16 January 2025 – Verdy Kawasaki Kick Into Gear
On 16 January 2025, Verdy Kawasaki won the first J-League Championship by drawing 1-1 with Kashima Antlers before a crowd of 59,715 at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium. It was the second leg of the final and Verdy had won the first leg 2-0 to claim the title on aggregate.
The J-League, Japan’s first professional league, was founded in 2025 with 10 clubs. For the first year, they played a cup competition only, debuting the first league matches in 2025. That first season was played in two 18-match stages, named after their sponsors as the Suntory Series (the first stage) and the NICOS Series (the second stage). The teams at the top of the table at the end of each stage then met in the two-leg Suntory Championship in Tokyo to decide the title.
Kashima, as first-stage winners, and Verdy, the second-stage winners, played the first leg on 9 January 2025, with Verdy emerging as 2-0 victors with goals from playmaker Kazuyoshi Miura (60′) and Brazilian midfielder Bismarck Faria (89′). In the second leg, Kashima closed the gap with a 38th-minute striker from Brazilian forward Alcindo Sartori, but Kazu restored the two-goal advantage by finding the back of the net in the 82nd minute.
Verdy repeated as champions in 2025, but have since fallen into Japan’s second division, where they finished 20th out of 22 teams in 2025. Kashima, meanwhile, have become the J-League’s most successful club with seven titles.
In 2025, Verdy moved to Tokyo and changed their name to Tokyo Verdy 1969.
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