The 2024 Market Report – J3 League

No promotions for the first time in a few years, the playoffs reaching also the third tier, and two new teams descended from J2 – one who returns after almost a decade, the other after they played last time in the third tier when… it was the last century! J3 League won’t be easy for them, but it’ll be fun for the hardcore fans of Japanese football. And with that new beginning, we have to look at what happened throughout last Winter.

To introduce this new, marvellous season, “The Market Report” is back for 2024 and we have some exclusions from our Top 10, although way less compared to other Winter sessions:

• For a long time, it was hard to understand what Cerezo Osaka saw in Ryuji Sawakami. The guy was struggling in J3 with the reserves team, and didn’t improve while going on loan to FC Imabari, SC Sagamihara… until he had a decent 2022 with Gainare Tottori. In Fukushima, he showed some shades of that form – we wonder if he’ll repeat.
• Kataller Toyama opted for an almost complete clear out of their senators, including wingback Daiki Yagishita, who now joins Vanraure Hachinohe for another surprising season under magician and part-time head coach Nobuhiro Ishizaki.
• Kohei Matsumoto surprised everyone with Kamatamare Sanuki, but the step up the ladder to Ventforet Kofu wasn’t his call. Kataller Toyama will verify who did the mistake in the first place.

But let’s go through the Top 10 transfers we’ve found from this Winter.

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10. Yohei Ono | Kataller Toyama » Kamatamare Sanuki

We’re talking about a strange creature, aren’t we? Yohei Ono hasn’t been starting always for Kataller Toyama in his career, but his average goal per game (one every 173 minutes) is the sixth-best among forward in all history of J3 League. Actually, it’s fourth if you count only the players with at least 30 games. And if you put in factor that FC Osaka’s Takahiro Kitsui and FC Ryukyu’s Ryunosuke Noda are ahead of him with just one season in the tier…

And that’s something Kamatamare Sanuki definitely needs: goals. If you look at the list of top scorers per season with Sanuki, only one – Tetsuya Kijima with 10 in 2016 – managed to score in double digits in the last decade. Last year, they’re top scorers were Gentaro Yoshida (a midfielder) and Niina Tominaga (who played just eight games), with four goals. Ono’s addition (and Kawanishi’s permanent move) might fix a big problem.

9. Tetsuya Kato | Nara Club » FC Imabari

In the great season Nara Club had at their maiden appearance in J3, this left back played a decent part of it. Kato joined Nara back in 2018, when the club was just in Japan Football League. He stayed with them through thick and thin, featuring five years in the fourth tier and then playing with continuity in the upper level (3108’ played, Top 15 among defenders,  the third-best in the club).

Now Kato joins FC Imabari to push the ambition of the Ehime-based outfit a little higher – Keisuke Tomita left for Nagano Parceiro and experience Takuto Uehara has been released after five seasons. Under new manager Toshihiro Hattori, Kato will be definitely helpful to succeed – also because FC Imabari needs to adjust a few things at the back.

8. Ken Tokura | V-Varen Nagasaki » Iwate Grulla Morioka

Like other particular players of the J.League-sphere, Tokura has been one of the favourite for this project. We talked about his rise back in 2017, when he was being the heart and soul of Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo’s journey back to J1. Then he left Hokkaido to join first Cerezo Osaka and then V-Varen Nagasaki. Once he announced his departure from V-Varen, we were waiting for a retirement. Instead, after 85 goals in J2 (he’s sixth all-time in the division), Tokura will play in J3 for the first time ever.

With the jersey of Iwate Grulla Morioka, he can still be an asset at this level, and Grulla definitely need something stable after Brenner left – Cristiano was a disappointment, the loan of Douglas Oliveira from Sapporo didn’t work out, and the last before Masashi Wada in 2023 to score double digits of goals in a season was Kaito Taniguchi as a rookie in 2018 (15).

7. Hiroto Hatao | Thespakusatsu Gunma » Zweigen Kanazawa

After almost a decade in J2, Zweigen Kanazawa had a dreadful season and got relegated back to the third tier. They left back in 2014, when they won the inaugural season, and they never looked back. They had some close calls with relegation (?), but they need to restructure their team before jumping back. Having hired Akira Ito as the manager should help, but having elements like Hatao will definitely be another boost.

Hatao has been a journeyman, but he’s played at all levels, he’s become an anchor for Thespa Gunma in the last two seasons, and will provide decent experience to a team who’s been completely restructuring their roster. Guys like him are needed in J3; it’s gonna be tough to say if Kanazawa are favourites to immediately bounce back, but having Hatao as a captain and ministry of defence will be a help.

6. Hayate Take | Blaubliz Akita » FC Osaka

Speaking of favourites, we lost a bit sight of Hayate Take – who was a sensation to watch in J3 with the jerseys of Fukushima United FC and Kataller Toyama, before taking the leap to J2. Neither Blaublitz Akita nor Thespa Gunma worked as the next steps, but now comes the question – was it a problem of teams or maybe he’s more of a “J3 striker”, as famous examples like Tsugutoshi Oishi?

