The J.League holds a certain mystique to the western world; a place where the restrictions of tradition that bind most European teams simply doesn’t exist. Now, looking to lift the veil and show off the remarkable diversity, unique club cultures, and iconic, vibrant fashions that are at the heart of Japanese football, the J.League have presented the 20J1 Project.
Welcome to the Wild East. Here the rulebook is thrown out of the window as the bright and bold take centre stage. This is Japan, and more specifically, this is the J.League. Since its inception in 1992, it has given us an abundance of exuberant football shirt designs, and from those early days, where Mizuno produced all the kits for the original 10 teams, and carrying right on today, with those brazen designs ingrained in the very DNA of the league. But outside of Japan it’s somewhat under appreciated; a place where yesterdays stars are put out to pasture. Now J.League are looking to change all of that with the 20J1 Project.
Arriving under the banner “This is J.League: Played in Japan, Made by the World”, the 20J1 Project is all about the J.League shining a spotlight on its growing global footprint by sending its eye-catching kits to cities around the world. Whether it’s Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo’s kit in Bangkok, where their Thai star Chanathip Songkrasin is a hero to millions, or Andrés Iniesta’s Vissel Kobe shirt on the streets of Barcelona where he is a living legend, this project is a love letter to J.League’s distinctive jerseys and valued community of international stars and fans at a time when the global game can bring us all together.
The 2021 J1 League season continues this weekend.
