Football Season Guide

Despite finishing 2024 with 4 consecutive defeats Fujieda had a solid campaign. They were only 13th in the final standings but full 12 points ahead of the relegation zone. The mid-table position was cemented early so the last few months of the season saw a serious dip in form and motivation. Ken Yamura was one of the best strikers in J2 last year – 16 league goals. Unfortunately, his form meant he returned to his parent club this winter. It will be a major challenge for Fujieda to replace his goals, especially considering that no other player in the squad scored more than 2 league goals in 2024. Cheikh Diamanka was signed from Europe, comes from the Bulgarian top flight, but he’s young and pretty inexperienced striker. Chaves can be solid leader of the attack but he is injury-prone. Managed to play in only 12 games last season due to series of injuries. All this leaves major worries regarding Fujieda’s scoring abilities now Yamura is gone. As usual all other areas of the squad were impacted by incoming and outgoing players. New goalie Rokutan will be fighting with bright youngster Kitamura for a starting role between the posts. The midfield line lost a duo of solid players (Kento Nishiya and Taiki Arai). However, Fujieda had problems controlling the ball last season anyway. The new signings made should help to improve that. Shota Kaneko and Yoshiki Matsushita are expected to help a lot in that area.