Foreign players in the J.League: the biggest force is Brazil while footballers from Cyprus, Guinea, Tunisia, Thailand, and Vietnam also compete in Japan

Although the J.League abolished the foreign player registration quota in 2019, the maximum number of players allowed to enter a match is five (three in J2 and J3). Therefore, the number of foreign players registered by each club is usually around five, even though there is no limit.

The registration period for additional players closed on 8 September, and the final squads for the season for each team are now available. The J.League is buzzing with the arrival of new stars such as former French international Bafétimbi Gomis joining Kawasaki Frontale this summer and former Spanish international Juan Mata participating Vissel Kobe on 3 September.

Each team’s final list shows a total of 83 foreign players currently playing in the J1 League. A breakdown by country shows that the largest number of players are Brazilians. This is more than half of the total, 42 players, meaning that almost all teams have a Brazilian player on their books.

It would be no exaggeration to say that the history of the J.League has been built with Brazilian players.

Many J.League clubs rely on Korean goalies

The second largest number of players was South Koreans, 13. Exchange with the neighbouring country has long been active, and they are undoubtedly the second most powerful force after Brazil. However, a breakdown of the 13 by position shows that a total of eight are goalkeepers. Koreans are physically superior to the Japanese in general, and as Japan lags behind in the trend towards larger goalkeepers, an increasing number of teams are entrusting the goalkeeping position to Koreans, with whom it is relatively easy to establish communication with Japanese. In addition to Koreans, Nagoya Grampus have an Australian goalkeeper, Mitchell Langerak as their guardian, and FC Tokyo have Jakub Słowik from Poland as their regular goal. This situation may be an indication of the lack of talent among Japanese goalie.

On the other hand, the number of European coaches has increased in recent years, leading to a diversification of tactics and a multi-nationalisation of talent. As mentioned above, the majority of players have been Brazilian and Korean, but recently players from countries such as Cyprus and Guinea, which were unfamiliar to Japan, have joined one after another. Currently, players from 23 are playing in the J.League.

The J.League has also turned its attention to the Asian market in recent years, with Thai and Vietnamese players now playing in the league. Although less talented in general, the J.League aims to spread awareness of itself throughout Asia and develop football in each countries as a whole by acquiring these players.

Ranking of registered players by nationality in the J.League

1st (42)
Brazil / Leandro Damião, Matheus Sávio, etc.

2nd (13)
South Korea / Nam Tae-hee, Jung Sung-Ryong, etc.

3rd (4)
Netherlands / Jay-Roy Grot, Bryan Linssen, etc.

4th (2)
Australia / Thomas Deng, Mitchell Langerak
Denmark / Kasper Junker, Alexander Scholz
Norway / Marius Høibråten, Tarik Elyounoussi
Thailand / Ekanit Panya, Supachok Sarachat

8th (1)
Belgium / Jordy Croux
Croatia / Matej Jonjić
Cyprus / Pieros Sotiriou
France / Bafétimbi Gomis
Germany / Svend Brodersen
Guinea / José Kanté
Hungary / Bálint Vécsei
Israel / Neta Lavi
Kenya / Anthony Akumu
Nigeria / Blessing Eleke
Poland / Jakub Słowik
Slovenia / Milan Tučić
Spain / Juan Mata
Switzerland / Nassim Ben Khalifa
Tunisia / Issam Jebali
Vietnam / Nguyễn Công Phượng