ODDS and EVENS | J.League Season is Providing Compelling Competition

It's been nearly two months since the 2025 J.League season kicked off, and there's been one common thread so far: parity.

Spirited competition and a number of teams with similar talent on their rosters have produced an exciting introductory phase to the season.

Consider: Through Wednesday, April 9, the top seven teams in the standings are all bunched together, with only two points separating the joint leaders and Kyoto Sanga, who have 15 points.

Let's take a quick look. FC Machida Zelvia (five wins, two draws, two defeats) and Sanfrecce Hiroshima (five wins, two draws, one defeat) are tied at the top of the 20-team table with 17 points apiece. But note that Sanfrecce have played one fewer match to date.

Indeed, it's early and teams are scheduled to play 38 J.League matches ― one home, one away ― against each of the other clubs, but the crowded top-of-the-table standings are intriguing and fun to follow.

Sitting a single point below Zelvia and Sanfrecce are four teams: Kawasaki Frontale, Kashima Antlers, Kashiwa Reysol and Avispa Fukuoka.

Former Frontale boss Toru Oniki's old squad leads the J.League in goals (17) through Wednesday. And in his new job at the helm in Kashima, the Antlers are off to a dynamic start on offense with 16 goals.

To each chalk up 16 points apiece through April 9, what are the overall results thus far for the quartet of squads right below Zelvia and Sanfrecce?

Here's a quick rundown:

• Frontale: four wins, four draws, one defeat.
• Antlers: five wins, one draw, three defeats.
• Reysol: four wins, four draws, one defeat.
• Avispa: five wins, one draw, three defeats.

Late Drama at Todoroki Stadium

Only one J.League match was contested on Wednesday, but it kept Frontale, at least for now, among the top teams.

The final score: Frontale 3, Yokohama F. Marinos 3.

At Kawasaki's Todoroki Stadium, there was a thrilling finish. Marinos forward Yan Matheus scored in the second minute of second-half stoppage time, giving his team a 3-2 advantage. Then, in the 10th minute of stoppage time, Frontale defender Kota Takai, who is 20, leveled the score with a header.

"I hope this one point will be a big plus at the end of the season," Takai, an up-and-coming Japan national team player, was quoted as saying by Jiji Press.

After the Kawasaki-Yokohama match, Shigetoshi Hasebe, Frontale's first-year manager, summed up his thoughts on the action.

"I think it was a very positive game because we lost one of our main defenders at the end of the game," Hasebe told reporters, "and then a young player (Takai) came in and turned the game around, and we pulled out a draw. What is the coach's opinion? I think that is positive."

A Fresh Start for Oniki with the Antlers

After leaving Kawasaki following the 2024 campaign after a sensational eight-year tenure (a J.League managerial record with four titles), Oniki took over as the Antlers' new boss.

As noted above, Kashima is off to an impressive start in terms of booting the ball into the net. And it all starts with Brazilian scoring maestro Leo Ceara. The veteran forward is No 1 in the J.League in goals (eight), two more than the second-best scorer to date, Kyoto's Rafael Elias, another Brazilian standout.

Oniki's squad lost its last two league matches, 1-0 to Sanfrecce on April 2 and 4-3 to Sanga on April 6. What followed was a 5-3 penalty shootout defeat (1-1 score after regulation) to J2 club Renofa Yamaguchi FC in a J.League YBC Levain Cup match on Wednesday, April 9.

So it appears the Antlers are in a bit of a slump.

"We will have to see what we can do at this point in the season, and our true value will be tested in a tough schedule and under difficult circumstances," Oniki said, according to Sports Nippon. "Together with the players, we have a strong desire to go beyond this point."

Meanwhile, Renofa goalkeeper Junto Taguchi and his teammates are enjoying the euphoria of their shock victory.

"It feels like a dream, but I'm looking forward to working hard again in the league matches," Taguchi said, according to NHK.

Describing his goalkeeping approach in the penalty shootout, Taguchi said, "I took the data into consideration, and in the end, all I had to do was [handle] the ball as hard as I could in the direction I believed in."

Notable Weekend Matches on the J.League Schedule

FC Tokyo, which has had a poor start to the new season (two wins, two draws, five defeats), plays host to Reysol on Friday night, April 11. The venue: National Stadium in the Japanese capital.

Also, keep an eye on one of Saturday's most compelling matchups: Sanfrecce vs Fagiano Okayama at Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima.

Sanfrecce, coming off a second-place finish in 2024, will face a team that earned promotion to the J.League top flight for the first time. And Fagiano manager Takashi Kiyama's squad sits a point below Sanga in eighth place, recording four wins and two draws among its first nine matches in J1.

Looking ahead to the Chugoku Derby, Kiyama has issued a challenge to Fagiano's players.

"We need to increase the willingness of our players to shoot," Kiyama was quoted as saying by Sports Nippon. "It's not that they are not shooting in the box (penalty area), but they need to swing their feet more to really put it in.

"We want to increase our desire to score more and more goals."

That's a message that all J.League fans can embrace.

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Author: Ed Odeven

Find Ed on JAPAN Forward's dedicated website, SportsLook. Follow his [Japan Sports Notebook] on Sundays, [Odds and Evens] during the week, and X (formerly Twitter) ＠ed_odeven.