Japan Football Association President Tsuneyasu Miyamoto called the announced attendance of 31,414 at today's Emperor's Cup final a "sad number" and said there were multiple factors involved, citing a need for thorough review.

🇩🇪🅰️ Hiroki Ito (26) finally returned to the pitch, coming on as an 83rd-minute substitute. Just moments after entering the match, he assisted FC Bayern’s sixth goal of the afternoon.

🏆 QUARTER FINAL TIME: 🇯🇵 Japan U-17 vs Austria U17 🇦🇹 The young Samurai Blue are 90 minutes away from making history, a first-ever U-17 World Cup semi-final is on the line.

FT: 🇯🇵 Japan 3-0 Bolivia 🇧🇴 ⚽ D. Kamada ⚽ S. Machino ⚽ K. Nakamura Moriyasu's side end the year with back to back wins and clean sheets.

🇯🇵 Haruya Fujii could be on his way back to Nagoya #Grampus. The now 24-year-old left for Kortrijk in January 2024, but injuries have limited him to just 36 appearances. Now his former club have submitted an offer to bring him home, per @ImarVanden (on X).

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Two goal contributions for Kanya Fujimoto in Birmingham City U21’s 5–1 win over West Brom. Forced a save that led to the first and set up Betteka for the third. A productive afternoon in Kanya’s first pre-season outing. 📸 @BCFCAcademy / #bcfc

🇳🇱 Shiogai’s superb pre-season ended in style with a goal and an assist against Blackburn Rovers. A blessing for NEC that his move to RB Salzburg fell through, 7 goals already in pre-season, he’s shaping up for a fantastic campaign. 📸 @necnijmegen

🇩🇰🥳 Match winner on his first appearance at #Brøndby Stadion! Sho Fukuda vs HB Torshavn ( @SofascoreINT ): ⏱ 67 minutes 🥅 1 goal 🧠 1 chance created 🕺 1 successful dribble 📈 32/33 passes (97%) ⚔️ 5/7 ground duels won

🇳🇱👀 Ajax have their sights set on Ko Itakura following Jorrel Hato’s departure. The Japanese international is reportedly eager to join the Dutch giants, and Ajax hope to lure him away from Gladbach for just €8–9M. 🗞️ @telegraaf.nl / 📸 @borussia.bsky.social

The #JLeague announces that tonight's friendly, won 3-1 by Liverpool over Yokohama FM, has set a new record for attendance at a league-organized match with a crowd of 67,032. Rest of top 5 are Bayern-Man City, Frontale-PSG, the first leg of the 2004 Suntory Championship & YFM-FCT in 2019.

🇫🇷 Young Southampton forward Rento Takaoka (高岡 伶颯) has been in France, training with Valenciennes’ reserves ahead of a potential loan move. Takaoka joined the Saints after turning 18 earlier this year. 🗞️@justsaints.bsky.social

🇧🇪 Koki Saito is back in training with SK Lommel (@hbvl). The 23-year-old still has two years left on his contract but hasn’t featured for #Lommel since the 2021/22 season, spending the last three seasons on loan in the Eredivisie at #Sparta Rotterdam and Championship at #QPR.

🇩🇪 Daisuke Yokota has joined Hannover 96 on loan with an option to buy! The 25-year-old spent last season in the 2. Bundesliga with Kaiserslautern. now he links up with fellow Japanese player Hayate Matsuda at Hannover. 📸 @Hannover96

「目標も準備も検証も曖昧なCWC。４年とその未来に向けクラブと株主は道筋を示せ。」 "Our Club World Cup campaign lacked clear objectives, preparation and introspection. The club and shareholders need to show us the path they have in mind for four years from now and beyond." #urawareds #jleague

🆕 Shogun Soccer Scouting 🇯🇵⚽️🔍! 1⃣3⃣: KOTA TAKAI | #高井幸大 ! LINK 🔗: www.shogunsoccer.com/p/shogun-soc... - Physically imposing 💪 but some issues with speed & turning agility ↪️ - Very good ball progression through passes & carries ✅ #Spurs #THFC #COYS #JLeague

