JAPAN'S PLOT TO WIN THE WORLD CUP IS FULLY IN MOTION AND HERE'S WHY IT RELIES ON THE PREMIER LEAGUE

Europe’s influx of Japanese talent is just the first step in a transfer revolution

Zion Suzuki of Aston Villa and Japan (Image credit: Getty Images)

The summer transfer window ended with 30 Japanese players now employed in Europe’s top five leagues and many more in European leagues besides.

Takefusa Kubo of Real Sociedad and Bayern Munich’s Hiroki Ito were among those already in place, while 19-year-old Ryunosuke Sato joined Valencia from FC Tokyo after establishing himself as one of Japan’s top prospects on loan with Fagiano Okayama.

Between the FC Tokyo and the Championship, 18 Japanese players are now operating in England’s upper tiers. They include the familiar faces of Kaoru Mitoma and Ao Tanaka, new English arrivals Daizen Maeda and Zion Suzuki, and promoted Coventry City wide midfielder Tatsuhiro Sakamoto.

Japan’s player development vision is paying off

Ao Tanaka of Leeds United and Japan (Image credit: Getty Images)

Tomoki Iwata is one of two Japanese midfielders at Birmingham City and is top-notch at Championship level. Ryoya Morishita and Kuryu Matsuki are regular contributors at Blackburn Rovers and Southampton respectively.

In years gone by, that would have been the end of the Japanese players roster and there might not have been anyone as good as those players anywhere on it. In 2026/27, it’s just a handful of examples.

Player export is a growth industry for Japanese football and there’s more to come, not just to Europe but to England, too. The football authorities in the Land of the Rising Sun have planned for it to be so.

Not content with seeing proof that Japan’s long-standing focus on player development is working – it’s no accident that Samurai Blue and their European arrivals have been spearheaded by highly technical players – the nation’s governing bodies have moved into the next phase.

The J.League and the Japanese Football Association are united in the creation of a belt-and-braces pursuit of a suite of objectives, some of them explicitly outlined in the J.League 100 Year Vision.

If the desired end point is winning the World Cup, the next few steps are designed to better position Japanese football as a structural entity within Asia and the world.

Japan’s aims include making it easier to transfer players into and out of the J.League, to become Asia’s most desired destination league by increasing its appeal to players and improving the standard of the top division as a consequence.

Such goals are not easily met. Together, the league and the federation have gone all in. They’ve committed the very fabric of Japanese football to the cause of connecting the high school and university game to player production at the highest level.

There was also a pressing wish to revisit the availability of teams to play in prestige friendlies against top European opposition, even to route training camps and tours in Europe, without the need for an awkward mid-season break.

Japan’s production line has multiple SKUs

To that end, Japan is currently a month and change into a new football season calendar. From 2026/27, the J.League has reverted to a season that aligns with most of the rest of the world.

The J.League devised the 100 Year Vision League to bridge the gap between seasons proper and put up both an AFC Champions League place and a ton of prize money to entice the clubs to take it seriously in spite of the lack of relegation.

With that admittedly very enjoyable curio in the rear-view mirror, the J.League and JFA are now eagerly watching as the teams get stuck into the new campaign, but keeping one eye on playing opportunities for young Japanese players even if they’re blocked by what everyone hopes will be an improving league.

The governing bodies are aligned here, too, with the national team intended to be the ultimate beneficiary.

Kaoru Mitoma of Brighton & Hove Albion and Japan (Image credit: Getty Images)

New J.League under-18 and under-20 representative teams made up notably of under-used players have been created to play matches against university teams in Japan and to experience the game as a touring team in Europe. Last November, a group of those players were in England and Wales to do exactly that.

This season marks not only a new set of dates for the J.League, but the inauguration of a new Under-21 J.League division. Crucially, all of these tactics point in the same strategic direction. It’s equally important that neither of these safety nets amount to real senior football, but nothing really can.

What matters more than anything else is that the official bodies with every ounce of influence on the matter are doing everything they can, trying everything they believe in, to yank the conveyer belt to a higher setting.

Whether that can achieve the lofty aim of winning a World Cup is anyone’s guess. There are countries who’ve invested more, for longer and from a sturdier base, than Japan.

But the quality of players is a controllable factor outcome and Japan is lighting a fire under that. By reducing transfer market friction and delivering talent into the global pool at scale, 18 Japanese players in the Premier League and Championship is a count that’s only heading in one direction.

-  Chris Nee

THE MACHIDA ZELVIA MIRACLE: HOW ARE J1 LEAGUE DEBUTANTS THE MIDSEASON LEADERS?

 

Machida Zelvia have been the story of the 2024 J1 League season as the newly-promoted outfit find themselves on top of the table past the halfway mark of the campaign in the first season of top-flight football. Hiroki Watanabe/Getty Images

As the 2024 J1 League season passed its halfway mark on Wednesday, a number of usual suspects are unsurprisingly jostling for position at the upper end of the table.

From eight-time record winners Kashima Antlers to defending champions Vissel Kobe and regular contenders such as Gamba Osaka, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and FC Tokyo, all these teams will have reason to believe they can challenge for top honours this term with just seven points separating them from the leaders.

But atop the summit, an unfamiliar name currently leads the way -- and quite remarkably so.

