The 2021 edition of the J1 League is less than a month away, and all eyes will be on defending champions Kawasaki Frontale, who have begun to establish what looks like an era of strong domestic dominance with three titles in the last four years.
Kawasaki mostly had to be content with silver till until a few years ago- they came second in 2006, 2008 and 2009, and third back in 2013. However, not content with just being near men, they broke that long wait for a title in 2017, and followed it up with trophies in 2018 and 2020. Even in 2019, the year, they didn’t win it, they were in the hunt for most of the season, and eventually finished only four points behind second placed FC Tokyo.
The club however made up for the 2019 disappointment with a stunning 2020 season. They finished with 85 points- a league record, and scored 88 goals- nearly twice as many as second placed Gamba Osaka, who only managed 46. Kawasaki finished a whopping 18 points ahead of Gamba and also won the Emperor’s Cup, and it therefore comes as little surprise that the most popular bookmakers in Japan again have them as favourites for the crown for the upcoming season.
Kawasaki were one of four Japanese top-flight teams to be outfitted by Puma in 2020- the others being Cerezo Osaka, who finished fourth, and Shimizu S-Pulse and Oita Trinita, both of whom finished in the bottom half of the table. Puma have already unveiled Kawasaki’s primary strip for 2021- a honeycomb design in their traditional blue colours. It uses the sportswear giant’s “Crafted from Culture” tagline, highlighting the close link between the club and its supporters.
Frontale will however go into 2021 without the legendary Kengo Nakamura, the 40-year-old striker who was at the club for the best part of two decades before deciding to hang up his boots. Nakamura has said that he hopes the club will achieve greater success, and their next focus is likely to be the AFC Champions League, a competition where they have underperformed in recent years, especially given that fellow Japanese outfits Urawa and Kashima Antlers won titles as recently as 2017 and 2018 respectively.
In the 2018 edition, Kawasaki finished bottom of their ACL group, failing to win even a single game. 2019 was far better- they won two games and came close to qualifying, but were pipped it to it by Shanghai SIPG’s Match Day 6 win over Ulsan, the current holders of the Asian crown.
Kawasaki’s 2021 group consists of Chinese club Guangzhou, Filipino outfit United City and a yet to be determined qualifier (the winner of the Daegu Chingrai United playoff tie). All things considered; it is a group they should expect to qualify from.