The mighty archer

Hisato Sato retired after some rocky seasons, but his name will be forever remembered.

Come to the purple side

In a league where everyone is trying to face new ideas and formations, managers like Hiroshi Jofuku are still thriving with an old-fashioned style.

Football Fantasy – Hiroshima

For the sixth episode of JLFF, Hiroshima Prefecture features three J1 titles in recent history and several J. League heroes.

The Nipo-Brasileiro dream

Patric is currently owning the J. League, living a MVP-season and leading Sanfrecce Hiroshima to the title. Most of all, though, his dream seems to be Japan-releated.

State of the J: Sanfrecce Hiroshima

With the emphasis on “state” – because that is what Sanfrecce Hiroshima are in. Currently in the bottom three with just two wins from their thirteen games so far, this is a pale imitation of the purple clad teams of the past decade. So what is going on? Is it just cyclical? Were we wrong […]

Regional previews: West Japan

West Japan, for our purposes, stretches from past Kobe in the east, to the tip of Japan’s main island Honshu in the west. In this geographical area, we have a small, but very diverse group of clubs looking to find success in 2017. First, we look at last year’s beaten J2 playoff finalists….. Fagiano […]

Asian Champions League: Business Time

As we move into the final two group games in the Asian Champions League (ACL), the Japanese clubs find themselves in various states of optimism. Here’s what the J.League representatives will be facing this week. Group E: FC Tokyo v Jeonbuk Hyundai (Wednesday KO 7:30pm Japan time) Tokyo find themselves top of the group after […]

J.League clubs in the ACL

This week saw the final qualifying round of the Asian Champions League (ACL). The only Japanese side that had to qualify for the group stage was FC Tokyo, and the team from the capital cruised through, seeing off a woeful Chonburi FC from Thailand 9-0. Here, we take a brief look at the opposition that […]