🇯🇵 Kashima Antlers slipped up today, and Kashiwa Reysol pounced. Their win over Shimizu S-Pulse moves them level on points with Antlers at the top of the J1 table. 📸 @REYSOL_Official • #reysol

🇯🇵 Busy week for Japanese transfers in Europe: 🇩🇰 Uchino > Brøndby ✅ 🇸🇪 Shima > Hammarby ✅ 🇧🇪 Yokohama > Genk ✅ 🇧🇪 Nozawa > Antwerp ✅ 🇩🇪 Ikari > Hannover 96 ✅ 🇩🇰 Fukuda > Brøndby ✅ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Takai > Spurs ⏳ 🇩🇪 Machida > Hoffenheim ⏳ 🇨🇿 Hashioka > Slavia ⏳

🇯🇵🇺🇸 History made! Yohei Takaoka becomes the first-ever Japanese-born player to be named in the MLS All-Star squad.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Tottenham Hotspur have agreed a £5m fee with Kawasaki Frontale for Japan international Kota Takai, per @sponichisoccer. It’ll be the largest transfer fee ever received for a Japanese player from the J League.

🅰️ Sota Nakamura’s run continues. That’s 4 games in a row with an assist, 6 total this season in J1. Only Lucas Fernandes has more. 📸 @sanfrecce_SFC • #sanfrecce

Heartbreak for Urawa Reds.

♦️ Ryoma Watanabe fired in from close range to give Urawa Reds a dream start against Inter Milan. Takuro Kaneko displayed some superb dribbling down the right to create the goal.

♦️🏟️ Urawa Reds and Inter Milan aren’t total strangers, they met once before, all the way back in 2004. Inter were on a pre-season tour of Japan, and nearly 58,000 fans watched Urawa pull off a 1-0 win. The only goal was slotted home from the spot by Brazilian forward Emerson 🇧🇷

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿➡️ Kyogo Furuhashi is attracting interest from several European clubs, with Birmingham City reportedly among them. The Blues return to the Championship this season and will be aiming for promotion back to the Premier League. 🗞️ sponichisoccer

❓ Ayumu #Seko has left Grasshoppers following the expiration of his contract. At just 25 and already a Japan international, where do you think he’s headed next? 📸 GC Zürich

📉 Somehow, it’s getting even worse for Marinos, both Anderson Lopes and Yan Matheus are now being linked with moves away. They're in trouble.

Really great to see Ao Tanaka's awesome performances for Leeds United this season. I remember talking with the Yorkshire Evening Post when his transfer was confirmed last summer but even I didn't imagine he'd be this good! 🌟

🏆🇯🇵 Ao Tanaka (Championship) and Tomoki Iwata (League One) have both been nominated for the @PFA Players’ Player of the Year awards. 📸 #LUFC & #BCFC

Urawa fans were brilliant.

♦️ Disappointing from Urawa, those second and third goals were poor to concede. Things were starting to look promising.

Club World Cup Preview: Urawa Red Diamonds Get to know one of Japan’s most popular teams. 🖊️ @aishiterutokyo.bsky.social www.sounderatheart.com/2025/06/club...

🇨🇿🏆 Czech champions Slavia Prague are eyeing Luton Town full-back Daiki Hashioka as reinforcement and competition for David Douděra. 🗞️ iSport

🇯🇵❌ Marinos’ season goes from bad to worse, they were knocked out of the Emperor’s Cup by JFL side ReinMeer Aomori. Goalkeeper Riku Hirosue opened the scoring. 📸 ReinMeer Aomori

🇺🇸⚔️ Sota Kitano and Takumu Kawamura are in RB Salzburg’s squad for the Club World Cup next week. Excluding Urawa, they’re the only Japanese players set to feature in the tournament.

Don’t let #FMarinos’ loss to #Rainmeer distract you that YFM is also facing relegation. Did I mention the Yokohama F Marinos are in a lot of trouble now?

