Once upon a time, the J League only had the J1 League. However, now there are J1 to J3, and the reality is that the number of teams has increased considerably. So, in which area are there most clubs? It’s Kanagawa Prefecture. So, how many J clubs are there in Kanagawa Prefecture? And what is the reason behind this?
Ranking of J League clubs by prefecture
Now, I’ve created a ranking for areas where multiple clubs are located in one prefecture. It will be as follows. You can clearly see that Kanagawa Prefecture is overwhelmingly popular. Saitama, Chiba, Osaka, and Shizuoka prefectures also have many prefectures, but Kanagawa prefecture even exceeds them. Teams are gathered in Yokohama and Shonan.
| No | prefectures | Team |
| 1 | Kanagawa | Yokohama F. Marinos Kawasaki Frontale Shonan Bellmare Yokohama FC Y.S.C.C.Yokohama SC Sagamihara |
| 2 | Shizuoka | Shimizu S-Pulse Jubilo Iwata Fujieda MYFC Azul Claro Numazu |
| 3 | Tokyo | FC Tokyo Tokyo Verdy 1969 FC Machida Zelvia |
| 3 | Osaka | gamba osaka Cerezo Osaka FC Osaka |
| 5 | Saitama | Urawa Reds Omiya Ardija |
| 5 | Chiba | Kashiwa Reysol jeff united chiba |
| 5 | Ibaraki | Kashima Antlers mito hollyhock |
| 5 | Ehime | Ehime FC FC Imabari |
| 5 | Fukuoka | Avispa Fukuoka Giravanz Kitakyushu |
| 5 | Fukushima | Fukushima United FC Iwaki FC |
Kanagawa Prefecture has 6 teams
Kanagawa Prefecture has six J League clubs. In addition to this, there used to be Verdy Kawasaki, and there was also Yokohama Flugels, so if you include the clubs that were based in the past, there are even more. You can see that there are a lot of them. There are clear reasons for this. Kanagawa also has a baseball team, but the soccer team is more popular based on the cheering.
Soccer Kingdom Shizuoka
The soccer kingdom of Shizuoka also has a large number of teams. There are 4 teams, but I get the impression that there are surprisingly few teams. Shizuoka is an area that has produced many players representing Japan, but there were clearly fewer players than Kanagawa Prefecture. Their results in the J League were poor, their youth teams weren’t great, and their name was no longer heard in national tournaments.
J League clubs in Kanagawa Prefecture
Let’s briefly introduce the J League clubs in Kanagawa Prefecture.
Yokohama F. Marinos
Yokohama F. Marinos is one of the Original 10 and is an elite team that has never been relegated. Yokohama F. Marinos absorbed Flugels and grew into a powerful club. Although they have won the J League championship, they have yet to win on the Asian stage. In order to raise the status of the club from now on, we will need to win on the Asian stage as well.
Kawasaki Frontale
Kawasaki Frontale is also one of the strong teams established in J1. Kawasaki Frontale has won many domestic titles, but like Marinos, they have no international titles. This is Benkei Uchi’s team, so whether they can break out of their shell from here will be the key. We always lose early in the ACL.
Yokohama FC
Yokohama FC was founded by volunteer Flugels supporters who established a company to operate Yokohama FC. Yokohama FC is fairly strong in J2, but they are always at the bottom of the J1 stage and are demoted quickly. From now on, the key point for this club will be how they can establish themselves in J1.
Shonan Bellmare
Shonan Bellmare was originally called Bellmare Hiratsuka. It is well-known because Hidetoshi Nakata and others used to play there, but now it has become the Elevator Club. They are always at the bottom of J1, and are considered to be a powerhouse in J2. This is a club that has been promoted and relegated quite often, so the key will be whether they can maintain stability going forward.
Y.S.C.C.Yokohama
Y.S.C.C. Yokohama was founded as Yokohama Sports Club. In 1987, the name was changed to “Yokohama Soccer & Culture Club.” In 2002, we became a corporation and changed our name to Yokohama Sports & Culture Club, becoming Y.S.C.C. Yokohama. We were approved as a J League associate club in 2013, and joined the J League in 2014, so we still have a long way to go as a club.
SC Sagamihara
SC Sagamihara is a professional soccer club based in Sagamihara City and Ebina City. It was founded in 2008, led by Shigeyoshi Mochizuki, a former member of the Japanese national soccer team. It was approved as a J League associate club in 2010 and has been a member of the J League since 2014. He currently belongs to J3 and wears the team color of green.
Why there are too many clubs in Kanagawa Prefecture
Why are there so many J League clubs only in Kanagawa? The reasons for this are as follows.
capital is gathered
Kanagawa Prefecture has many huge companies. For this reason, J.League clubs tend to form teams in areas where it is easy to find sponsors, so Kanagawa Prefecture is a very advantageous location when considering club management. If funds are not raised, it will be difficult to attract players, so it is difficult to establish clubs in rural areas. Furthermore, Kanagawa Prefecture has a large land area and is quite convenient, making it a very suitable location.
Reason for more than Tokyo
Many people say that capital is concentrated in Tokyo rather than Kanagawa Prefecture. This is true, but the problem with Tokyo is that there isn’t much space to build a stadium. In the case of the 23rd ward, there is almost no vacant land, and FC Tokyo and Tokyo Verdy already exist outside the 23rd ward, so we already have competitors, so if we dared to move to Tokyo, we would have a hard time attracting customers. Therefore, Kanagawa Prefecture is suitable. There are also J League standards for stadiums.
Areas where soccer is popular
As is clear from the fact that two of the original 10 teams were from Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanagawa Prefecture has always been a popular area for soccer. Therefore, from a club sales perspective, it can be said that the environment is relatively easy to attract customers. The J.League’s philosophy is to be locally based, so considering this point, it has a great advantage.
high population
Kanagawa prefecture has a very large population. Kanagawa Prefecture has the second largest population in the metropolitan area after Tokyo. Many soccer clubs around the world have their home bases in metropolitan areas, and this is the same in Japan. A large population makes it easier to attract customers. It also makes it easier to sell goods, which makes it easier to carry out activities from a sales perspective.
stadium problem
The problem with the stadium is also big. There are stadiums that meet J.League standards, and the conditions of the stadium are included in the licensing process. J1 standards require a stadium that can accommodate at least 15,000 people, while J2 requires a stadium that can accommodate at least 10,000 people. There are many stadiums in Kanagawa that meet these standards.
Let’s watch J League
The J League has many thrilling matches, so it is a league that we recommend watching. As mentioned in the article below, you can watch the game on a video streaming service. If you are interested, please register.
| Channel | Plan | Soccer Contents | URL |
| DAZN | \3750 | national team major europe leagues J league | DAZN |
| Hulu | ¥1026 | french league dutch league | Hulu |
| WOWOW | \2530 | UEFA Champions League UEFA Europa League | WOWOW |
| ABEMA TV | ¥960 | national team World Cup Premier League scottish league | ABEMA |
| スカパー | ¥429 + ¥2480 | national team emperor’s cup soccer Bundesliga laliga | スカパー！ |
| J SPORTS | \1100 | fifa world youth | J SPORTS |
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