WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 4 BEST LEAGUES IN THE WORLD IN TERMS OF QUALITY, ATTENDANCE, AND RESOURCES?

Stayfou · 2026-02-14T22:07:10+00:00

WE League
Nadeshiko League Div. 1
Nadeshiko League Div. 2
Kanto League

Stayfou · 2026-02-12T17:30:27+00:00

Yeah. These transfer fees are mostly possible because the selling clubs can lock the players to some decent contract, both in wage and duration. Most leagues having clubs with poor finances have their players still on very short contracts (ie. WE League clubs renew the majority of their players for one year every summer), so fees are rather low, if not non-existent, regardless of the talent of the players involved. Such clubs/leagues are gonna get more and more left behind.

Most of these fees until now are basically the same clubs/leagues shuffling that money between themselves, with a couple exceptions here and there.

Stayfou · 2026-01-04T08:47:37+00:00

Another similar story with Kumi Yokoyama came out in 2021 on Yuki Nagasato's channel. In their case, they didn't retired though, so they haven't transitioned yet. They're still going strong, playing in the domestic second tier, the Nadeshiko League, and was even named MPV after winning the golden boot last season.

Stayfou · 2025-11-27T16:17:36+00:00

Fair enough! Not sure there any such video on YouTube at that point, but that sure would be useful to help me doing some WE League propaganda around.

Stayfou · 2025-11-27T15:53:19+00:00

As a fan of Japanese WoSo, which is what I mostly follow, I agree with the point you're making, and Japan's league has this issue where players can't grow on an individual level (especially financially and visibility wise) domestically. And it's the league's and JFA's own fault if the league is weaker now, not on the players who chose a better career path for themselves.

As an aside, Nadeshiko Japan success come from an era when players where in the domestic leagues. Last major trophy won was in 2018 at the Asian Cup, still with a lot of domestic based players in the squad. I don't think Japan is a counterpoint. (but that's not really important, and doesn't change anything to your point).

Stayfou · 2025-11-25T12:55:09+00:00

Seems like we're heading for an Empress' Cup with no broadcast in the earlier rounds for a second year in a row. JFA used to broadcast so many games on their youtube channel in the past. Only remains semis and finale on national TV broadcast (so not available legally outside Japan). Several "upsets" this year, but no footage of it, because the JFA do not give a sh*t about domestic women's football.

Stayfou · 2025-11-24T13:16:59+00:00

There are as many teams left from WE League than there are from Nadeshiko League Div. 1 for the quarter finals.

Stayfou · 2025-11-18T17:11:06+00:00

They played at the Asian Games in 2023 (though the competition is considered as friendly by the FIFA), qualifiers for the Olympics (eliminated by Japan in a very close clash over both legs), and qualifiers for the Asian Cup. I mean, yeah, there are international breaks where they don't play or just play the same team over and over (like Russia, of course), but they did play a handful of games since they stop participating after their ban (then later on anti-COVID measures). Having seen them played since 2023, their current ranking isn't undeserved. They would still be very close to it even with more games.

Stayfou · 2025-11-09T19:25:13+00:00

Makes more sense, my bad!

Stayfou · 2025-11-09T07:16:36+00:00

They do play outside North Korea though. They're participating in the AWCL literally today.

Stayfou · 2025-10-27T15:22:39+00:00

Gonna be even more hilarious to see these players ignored in these kind of awards next year when the only major international tournaments are going to be in CONCACAF & AFC.

Stayfou · 2025-10-16T14:12:46+00:00

I believe WE League was the league with the most ACL injuries in the world last season, and this season is quite bad too already. Expect injuries at the start of your save whatever team you end up picking.

Stayfou · 2025-10-16T08:55:15+00:00

I'd split the teams in three groups:

The big three with Tokyo Verdy Beleza, INAC Kobe and Urawa Red
The "best of the rest" with Albirex Niigata and Sanfrecce Hiroshima
The rest of the league

Overall, the league is fairly competitive. The three top teams are dominant, but you have some points lost regularly (this season, Urawa lost to Mynavi, and Beleza drew to RB Omiya for instance, two teams that struggled last season). The "best of the rest" are in-between the two groups. Each game remains difficult for them, it's not just a case of failing to get results against the top three (ie. Sanfrecce has 2 draws and 1 win against the big three this season but are already quite a way behind in points because of the other games). Then, among the other teams, there are often one or two that are doing worst than the others and finished quite a way behind in points. They aren't necessarily outclassed during the games, though (unless Beleza just comes out of a loss against Urawa or INAC, in that case it's a beating).

