Football Season Guide

Oita flirted with relegation all of last season. In the end, survival was secured with 3 games to spare but the displays were flat and unconvincing all campaign. Defensively things were not too bad. The big issues were in attack, Oita had the second-worst record in J2 last year with only 33 goals scored in 38 games. No player scored more than 6 goals. Not just that but both Arata Watanabe and Shun Nagasawa left the team this winter. Between them they netted 11 of Oita’s 33 goals last term. Kotaro Arima is the only new striker to join the team so far, meaning the outlook up front looks even worse than it was last season. Arima is hardly a prolific goalscorer. He had his best-ever season in 2024 with 8 goals for Iwaki. However, only a year before that he finished an entire season with a single goal and has never in his career scored more than 8 goals in a campaign. The other major change was in the playmaker’s position. Captain Tsukasa Umesaki had an injury-ravaged last season and he decided to retire at the end of the year. To replace him Oita signed the 35-year-old veteran Hiroshi Kiyotake. He too has been injured often in recent years and this is a risky move. Still, when fit Kiyotake can light up any match with his skills. Defensively Oita had the 11th best record in J2 last year, conceded 47 goals, and so far they had been able to keep their core of key defenders. The only notable departure from the back line is that of Tomoya Ando. Issei Tone was signed to take his role and the experienced centre-back is expected to become a regular starter. If somehow Kiyotake avoids injury absence and Oita find a way to score more goals they should have a better season.