The thriving J.League has helped propel the Samurai Blue to significant heights.
Japan fans at the Saitama Stadium ahead of their team's World Cup qualifier against Australia on Oct 15, which ended 1-1.
In October, ST followed the Lions’ training camp in Japan and understood from local stakeholders that Japan’s football success is based on starting off on the right foot, foresight and decisiveness when facing challenges, and teamwork – which Singapore football will do well to learn from in its own bid to emerge from the shadows.The first edition of the J.League featured 10 teams, with nine owned by large corporations and the other based on a civic club in Shimizu City.
The Japan Football Association responded swiftly, announcing a 100-year vision to have 100 professional football clubs by the league’s centenary in 2093. Nobuhiko Yoshino, management director of five-time J1 League champions and 2024 AFC Champions League finalists Yokohama F. Marinos, shared that other than main sponsors Nissan, they have “200 to 300 big and small companies” backing his club.
After leading the Tokyo Verdy Under-16s to victory in the Lion City Cup in Singapore on Oct 6, their youth coach Chosun Futemma shared: “Clubs do not coach only football, they also need to improve each player’s personality and mentality.“Our purpose is to improve the players to go up to the senior J.League clubs, but we also try to maybe develop the players’ spirit and teach them how to handle themselves, because if not, it will be hard to become a professional player.
All 60 J.League clubs now have academies, and bigger teams like the Marinos boast of a youth set-up with around 3,500 players from fureai teams for kids to U-12s, U-15s and U-18s. Notably, Brighton & Hove Albion’s star winger Kaoru Mitoma dropped out of Kawasaki Frontale to join Tsukuba in 2016 before returning to the club in 2018 and making his English Premier League debut in 2022.With talks of a professional youth league from 2026, the talent pool and quality will increase further as J.League clubs try to impress again in the AFC Champions League after having won it five times since 2007.
Japan’s Kaoru Mitoma taking the ball forward as Australia’s Jason Geria closes in during a World Cup qualifier between both sides in Saitama on Oct 15. PHOTO: EPA-EFEAt the last World Cup, 19 of the 26 players were based in seven European countries – Germany, Spain, England, France, Portugal, Belgium and Scotland – while three others had prior experience playing in Europe.
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