Football Season Guide

J1 League
Japan
J1 League
2025
Albirex Niigata
Clean filter

Albirex Niigata

In


Hayato Inamura (def), transfer from Toyo University. Ryuga Tashiro (gk), transfer from Roasso Kumamoto. Ken Yamura (att), loan expired. Taiki Arai (mid), transfer from Fujieda MYFC. Riku Ochiai (mid), transfer from Kashiwa Reysol. Kazuki Fujita (gk), loan expired. Kodai Mori (def), transfer from Tokushima Vortis. Shosei Okamoto (def), loan expired. Yamato Wakatsuki (att), transfer from Renofa Yamaguchi FC. Keisuke Kasai (mid), transfer from Toin University. Yushin Otake (mid), loan expired. Jason Geria (def), transfer from Melbourne Victory. Miguel Silveira dos Santos (mid), transfer from PFC Sochi.

Out


Thomas Deng (r) (def), transfer to Yokohama F. Marinos. Koto Abe (sp) (gk), transfer to Jubilo Iwata. Yuzuru Shimada (sp) (mid), contract expired. Eitaro Matsuda (sp) (mid), loan expired. Koji Suzuki (sp) (att), contract expired. Mori Ryota (def) loan to Tochigi SC. Takumi Hasegawa (sp) (def), transfer to Blaublitz Akita. Kazuki Fujita (gk), transfer to Kashiwa Reysol. Ryo Endo (sp) (def), transfer to Iwaki FC. Ryosuke Kojima (k) (gk), transfer to Kashiwa Reysol. Aozora Ishiyama (mid), loan to Matsumoto Yamaga FC. Motoki Nagakura (sp) (att), transfer to Urawa Red Diamonds. Haruki Nishimura (gk), loan to Matsumoto Yamaga FC.

Only just survived relegation last season, and will be looking to solidify their place in their division a little more convincingly this season. Manager Rikizo Matsuhashi resigned at the end of last season so the club moved to bring in Daisuke Kimori from Mito Hollyhock in the J-League 2. A bit of a strange move as he only just managed to keep Mito Hollyhock in the J-League 2 last season. Regular CB Deng has left, which won't make their task any easier - Yokohama F. Marinos poached him. Even goalkeeper Koto Abe moved on so their defensive structure needed some reworking. Jason Geria was signed, who is generally a right-back. However, he can play as a right centre-back so it remains to be seen what role he will take on in this team, given that Soya Fujiwara was their mainstay RB last season and he's still at the club. There have been plenty of new arrivals pre-season but none of which are going to set their fans' worlds alight, although Miguel Silveira dos Santos joining brings some much needed creativity in the final third. In what is likely to be a 4-4-2 though he may need to be deployed out wide. Ken Yamura could impress following a successful loan spell too. Lots of questions remain in this team, including who their main GK will be - expected to be Tashiro but Fujita is in the equation. Not likely to do very well this season; really haven't improved much on last season in any area. Likely to struggle to score goals, and to start slowly too. A successful season would be avoiding relegation, which currently looks unlikely. Daisuke Kimori was poached from Mito Hollyhock in J2, and will be their new manager following the retirement of Rikizo Matsuhashi.

Target


Avoiding relegation