The Vissel Kobe Gazette
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Yoshinori Muto runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Gotoku Sakai in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Vissel Kobe this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market10 Aug 2026
Rikuto Hirose 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 Vissel Kobe hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Market10 Aug 2026
Talks stall between Vissel Kobe and Gotoku Sakai
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market10 Aug 2026
Vissel Kobe sign Takumi Yamane, one for the future
Takumi Yamane is 14, and Vissel Kobe have signed him for the player he will be rather than the one he is. The first team can wait; the point of a deal like this is the years it buys.
Market10 Aug 2026
Vissel Kobe buy the years ahead of Ritsu Maeda
He is 14, and the scouting reports agree on the only line that matters: the ceiling. Signings like this are lottery tickets written by professionals.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Gotoku Sakai was the difference for Vissel Kobe
Marked 7.26. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Match8 Aug 2026
Vissel Kobe draw a blank against Avispa Fukuoka
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Avispa Fukuoka defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Takuya Iwanami left out for tactical reasons at Vissel Kobe
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
In brief
- Squad Daiya Maekawa has seen what the next man earns
- Squad Somebody is after Daiya Maekawa’s shirt