki, FC Gifu, Sagan Tosu, and even Oita Trinita (!).
Do we really need something else to sum up his greatness?
If you want to see the lists of retirements from past years, please go here. To discover the number one, though, you must wait a little bit for a new article. Stay tuned.
[…] the award for the “Best Retirement”, while you can find the list of the usual “10+1 format” here. If you instead wanna know more about the retirements we celebrated from 2020, you can stop by […]