First New Graduate Recruitment: Investment in the Future

The decision to conduct public recruitment of new graduates for the first time since the league’s founding was driven by two major strategic objectives: strengthening international competitiveness and effectively engaging the younger generation—the future fan base.
Breaking away from reliance on mid-career hires as immediate assets, we determined that nurturing future organisational leaders internally, with a long-term perspective, was essential for achieving sustainable growth.

Background to Recruitment

The decision to begin recruiting new graduates was underpinned by three objectives aimed at achieving continuous organisational growth and transformation:

Strengthening International Competitiveness	Acquiring a challenger mindset to drive discontinuous growth unconstrained by existing frameworks, amid competition with overseas leagues
Diversifying Human Resources	With the average employee age reaching 43, and the risk of difficulty in updating organisational values, there was a need to acquire talent with the same sensibilities as younger fans to reach this demographic
Developing Future Core Personnel	Evolving into an organisation that does not continue to rely solely on mid-career immediate assets but is capable of systematically nurturing internally next-generation leaders who deeply embody the league’s philosophy and culture and will form the core of management in ten years’ time

Initiatives Towards Recruitment

To attract outstanding students and enable them to fully develop their talents after joining, we focused on strengthening our organisational framework. In particular, we prioritised competitive compensation and systems to support post-entry growth.
First, we fundamentally reformed our compensation structure. To ensure we compare favourably with other private companies, we redesigned compensation levels using similarly sized companies as benchmarks and set first-year annual salaries accordingly. We revised our personnel system to provide an attractive environment in which talented individuals can build their careers with confidence.
Second, we began examining a human resources development roadmap. We systematised post-entry career paths and necessary training programmes and implemented environmental improvements to enable organisation-wide support for individual growth. We also initiated company-wide organisational development, triggered by preparations to welcome new employees, including management training for supervisors, documentation of each department’s work content and processes, and updates to selective educational opportunities. Through this, we have fully launched the transformation into an organisation that can develop people.

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Our Value

To make Japanese football more captivating, we strive to be a collective of leaders driving the nation's sports industry forward.
Understand Expectations → Embrace the Challenge → Act with Agility

First New Graduate Offer-of-Employment Ceremony

The J.LEAGUE’s first public recruitment of new graduates since its establishment attracted extremely high interest, with over 6,000 entries and an acceptance rate of approximately 1 in 300 based on actual applicants. At the offer-of-employment ceremony on 1 October 2025, Chairman Yoshikazu NONOMURA and the first Chairman, Saburo KAWABUCHI, took the stage, encouraging the accepted candidates as core personnel who will bear the future of the league during this transformational period. The event was covered by numerous media outlets, and this series of developments is expected to mark a milestone in expanding opportunities for young people to play active roles in supporting the sports industry.

Strengthening Collaboration with Clubs: Improving Organisational Capabilities Across the League

The sustainable development of the J.LEAGUE cannot be achieved without strengthening the organisational capabilities of all 60 clubs that comprise it. It is essential for each club to build a strong management foundation in its respective region and become an organisation that can attract and develop outstanding talent. To this end, the league considers it an important responsibility to support the strengthening of HR functions at each club and to raise the level of human resources strategy across the entire league, and it is promoting specific initiatives accordingly.

Updated Human Officer Training

During the Human Officer training for HR managers at each club, we provided opportunities for more strategic and practical discussions. In the Q&A session, Chairman NONOMURA himself took the stage and engaged in in-depth discussions on organisational theory and the desired talent profiles, drawing on his experience as a club manager. A panel discussion with external experts featured active discussions on themes such as “linking management strategy and HR strategy” and “personnel exchanges between clubs.” These discussions offered not only the perspective of individual clubs independently enhancing their competitiveness, but also a new perspective on how to grow together within the J.LEAGUE system as a whole.

Publication of the Club HR Guidebook

Based on discussions at the Human Officer training and the specific challenges faced by each club, the J.LEAGUE published the Club HR Guidebook as a practical tool. The guidebook covers everything from the basics of labour management to the design of evaluation and compensation systems, providing specific guidance for each club in developing its HR systems. It also serves as a “common language” to facilitate communication between clubs and the league, as well as between clubs, thereby achieving standardisation and advancing organisational management across the entire league. The guidebook is scheduled to be collaboratively revised annually by the league and clubs, with significant updates planned for next year’s edition as well.

Future Outlook

The league will continue to advance its “offensive” human resources strategy and drive growth across the entire football world. Looking ahead, we will strongly promote the following three pillars:

Developing New Graduate Recruits into Key Contributors

We will maximise opportunities for challenge and fully support the growth of our new graduate recruits so they can develop into “pillars of the organisation” at the core of league management in ten years. New employees will serve as catalysts for the organisation, stimulating it and contributing to transformation across the J.LEAGUE.

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Leverage individuality to win as one team.

Initiating Concrete Collaboration with Clubs

Multiple clubs have requested strengthened collaboration on recruitment and human resources development. We will actively share the league’s know-how and connect it to organisational and human resources strengthening across the entire league through collaboration.

Evolving into an Attractive Industry

Through the development of HR systems and human resources development frameworks, we aim not only for the J.LEAGUE but also for the entire football world and the sports industry to become an industry of choice in the labour market. Based on the belief that human resources are the most important capital, we will accelerate our investment in the future.

※The information published is current as of December 22, 2025.