The Future of the Japanese National Team Supported by the New Trend of Players Transferring Overseas without Going through the J-League

Shortly before that, in November ’17, the Japanese company DMM.com acquired Sint-Troiden, a Belgian first division team. It was also significant to establish Sint-Troiden as a gateway for Japanese players. In fact, Tomiyasu, Wataru Endo (30, Liverpool), and Daichi Kamata (27, Lazio) have made great strides at the club and established themselves in their current positions.

The next generation of players, such as current national team members Keito Nakamura (23, Stade Reims) and Ayaen Suzuki (21, Sint-Troiden), have also studied at the club, and it can be said that the club plays an important role in the world of Japanese soccer.

A close relative of Sint-Troiden is Celtic of the Scottish Premier League.’ After coach Ange Postecoglou (58, now at Tottenham), who led Yokohama F. Marinos to the J1 championship in 2007, arrived at the club in the summer of 2009, the club acquired a number of promising Japanese players, including Kyogo Furuhashi (28), Daishige Maeda (26), and Reo Hatate (26). They have all shown great growth. In particular, Dairiku Maeda, who earned a place in the starting lineup for the three games against Germany, Spain, and Croatia at the 2010 World Cup in Qatar, has made a tremendous leap forward.

With the departure of coach Postecoglou this summer, there were concerns about the treatment of Japanese players, but so far the above three have continued to make their presence felt. In addition, Tomoki Iwata (26) is becoming an important asset. As more European clubs are led by coaches who highly value the abilities of Japanese players, there will be more cases where they will take steps to acquire players.

The reputation of Japanese players has increased to such an extent that it cannot be compared to the situation more than 20 years ago, when Hidetoshi Nakata (46) moved to Perugia and Shinji Ono (44, Sapporo) to Feyenoord. This is an undeniable fact, and it has become a tailwind for players who wish to challenge overseas.

In fact, it has become commonplace for players to say, “I want to go overseas. Not only national team players and players with J1 experience, but also players in the lower leagues such as J2 and J3 are now realizing their dream of moving overseas. The number of destinations is not limited to the five major European leagues, but has increased to the second divisions in England, Germany, and Spain, as well as to the second group in Europe, including Switzerland, Austria, Poland, and Denmark.

A good example is Kanji Okunuki (24, Nuremberg), who was called up to the Japan national team series in October. A product of Omiya Ardija’s academy, he played five seasons in J2 before moving to Polish first division side Gournik Zabrze in the summer of 2010. After only one year, he made the step up to the second division of the German Bundesliga.

I want to play unashamedly as a player from J2,” he said enthusiastically.