With all these one-year-to-go 2026 World Cup stories coming out, just want to put it out there that I’m happy to come onto podcasts, radio, YouTube etc to talk about where Japan stands, seeing as so few of these stories seem interested in making in more than a cursory reference to Asian teams.

🇦🇹❌ Kento Shiogai’s (塩貝 健人) transfer to RB Salzburg will not take place due to an injury found in the medical. The Austrian Bundesliga side wanted him to play at the Club World Cup next week. 🗞️ via NEC Nijmegen

🇯🇵🆕 More debuts today. Junnosuke Suzuki and Shunsuke Mito the latest players to make their first Samurai Blue appearances. 📸 JFA

🇦🇹✍️ Sota Kitano (北野 颯太) has officially joined RB Salzburg! Best of luck to him, hopefully we’ll see him at the Club World Cup next week. 📸 RB Salzburg

🇯🇵📈 Mito Hollyhock capitalise on Omiya Ardija dropping points and move level with them. After finishing 15th last season, Mito are now unbeaten in 10 (including 6 consecutive wins), and sit just 3 points off top spot in J2. 📸 Mito Hollyhock

🇹🇷 Turkish giants Fenerbahçe have reportedly had a €10M bid rejected for Daizen Maeda. Celtic are holding out for €25M for the Japanese forward, who had a standout season, 33 goals and 12 assists across all competitions. 🗞️ FFTV, Sözcü & NTV SPOR via @TheParkheadF on X

🇯🇵 A J.League U-20 side made very easy work of Málaga U-20 🇪🇸 with a 19–0 victory. Gaku Nawata was on fire, bagging 4 goals, including a hat-trick in the opening SIX minutes. Vegalta Sendai’s, Takumi Yasuno also scored 4. 📸 Koki Nagahama / @gekisaka

🫎 Kashima #Antlers’ keeper Tomoki Hayakawa has been aid this season, he’s prevented the most goals in the J.League (4.5) and kept the joint-most clean sheets (9).

🇯🇵 Hochi are reporting that Moriyasu will call up five of Oniki’s Kashima #Antlers squad for the upcoming EAFF E-1 Championship: Kimito Nono, Tomoki Hayakawa, Ryotaro Araki, Naomichi Ueda, and Kyosuke Tagawa. 🗞️ @hochi_football 📸 via Tomoki Hayakawa on IG

🇯🇵 Congratulations to Kota Tawaratsumida, Yu Hirakawa, and Hiroki Sekine, all three made their Samurai Blue debuts against Australia! 👏 📸 via Goal Japan

♦️ Urawa Reds have signed Hiiro Komori ahead of the Club World Cup. He’ll be hoping to put a tough spell behind him and hit the ground running. 📸 Urawa Reds

♦️ #UrawaReds came from behind to beat Yokohama FC in their final match before heading off to the Club World Cup. After a miserable start, they’ve turned things around and now sit 3rd in the J.League. How do you think they’ll fare against River Plate 🇦🇷, Inter 🇮🇹 and Monterrey 🇲🇽?

🇯🇵 In his farewell appearance for Cerezo Osaka, Sota Kitano (北野 颯太) signed off with two assists in a 4-2 win over Shimizu S-Pulse. He leaves the club with 4 goals and 4 assists this season, more than his previous three seasons combined. 👏

🇫🇷 Marinos building momentum! After 12 games without a win, they’ve now secured back-to-back J.League victories for the first time since last November. Daiya Tono was the star, bagging a brace, taking him to 5 league goals this season, more than his last 3 seasons combined. 📸 Goal Japan

⚔️ Samurai’s of Salzburg 🇦🇹 Kento Shiogai is reportedly set to make a €4.5 million switch from NEC Nijmegen to RB Salzburg, while Cerezo Osaka have confirmed that Sota Kitano will also be making the move abroad, with Salzburg believed to be his destination. 📸 Shane Wisser & J League