Just 20 games into their maiden season in the top flight of Japanese football, Machida Zelvia currently sit two points clear of the rest of the field.

This is a team that were playing in the third tier as recently as in 2015 and, prior to last season, had never finished higher than fourth in the J2 League. There were even a couple of close shaves where they narrowly escaped relegation back to the J3 League a few years ago.

Instead of battling relegation this season as expected, the fact that Zelvia have now embarked on an unlikely title challenge is nothing short of extraordinary -- and their story only gets better.

Eyebrows were raised at the start of 2023 when the club's search for a new coach saw them turn to Go Kuroda, who had spent 28 years at the helm of high school powerhouses Aomori Yamada but had never taken charge of a professional team.

Kuroda was aware of the initial reservations over his appointment.

"There were many who worried that this team couldn't win in my first pro year," he told The Japan Times after winning promotion at the end of last season.

"But every player on this team faced (the challenge) sincerely and gave everything they had to win, and that gave us power in our push for promotion.

"They took the words of a first-year manager to hear ... and stuck with me without a single complaint."

If Kuroda thought his first year in professional football went well, he might be in for a pleasant surprise depending how the rest of 2024 pans out.

The mastermind behind Machida Zelvia's rapid rise has been Go Kuroda, who is remarkably only in his second season as a professional coach after 28 years in high school football. Masashi Hara/Getty Images

If putting their faith in a previously-unproven tactician has proven a masterstroke, similar credit has to be given to the Zelvia hierarchy for the way they have gone about assembling the squad that is currently leading the J1 League.

Aware that reinforcements were always necessary, especially if they are to avoid the same fate as several of the J.League's yo-yo clubs in recent times, Zelvia were extremely active -- and astute -- in the offseason transfer window.

Centre-back Gen Shoji, who featured for Japan at the 2018 FIFA World Cup and previously played in Ligue 1 with Toulouse, was the biggest name arrival and he would provide an immediate injection of much-needed experience alongside fellow seasoned top-flight campaigners such as Kai Shibato and Keiya Sento.

The club also sought to refresh their foreign player contingent.

Both Oh Se-Hun and Na Sang-Ho, while not the biggest names in South Korean football, arrived with previous J1 League experience under their belts -- and the presence of a fellow compatriot has undeniably made it easier for them to settle into their new surroundings.

Just last month, Oh was rewarded for his impressive displays with Zelvia as he won his first South Korea cap in the Asian qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup.

Kosovo international Ibrahim Drešević, with past stints in the Eredivisie and Turkish Süper Lig, was the third new import for 2024 and he wasted no time in striking up a formidable central defensive partnership with Shoji - with Zelvia's 16 goals conceded the third-best defensive record in the J1 League at present.

Credit for their stability at the back also has to go to 23-year-old goalkeeper Kosei Tani, who was preivously earmarked as possibly a future Japan No. 1 and has been an assured presence as he looks to continue developing as a young custodian in another loan spell away from Gamba.

The acquisition of Tani has also been in line with another key recruitment philosophy: a desire for the team for some youthful energy.

With Yu Hirakawa already an exciting prospect of their own, Zelvia captured Shota Fujio on a permanent deal from Cerezo Osaka after he had impressed while on loan last season, while Kotaro Hayashi was brought in from Yokohama FC respectively.

All have had an impact despite their relative tender years with Fujio, who leads the team with seven goals, and Hirakawa part of the Japan team that won the AFC U-23 Asian Cup at the start of last month, while Hayashi has made the left-back spot his own.

On Wednesday, Zelvia maintained their foothold at the top of the table as they held out for a 0-0 draw away to a star-studded Vissel outfit.

23-year-old Shota Fujio has been a revelation for Machida Zelvia in the 2024 J1 League season, with his team-high seven goals putting him ahead of foreign stars such as Oh Se-Hun and Mitchell Duke. RICHARD A. BROOKS/AFP via Getty Images

It was far from the most impressive result that Zelvia have pulled off in 2024, having notched victories over the likes of Kashima, Urawa Red Diamonds and even AFC Champions League runners-up Yokohama F. Marinos earlier this month.

In an era of football where the virtue of possession-based football is extolled, there is something refreshing about Zelvia's high-paced, direct style -- with every member of Kuroda's throwback 4-4-2 formation going at full tilt for 90 minutes and looking to exploit opponents with wing-play from a bygone era.

Not that it is something they have to be sorry for, but there is an unapologetic way Zelvia go about their business on the field.

Kuroda himself has admitted that, in an ideal world, he would also want his team to "build up from the back and score" but his main priority is simply that his side threaten the opposition in whatever way they do best.

Ask any of the many teams they have pulled off stunning upsets against this season, and all would readily admit just what danger Zelvia have posed.

For a team to go from promotion to champions in one season remains one of football's epic feats.

One of the more recent instances that come to mind is when Kaiserslautern won the Bundesliga in 1997-98, while even Leicester City's stunning Premier League triumph came in their second season back in the English top flight.

There is still just under half the season left to play out and, even if their bubble does eventually burst, there will be still be plenty for Zelvia to be pleased about in their debut J1 League campaign.

Yet, it is nothing short of extraordinary that they are somehow leading the way at the moment.

And if Zelvia can just keep it going till the end of the year, what a miracle that would be.

- Gabriel Tan