May 27 – Never mind their ongoing battles in Europe, in Japan they are golden. Barcelona have added to their agreement with existing sponsor Rakuten with the Japanese ecommerce company acquiring exclusive club merchandising rights in Japan.
April 26 – Japan’s J-league will revert to playing matches behind closed doors following a state of emergency being announced in the country that is due to host the Olympic Games this summer.
March 30 – While UEFA and Concacaf have opened up their Qatar 2022 qualifying with a slew of matches, the AFC has pushed back the next rounds of its Asian Qualifer series to June where centralised groups will complete the preliminary round 2 of group play.
November 5 – The Levain Cup Final in Japan has been postponed following a Covid-19 outbreak among Kashiwa Reysol’s players and team staff.
June 3 – The Japan FA (JFA)has taken the next steps towards the launch of its first professional women’s league saying that its official name will be the ‘WE LEAGUE (Women Empowerment League)’ and unveiling the league logo.
May 27 – With all football played behind closed doors when it returns, Japan is turning to technology to generate atmosphere by developing a smartphone app that will allow fans to cheer remotely.
By David Owen
March 24 – The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has finally bowed to the inevitable and postponed the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
March 20 – Japan’s J.League, that was just one game and two days old before its season was suspended by the spread of coronavirus, has announced that there will be no relegation for the 2020 season from the top tier.
January 15 – Former Japanese international Keisuke Honda wants to found an amateur football club in Tokyo after a previously failed attempt to run a club in Austria.
October 11 – Dentsu will replace French agency Lagardere Sports as the sales agency for Japan’s J-League international broadcast rights between 2020 and 2022.
March 4 – Japan’s J.League is the latest big league to announce it is entering the competitive esports arena with it clubs lined up to play in tournament on Konami’s Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) game. Other leagues have generally opted for the EA Sports FIFA 19 platform.
February 27 – Manchester City will visit Japan for the first time in the club’s history this Summer as part of their pre-season preparations and will play fellow City Football Group-owned club Yokohama F. Marinos.
By Abdelaziz Abuhamar
February 1 – Qatar is appearing for the first time in the AFC Asian Cup finals and will take on the 4-time Asian Cup champions Japan.
Iran 0 Japan 3
By Paul Nicholson
January 28 – Japan stunned Iran and their fans into silence with an outstanding second half performance to win 3-0 in the semi-finals of the Asian Cup at the Hazza bin Zayed Stadium in Al Ain, UAE, tonight.
By Abdelaziz Abuhamar
January 28 – Though it is the fourth time in the AFC Asian Cup, it will be the first time the two Asian giants have met in the knock out stage. Iran and Japan have previously met three times in group stage of the continental tournament.