Feb 24, 2021
If last year was the J. League’s season of uncertainty, this year will be its season of chaos.
A scant two months and change after its coronavirus-struck 2020 campaign finally came to a close, the 2021 edition will kick off on Feb. 26 with far more at stake than ever before in the 20-team first division.
The J1’s largest-ever field expanded from 18 after officials nixed relegation due to the impact of the pandemic, and it will return to that figure next year after completing this season’s supersized 38-round schedule.
With league officials deciding against a promotion-relegation playoff in the name of simplicity, all of that adds up to a four-spot relegation zone the biggest in J. League history.
Feb 20, 2021
Saitama – The 13,318 fans in attendance at the Emperor’s Cup final between Kawasaki Frontale and Gamba Osaka on New Year’s Day witnessed a cagey affair between two teams pushed to the limit over the course of the pandemic-plagued 2020 J. League season.
The 4,208 fans watching the same two teams at Saturday’s Fuji Xerox Super Cup received a bit more bang for their buck.
Frontale’s Yu Kobayashi scored the 3-2 winner on the last play of the game, salvaging a match that seemed destined for penalty kicks after the reigning J. League champion wasted Kaoru Mitoma’s first-half brace to see Gamba claw back into the game on an unseasonably warm afternoon at Saitama Stadium.