J-League: Machida Zelvia could win Japanese football league title in debut top flight season

Eight years have passed since Leicester City shocked the world by winning the English Premier League – but there is an even more far-fetched and unlikely story brewing in the Japanese top flight.

Machida Zelvia, who only formed in 1989 and were a non-league team until 2009, are five points clear at the top of the J-League with 14 games left.

They had never even played at the highest level before this season.

Nobody saw this coming. Leicester at least had an experienced international manager in Claudio Ranieri, but Machida’s boss Go Kuroda is in just his second season as coach of a professional side. He was in charge of a high-school team before that.

Just like in England back in 2016, plenty have been waiting for the bubble to burst – but the team from western Tokyo remain confident.

“We want to win the title and we have that belief,” Machida striker Mitch Duke told BBC Sport.

Duke, an imposing Australia international who scored the only goal in the Socceroos’ win over Tunisia in the 2022 World Cup, is only a year or so younger than the club he joined at the start of 2023.

“We have passed the halfway mark and played everyone. We can match it with anyone in the league, no matter what the history of the other teams. They have to chase us and it is ours to lose,” Duke said.

Early wins over Japanese powerhouses Nagoya Grampus, Kashima Antlers and Kawasaki Frontale were impressive, but Machida would not be the first promoted team to start well before fading.

The difference so far is that, while there have been losses, each time the Blues have reacted by going on a good run.