In the summer of 2023, we published the “J.LEAGUE TECHNICAL REPORT 2023 SUMMER”, an analytical report on the matches played by J.LEAGUE clubs against strong European clubs.
One of J.LEAGUE’s growth strategies is “the top tier will shine as national (global) content”. As a part of this strategy, we aim to bring Japan’s football culture to maturity while diversifying the ways in which people enjoy football, disseminating contents to promote greater sophistication, and involving fans and supporters as well as other stakeholders. Our goal is to “visualise the differences between Japan and the world” in terms of the quality of the football sector, in order for the top tiers of the J.LEAGUE to join the ranks of top clubs in the world.

The TECHNICAL REPORT, produced and edited by the footballista’s editorial department of sol media inc. with data supervision carried out by DataStadium Inc., covered analyses from various angles by the University of Tsukuba Football Club and the University of Tokyo Association Football Club, who served as analysts on this occasion.
Interviews were also conducted with players of Yokohama F･Marinos and Kawasaki Frontale who had participated in the games, and efforts were made to draw out what the players had actually felt on the pitch.
We also received cooperation on the summarising of this REPORT and in the holding of a special symposium from members of JFA Technical House, who served as the analytics team for the Japan National Team as well as the analysts for Urawa Reds, who played against Manchester City FC in the FIFA Club World Cup.
Although the two clubs, Manchester City FC and FC Bayern München, faced difficult conditions in preparations toward the opening of the new season and coping with the heat in Japan, their J.Club opponents, Yokohama F. Marinos and Kawasaki Frontale, were in the middle of the season, so the two sides found themselves in distinctly different environments.
While this analysis does not shed light on all aspects of the games, it explores the differences between J.LEAGUE and the world through a combination of qualitative analysis and quantitative data.