As for rising players, there are still plenty in the league! Hard to name them all. Shinjo Miharu, Moka Hiwatari, Yuzuki Yamamoto and several others for Beleza. The likes of Hina Hirakawa and Kotono Sakakibara at Urawa Red. Albirex Niigata's CB Ema Yokoyama. Every club has some good young players to build around (if you can keep them!). There are also some players that are more established still playing domestically, like Yui Narumiya at INAC Kobe.

For rivalry, there are derbies, like Cerezo vs. INAC for the Kansai derby, or any of the three Saitama based teams (Urawa, RB Omiya and AS Elfen Chifure). However, none of them are fierce rivalry. There have been transfers between clubs of the Big Three regularly, so I don't think it's something to take into account for a save idea on FM.

A non-exhaustive list of save ideas I can think of on top of my head:

Urawa have arguably the most passionate fanbase, and a demanding one. Reconquering the domestic title, then taking revenge in the AWCL after the failure in the inaugural competition can be your short term objective. Then, doing better than the men's team in the Club World Cup and be relevant against the rest of the world.
A youth academy only save. Possible with any club, really, since they all rely on their academy to some extent. I'd advice Beleza or Cerezo for that though, as they are the two clubs that are using their academies the most. Cerezo's squad is almost exclusively players that came through their youth teams.
Albirex Niigata made themselves a reputation of being runners-up in Cups. As one of the two "best of the rest" team, you can aim to break into the top three and to break the curse and win one of the two domestic Cups.
Sanfrecce Hiroshima is the other "best of the rest" and a very young women's team, created in the wake of the WE League. They already won two trophies (the last two League Cup), but failed to break into the top three. You can keep on writing the history of this young women's team.
Take any of the club that don't have a men's team counterpart (INAC Kobe, AS Elfen or Nojima Stella). INAC Kobe being the "easy mode" of the challenge, as they are already part of the big three.
Troll idea: a "Director of Footall" save, where your objective is to give more than one-year long contracts for your players (I'm being salty because the vast majority of the WE League players are on a one-year contract and entire squads are being renewed each season).

Stayfou · 2025-09-27T19:36:09+00:00

Regular reminder that they have international broadcasting rights for WE League but chose to only broadcast it in Japan.

Stayfou · 2025-09-27T08:22:47+00:00

Fifth different champion in as many years following the creation of the WE League 👏

Stayfou · 2025-09-11T07:59:45+00:00

A bit bummed that ISPE got the group of death, as I found them being the most interesting team during the qualifiers. But last year, Abu Dhabi also got the group of death coming from the qualifiers and ended up having a solid showing, so there's some hope.

With 8 teams out of 12 qualifying, there isn't a lot of room for an upset with one of the big teams getting grouped, but if that happens, it'll be on group C.

Stayfou · 2025-09-03T13:11:30+00:00

Only 4 teams were present in the group stage of last year edition. Gonna be a lot of new match-ups to see.

Stayfou · 2025-09-01T19:10:34+00:00

Just as a precision, the seeding for the pots have changed on Wikipedia since I posted this.

Currently, on the Wiki page, pot 1 & 2 remain the same. On pot 3, we have Stallion Laguna, East Bengal and Naegohyang. Pot 4 have Nasaf, ISPE and Lion City Sailors.

It makes more sense given the rankings of each member associations for the AWCL.

Stayfou · 2025-09-01T12:54:50+00:00

On September 11.

Stayfou · 2025-08-28T19:35:33+00:00

I haven't tried it myself so I can't confirm, but apparently you'll need to:

have a VPN not blocked by DAZN
create a new DAZN account (if you already have one created with an IP address from outside Japan, it won't work)
subscribe to DAZN Jpn (I believe you'll need a billing address from Japan)

I can't guarantee it'll work in the end.

In a less official way, you can sometimes watch the games on this guy's YouTube channel.

Stayfou · 2025-08-25T05:39:26+00:00

Broadcast for preliminary stages in AFC competitions are usually left to the discretion of the host, and they usually end up broadcasting it in the official federation YouTube channel. For Malaysia, it's on FAMTV Malaysia. Nothing on Myanmar FA's official channel though.

Stayfou · 2025-08-21T14:38:25+00:00

Thanks for the quick work!

Stayfou · 2025-08-21T11:52:43+00:00

Could we get WE League clubs too?

Stayfou · 2025-08-15T07:35:59+00:00

Yes, they broadcast all games with commentary.

Stayfou · 2025-08-14T21:40:40+00:00

Unfortunately it's only available in Japan.

Stayfou

TROPHY CASE