Jan 25, 2021
Nippon Professional Baseball and the J. League want teams to focus on making sure players and staff members don’t become infected with COVID-19 so as not to become a burden on the local medical system in the cities where their teams will be holding training camps this spring.
During the latest meeting of the NPB-J. League task force, both NPB Commissioner Atsushi Saito and J. League Chairman Mitsuru Murai said they’re hoping to not cause trouble as their teams train in locales far from their usual homes.
Saito, during an online news conference after the meeting, said the hundreds of people including players and staffers traveling to the camp sites, the majority of which are located in Miyazaki and Okinawa prefectures, should do so with a sense of urgency.
Dec 22, 2020
An unprecedented season ended in a historic night for Kashiwa Reysol striker Michael Olunga, whose J. League-leading 28 goals saw him named Most Valuable Player during Tuesday’s J. League Awards.
The Kenya international became the league’s first African MVP and the eighth player to claim that award as well as the Golden Boot in the same season. Olunga’s tally, which accounted for nearly half of Reysol’s 60 goals this season, was the highest in the league since the 33 Araujo scored for Gamba Osaka in 2005.
Joining Olunga in the Best XI were Kashima Antlers’ Brazilian striker Everaldo who scored the J1’s second-highest tally of 18 goals as well as nine players from league champion Kawasaki Frontale, adding another line to the list of records shattered by manager Toru Oniki’s men this season.