From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match12 Oct 2026
Position 17, 8 points, and a fixture list with fewer games left in it than excuses. The arithmetic is not cruel yet, but it has stopped being kind.
The terraces12 Oct 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 7 of the 23 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Match10 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Ventforet Kofu's wait for a win
6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ventforet Kofu has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Sho Araki was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match10 Oct 2026
Gamba Osaka left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad12 Oct 2026
No hiding place for Sho Araki
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sho Araki, and the manager let it.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. Ventforet Kofu told Renato Augusto something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Ventforet Kofu, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market5 Oct 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Ventforet Kofu, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match3 Oct 2026
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around Ventforet Kofu are no longer polite ones.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Sho Araki 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 Ventforet Kofu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad5 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kotatsu Kumakura, and the manager let it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Words at Ventforet Kofu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuta Koide is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Darvin Chávez dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match26 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑4 by Nagoya Grampus, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Match26 Sep 2026
6 matches, two or more conceded in every one of them. Sides that create as much as this can live with it for a while. Nobody lives with it forever.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Ventforet Kofu's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Ventforet Kofu has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Sho Araki was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Kotatsu Kumakura falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Takumi Tsuchiya, and the manager let it.
Boardroom28 Sep 2026
The manager kept them in and said what needed saying. A response is expected on Saturday, and if it does not come the questions move upstairs.
Squad28 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
5.33. Every footballer has these and most of them happen away from a full ground; his did not, and he will be aware of that all week.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Age has not caught Renato Augusto yet — 8.30
At 34 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.30 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Sho Araki pops up at the right end — 7.79
7.79, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Sho Araki 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 Ventforet Kofu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ventforet Kofu are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Yuta Koide gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match19 Sep 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Kohei Kawata asks for a word with the manager
“I would rather say it to his face than read about it.” The meeting was requested by the player, which tells you most of what you need to know.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Luis Pérez dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventforet Kofu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match12 Sep 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Match12 Sep 2026
Ventforet Kofu are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 4 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Sho Araki gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Yuta Koide falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Kohei Kawata knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kohei Kawata trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces7 Sep 2026
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 6 of the 26 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
Market7 Sep 2026
Miki Inoue hands in a written request
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Ventforet Kofu can pretend not to have heard.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventforet Kofu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at Ventforet Kofu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kotatsu Kumakura is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match5 Sep 2026
1‑2 to Vegalta Sendai, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Kazushi Mitsuhira, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Ventforet Kofu will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Shots: 4. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
The terraces7 Sep 2026
The spotlight tightens on Sho Araki
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match29 Aug 2026
2 behind and going nowhere, until Kotatsu Kumakura decided otherwise. Omiya Ardija had done the hard part and then watched it come apart, and the noise at the final whistle was the sort a ground keeps.
Squad31 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Ventforet Kofu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Kotatsu Kumakura. 3‑2 against Omiya Ardija, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The terraces31 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Yamato Naito has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Kotatsu Kumakura was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.47. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Luis Pérez gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ryo Watanabe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad31 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Yamato Naito changes it off the bench
He was not in the side at half past three and he had settled it before five. Half an hour, and Ventforet Kofu had a different afternoon.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad24 Aug 2026
Sho Araki 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 Ventforet Kofu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
Yudai Tanaka scored, and precious little else went right: 2‑3 to FC Tokyo, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Renato Augusto
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Words at Ventforet Kofu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuta Koide is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 14. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Darvin Chávez dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
Shonan Bellmare go through and Ventforet Kofu go home, 0‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 7.95, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Sho Araki was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match12 Aug 2026
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Ventforet Kofu and Shonan Bellmare, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kotatsu Kumakura falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Kohei Kawata gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Renato Augusto knocks on the manager’s door
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Renato Augusto trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Shots: 4. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad10 Aug 2026
Sho Araki was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Michele Staccioli has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Squad10 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Yuta Koide
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market10 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at Ventforet Kofu, another week without a signature from Kazushi Mitsuhira.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Ryo Watanabe falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad10 Aug 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
Player ratings10 Aug 2026
Shots: 5, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.
Market10 Aug 2026
No place for Hikaru Endo in the plan
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Hikaru Endo has his answer from Ventforet Kofu; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
The terraces3 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 8 of the 23 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Sho Araki and Ventforet Kofu agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Sho Araki 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 Ventforet Kofu this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑3, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Market3 Aug 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Kotatsu Kumakura has his answer from Ventforet Kofu; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Sho Araki
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Words at Ventforet Kofu training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yuta Koide is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Market3 Aug 2026
“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.
Market3 Aug 2026
Still no offer on the table, and Michele Staccioli’s deal keeps shrinking. In boardroom language, silence this long stops being an oversight and starts being an answer.