Japan, the product of soccer globalization

It could be said that Japan has less soccer tradition than the members of its World Cup group (E), which contains two world champions: Germany and Spain. But nothing is said before meeting the world champion, because over the course of four years, countries go back or advance in their football. The Japanese surprised in Qatar by beating Germany (2-1), something that is out of place in the logic of the FIFA ranking, since both teams distance themselves 14 positions, with the Germans being higher.

Soccer in Japan is progressing rapidly. The last title of the National Team is the 2011 Asian Cup, becoming the team that has the most titles in this competition. As for World Cups, their first participation was in France 1998, where they stayed in the first round. At the next World Cup, at their home Korea and Japan in 2002, they reached the round of 16, the same stage they reached in the last competition in Russia in 2018. How to explain such a rapid development?

Professional Japanese soccer began in 1993 with the J-League, a time when it launched its marketing model to attract fans. Three decades after its existence, the highest category shows its development and its players begin to be exported to the European leagues. When Japan hosted the World Cup in 2002, only four of the team, including Arsenal’s Junichi Inamoto and Parma’s Hidetoshi Nakata, played abroad, and by 2018 they called up seven Bundesliga players.

Today, in Qatar, 19 of the 26 selected have a place in foreign clubs.

In terms of business growth, all clubs and divisions participating in the J-League received a total of approximately $433 billion, through sponsorship, which is the largest source of revenue. The best years of earnings were 2019 and 2021, according to Statista data.

“I think we are now on an equal footing with them (Germany),” he said. Daichi Kamada, Eintracht Frankfurt player.

The statements of the Japanese pointed out that the victory represented the best day of their careers and perhaps the best result for the Japanese program.

“The most important thing is how you finish the tournament, not how you start. You have to keep going,” said coach Hajime Moriyasu.

To reach Qatar, the Japanese faced a challenging final group that included Saudi Arabia, Australia, Oman and China.

marisol.rojas@eleconomista.mx