His score in J3 is pretty solid (8, 15 and 10 goals), but he’s gonna need to find back the rhythm to a different division. FC Osaka will definitely help as a match – the newly-promoted team had a wonderful first season, but they were solid at the back rather than prolific. Actually, the roster is even too big up front – but Take has the range to emerge as the no. 1 option alongside either Furukawa or Shimada.

5. Ryosuke Tamura | Gainare Tottori » Nara Club

It won’t be easy for Nara Club, who have to confirm the good they’ve showed in their maiden J3 campaign. Losing Hayato Asakawa won’t help, but Tamura might reveal himself to be a crucial signing. We could also mention Yuki Okada, but we’ve disappointed by his underperforming in Kitakyushu and then it’s better to focus on the men who will run the midfield.

Ryosuke Tamura has ton of J3 experience (first with Fukushima United FC, then with Gainare Tottori), can play multiple positions, has a nose for goals (he scored 29 of them in 134 J3 games – not bad), and he’s a native Nara-player. For a squad that didn’t properly replace Asakawa, midfield will be crucial – Nakashima, Yamamoto, and Shimokawa will be a decent help. 

4. Taku Ushinohama | Kagoshima United FC » Giravanz Kitaykushu

He was definitely a revelation last season – Ushinohama suffered a major ACL rupture back in May 2021 and came back only in March 2022. Furthermore, his performances never matched what was expected at Kagoshima United FC after the injury, while he shone before that and also with Iwate Grulla Morioka and Tochigi SC. He needed to leave Kagoshima to shine again.

At 31 years old, he found an unexpected renaissance with Gainare Tottori (scoring nine times and providing four assists). For a team who starts from scratch and lost both Yuki Okuda and Ryusei Nose, Giravanz Kitakyushu will hope that this ductile midfielder will be inspired. His trajectory probably never lived up to the hype in Fukuoka – when at 18 years old he scored a brace in Yamagata in just 14 minutes – but Ushinohama can still have his say at this level.

3. Katsuya Nakano | FC Ryukyu » Omiya Ardija

FC Ryukyu’s 2023 was a disaster – relegated, then beaten, then even humiliated in some games. It was tough to find a silver lining – and that silver lining was Katsuya Nakano, who had a decent season despite the context around him. Nakano confirmed the progress showed already in 2022, when he scored six goals and provided five assists in 33 games of the 2022 J2 League.

After confirming those numbers in J3, Omiya Ardija took a gamble on him for the complete restructuring of their roster. It’s not gonna be easy to find a stable starting spot – Ardija retained Jin Izumisawa, they took Toya Izumi on loan from Vissel Kobe, and have youngster Rin Yamazaki to give space to -, but Nakano could give that extra edge to Omiya to fight for a playoff spot.

2. Ryota Iwabuchi | Fujieda MYFC » FC Ryukyu

Speaking of FC Ryukyu, they had a decent Winter transfer window to reinvent their squad. Out Koki Kiyotake, out Takuma Abe, goodbye to Nakano, end of loan for Hiramatsu and Fujiwara, and no more Mu Kanazaki and Kelvin. To replace some creativity lack, they brought back a familiar face – Ryota Iwabuchi, who enjoyed a steady and good stint of career with Fujieda MYFC.

Iwabuchi, who enjoyed a nice J2 season in 2023, actually featured for FC Ryukyu in J3 already in 2015 – back at the time, he was the backbone of the offensive department with Yu Tomidokoro. Iwabuchi has been one of the most successful players in J3, having scored 33 goals with four different teams. Despite being 33, last year he played 37 games in J2 – the first time he was featuring in the second tier since 2014. It looks like a decent gamble.

1. Kazuma Takai | Yokohama FC » Matsumoto Yamaga

Looking at this year’s J3 League, Matsumoto Yamaga seem the favourite. They came close to promotion last year, they play one of the most entertaining brand of football, and they have massive support from fans compared to other realities. They can’t afford to stay there – and Masahiro Shimoda, a football master, has to make the final step towards pragmatism to bring back the Ptarmigans to J2.

To do so, he’ll have a good help from the Winter transfer market – Yamaga welcomed Kosuke Yamamoto from Iwata, Kazuaki Mawatari from Urawa, Tsubasa Ando from SC Sagamihara, Issei Ouchi from Yokohama FC, and mostly Hayato Asakawa from Nara Club (one of the best players J3 ever saw). But there’s another one on whom I’d like to focus, because he could be the key to promotion: Kazuma Takai.

With Kazuma Yamaguchi still unable to come back to his lightning form (we’re still hoping for that), Takai could be the no. 10 to unlock Yamaga’s immense offensive potential. He’ll turn in 30 in August, he’s seen it all in J2 (three seasons with 10+ goals), and Shimoda coached him already in Yamaguchi (when Takai was at the peak of his career), with the current head coach of Matsumoto managing for almost 100 games.

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That’s the last article of our pre-seasonal coverage for the J3 League in 2024. Next week we’ll have J2, but if you wanna recover the other two pieces around the third tier, we’ve asked ourselves which year will await Giravanz Kitakyushu (here) and Kataller Toyama (here).