Football Season Guide

On their return to the division the 2023 J3 champions Ehime had a calm campaign. Despite finishing only just above the relegation zone in 17th place Ehime were actually safe long before the season finished. Up until August they even looked to be in contention for the top 6. However, losing touch with the play-off positions also led to drop in the motivation. This was largely why Ehime ended 2024 on an 11-game winless run (3 draws and 8 defeats). The big weakness was the inefficient attack. Ehime had the second-worst scoring record in J2 with just 33 goals in 38 games. No player in the squad scored more than 4 goals all season. Survival was possible in 2024 thanks to some solid defending. However, the off-season saw the back line gutted out. The 3 most important defenders, including captain Sora Ogawa, are no longer in the team. In fact, altogether 8 defenders left Ehime this winter so the back line will be entirely new in 2025. Letting striker Matsuda go, only 3 goals last season, wasn’t a hard decision. In search of improved forward actions 2 new attacking midfielders and 3 strikers have joined. None of them has much experience at this level though so Ehime will hope to see better-than-expected displays from someone. The team’s financial restrains mean that 9 players in the current squad are only on loan, most of them only until the halfway point of the campaign. It will be important to monitor the situation with outgoing players as Ehime lack financial power to sign players outright. Unfortunately for them often those loanees that perform well get recalled by their parent clubs.