There will be beautiful shirts in the J-League again this year
The aesthetics of the championship of the Land of the Rising Sun did not disappoint expectations at all
Sports
February 13th, 2023
February 13th, 2023
The J-League is an ever-growing league, as the recent World Cup in Qatar proved. But the federation wants to give continuity to the good things done so far and to do this it has decided to hire Terry Westley, the former West Ham academy boss who now works as technical director for the J-League. The new man of the Japanese federation, nicknamed 'The Academy of Football' in his homeland, bewitched the delegation from the Land of the Rising Sun with his experience and knowledge of the game during a trip to Europe, created precisely to discover and understand the secrets of the best clubs, to bridge the gap between European and Asian football. Japan in fact inherited a not inconsiderable football know-how after the World Cup it hosted 20 years ago, but too much time has now passed. The Japanese federation is now ready to invest many of its resources in the league, working more on its youngsters in the hope of moulding talents such as Tomiyasu and Ito, footballers who have managed to land in European leagues, establishing themselves very quickly.
And if from a technical point of view the J-League is on the rise, from an aesthetic point of view it never ceases to provide surprises. Like every year in fact, the Asian league has not disappointed expectations, churning out jerseys in many cases perhaps overloaded and full of sponsors, but nonetheless equal to the culture, design and history of the nation. Eighteen teams and nine technical sponsors are ready to do battle in the quest for the national title. Leading the way in the league are two sponsors with a strong European presence, PUMA and Nike, who sponsor four and three clubs respectively, certainly the most important ones. Also notable is the presence of Asics, a name that has been missing in Italy and the top European leagues in general for a long time, whose last appearance was with Livorno when the Tuscan team played in Serie A and Cristiano Lucarelli wore the number 99 shirt. But in addition to the usual knowns, there are also unheard of names, never seen in other leagues, which is why we went in search of the best J-League jerseys, putting our magnifying glass on one of the best aesthetics in football.
