We started off in Portugal and stopped off at Denmark in our whistle-stop tour of lower leagues across the globe but it is now time to travel over to the other side of the world - Japan, to be precise. Japanese football fanatic Michael Hudson provides a fascinating insight into the division beneath the J-League. There are only twenty professional football clubs outside the Japanese top-flight, but they encompass all four islands of the Japanese mainland, from Consadole Sapporo on the northern island of Hokkaido to Roasso Kumamoto on the shores of Kyūshū’s Ariake Sea, from big city clubs in…
All posts tagged Lower leagues abroad
Lower leagues across the globe #2: Denmark
In the second of The Seventy Two’s series examining lower leagues on other shores, Stuart Fuller from The Ball Is Round lends his expert knowledge on football outside the Danish top flight. As some of you may know, Stuart has something of a reputation for waffling on a bit. All I can say is: hallelujah! Danish football is going through a bit of a renaissance at the moment. This can be attributed to the national team’s qualification for the 2010 World Cup from a tough group featuring Sweden and Portugal and the Champions League performance of domestic rulers FC Copenhagen….
Lower leagues across the globe #1: Portugal
In the first of what will hopefully become a fairly lengthy and comprehensive series examining lower leagues across the globe, In Bed With Maradona co-editor Ben Shave takes a look at the Portuguese equivalent of the Seventy Two. Follow Ben on Twitter and read his blog Cahiers du Sport for more insight into Portuguese football. The geography, languages and footballing cultures might be different, but with the increasing globalisation of football, the problems afflicting lower-league clubs across the world are (depressingly) familiar. Portugal has not escaped this homogenisation. Whilst the três grandes of Benfica, Sporting Clube and FC Porto have…
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