Search: 'J-League'

It's a blow to his wife but good news for his credit-card company: Ian Plenderleith has been able to use the internet to further his collection of desperately obscure, occasionally sweat-stained, football jerseys

Borussia Mönchengladbach home, 1997. China, 2002. Sparta Prague home, 2003. Italy, 1994. Glasgow Rangers away, 1992. Various Scotland horror kits with purple lightning flashes or in blinding orangey-pink. Too many Lincoln Citys to mention. Galatasaray home (Istanbul market bootleg), with “Revivo” and No 10 on the back. I wouldn’t say I’m proud of them, but the above are just a part of my undeniable replica-shirt collection.

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Al Needham used to doubt that football could take Asia by storm. But then he saw the film Shaolin Soccer and his reservations were sent flying by surprsingly violent monks

Like most people, I fretted about the 2002 World Cup and FIFA’s latest attempt to foist football upon south-east Asia. I knew about the trials and tribulations of the J-League. I remembered the wave of apathy across America in 1994. I worried about the faddy na­ture of the area towards western trends. I was a patronising, know-nothing get, as it turned out, but had I seen one of the biggest films to come out of Hong Kong in 2001, I would have realised that well in advance.

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Portsmouth’s erratic Japanese keeper can’t get near the first team but, reports Justin McCurry, he’s happy plying his trade on English training grounds

Just before last year’s World Cup, a football writer in Japan drew attention to a phobia Yoshikatsu Kawa­guchi shares with Transylvania’s most feared resident. Aside from being a poor joke, it turned out to be a pre­scient commentary on the fortunes of Japan’s erst­while No 1. Less than two years after his £1.7 million move to Portsmouth, Kawaguchi’s fear of crosses has come to symbolise a promising career that is in danger of slipping from his grasp.

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When the World Cup ended, many thought Japanese football would slump but, as Justin McCurry reports, the exact opposite has happened

Strange things are happening at Gamba Osaka. It isn’t just that the perennial underachievers are closer than ever to winning J-League hon­ours; they are doing so in front of crowds not seen since the heady days of the league’s launch ten years ago.

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Craig Branch reveals why, despite their World Cup heroics, the expected exodus of South Korea's stars from the domestic K-League hasn't come to fruition

South Korea gained worldwide plaudits for both their team and their fans during the World Cup. An estimated seven million sup­porters took to the streets up and down the peninsula for the semi-final against Germany, and it’s thought that over 22 million people con­gre­gated over the course of their six games.

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