With four rounds of the J. League season remaining, there is an unfamiliar face in the running to be crowned champion in the form of perennial yo-yo club Kyoto Sanga.
Economic inequality continues to make the biggest leagues in Europe increasingly predictable, but domestic soccer in Japan remains far more competitive, and a win for Kyoto this weekend against current league-leader Kashima Antlers would take the title race right down to the wire.
Kashima -- the most successful club in the J. League, with eight J1 titles, although itself without a league crown since 2016 -- is five points ahead of third-place Kyoto heading into Saturday's do-or-die clash at Sanga Stadium by Kyocera, with a resurgent Kashiwa Reysol and two-time defending champion Vissel Kobe also still very much in the mix.