Japanese J1 League — News

Japan
14 Oct 2026
Wednesday
Process
3 Edition

The J1 League Sentinel

1 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Scoring charts

Thiago Santana tops the scoring charts

Nobody in the division bettered it last month: 3 goals in 4 appearances for Urawa Reds.

Scoring charts

Luís Carlos is the division's player of the month — 7.58

A club's paper reports this as one of its own being honoured. On this page it is what it actually is: a verdict on everybody who played, and it went to a Shonan Bellmare man on 7.58 with 0 goal contributions.

Scoring charts

The division's brightest kid this month plays for Sagan Tosu

Iván Ojeda was marked 6.80 and had a hand in 2 goals. Every recruitment department in the country now has a file open, and the club that has him knows exactly what that means.

Market

Fabian Gonzalez asks to leave Shonan Bellmare

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Scoring charts

Kohei Kawata leads the division for assists — 6.08

The chart that decides who the scorers ought to be thanking. 4 of them made by a Ventforet Kofu player marked 6.08, and not one will be in the montage at the end of the season.

Scoring charts

Highest marks in the league belong to a FC Tokyo man

Kota Tawaratsumida averaged 7.81 over 2 appearances. Nothing about that will trend, and anybody who watched all four games would tell you it was the most accurate thing on this page.

Market

Kashima Antlers may not be able to give Yuma Suzuki what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Yuma Suzuki wants continental football; whether Kashima Antlers can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Market

Mathew Ryan wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Gamba Osaka hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Scoring charts

Leo Ceara keeps the pressure on

3 goals in 4 appearances for Kashima Antlers leave him among the month's leading marksmen.

Scoring charts

Mateus Castro makes the list

3 appearances, 3 goals, and a place among the division's leading scorers for the month. Strikers measure a season in exactly these lines.

Scoring charts

Tetsushi Yamakawa keeps the pressure on

2 goals in 4 appearances for Vissel Kobe leave him among the month's leading marksmen.

Scoring charts

Asahi Uenaka is right behind him

2 goals in 4 appearances for Gamba Osaka, and a chart that would look very different if two of them had gone in off the post instead of past it.

Back issues
2 Edition

The J1 League Sentinel

1 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Scoring charts

Marcelo Ryan tops the scoring charts

Nobody in the division bettered it last month: 4 goals in 5 appearances for FC Tokyo.

Scoring charts

Yusuke Matsuo is the division's player of the month — 8.35

A club's paper reports this as one of its own being honoured. On this page it is what it actually is: a verdict on everybody who played, and it went to a Kashima Antlers man on 8.35 with 3 goal contributions.

Scoring charts

The division's brightest kid this month plays for Kawasaki Frontale

Soma Kanda was marked 6.68 and had a hand in 2 goals. Every recruitment department in the country now has a file open, and the club that has him knows exactly what that means.

Market

Basel come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Kashiwa Reysol did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Market

The Vissel Kobe deal is off

Everything was agreed until it was not, and Kein Sato reports back to FC Tokyo with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.

Scoring charts

Nobody made more than Thomas Glover this month

6 assists, 7.23, and a Omiya Ardija player who spent four weekends being the reason somebody else's name went in the paper. It is the least-rewarded skill in football and the easiest one to notice its absence.

Market

Ilgyu Park asks to leave Yokohama F. Marinos

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Scoring charts

Highest marks in the league belong to a Kashima Antlers man

Yusuke Matsuo averaged 8.35 over 4 appearances. Nothing about that will trend, and anybody who watched all four games would tell you it was the most accurate thing on this page.

Market

Tomáš Chorý wants more than FC Tokyo are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Scoring charts

Kensuke Nagai makes the list

4 appearances, 3 goals, and a place among the division's leading scorers for the month. Strikers measure a season in exactly these lines.

Scoring charts

Still scoring: Mateus Castro

4 in 4 for Nagoya Grampus. Nobody outside his own ground is talking about him, which tends to be true of everybody on this list except the man at the top of it.

Scoring charts

Yusuke Matsuo makes the list

4 appearances, 3 goals, and a place among the division's leading scorers for the month. Strikers measure a season in exactly these lines.

1 Edition

The J1 League Sentinel

1 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Yuma Suzuki raises the bar for Kashima Antlers

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Kashima Antlers heard it as anything else.

Market

Gustavo Silva wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Market

Matheus Savio is free to find somewhere else

“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Urawa Reds has been clear about where Matheus Savio stands, which is more than many ever get.