![\"\"](\"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/02\/16809134_1253963974694029_2062988045_n.jpg\")
<\/p>\nThis season, the J1 League has returned to a single-stage format and Azul Claro Numazu joining an already-competitive J3 League field.<\/p>\n
Fans in those divisions will be able to enjoy a bumper crop of Southeast Asian players this year, including AFF Suzuki Cup MVP Chanathip Songkrasin who will land at Consadole Sapporo in July.<\/p>\n
They will follow in the footsteps of several other ASEAN players who have come to Japan in recent years as the J.League has expanded its footprint in the region through its Asian Strategy Office.<\/p>\n
Here’s a list of Southeast Asian players who\u00a0have played for J.League clubs or will make their debuts this season.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
1. Le Cong Vinh (Vietnam\/Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo)<\/strong><\/p>\n The Vietnam national team’s top scorer had a short stint with the northern Japanese side, joining the team on loan from SLNA FC back in 2013. The league’s first Vietnamese player scored two goals in nine\u00a0J2 appearances as well as two more goals in the Emperor’s Cup. Despite Consadole’s interest, an agreement on a loan extension could not be reached and he returned home at the end of the season.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2. Irfan Bachdim (Indonesia\/Ventforet Kofu, Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo)<\/strong><\/p>\n The star striker\u00a0joined Ventforet Kofu in 2014 after a successful trial in Japan, becoming the league’s first Indonesian player. However, injuries prevented him from securing a spot in the team and he made just two cup appearances.\u00a0His fitness did not improve after a move north to Consadole Sapporo, and he managed a total of nine appearances in two years before he was released last December.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3. Nguyen Cong Phuong (Vietnam\/Mito Hollyhock)<\/strong><\/p>\n Widely considered to be one of Vietnamese football’s\u00a0brightest prospects in recent years, Nguyen Cong Phuong made a highly-publicized move to Mito Hollyhock last season\u00a0on loan from Hoang Anh Gia Lai. However, he failed to secure a first-team spot and spent most of his time in Japan recovering from injuries. He totalled five appearances for the Ibaraki outfit in the J2 League.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4. Stefano Lilipaly (Indonesia\/Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo)<\/strong><\/p>\n The Dutch-Indonesian journeyman joined Consadole\u00a0in 2014 from Almere City, but failed to break into the squad and made just one appearance in the Emperor’s Cup before joining Persija\u00a0Jakarta in 2015.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 5. Nguyen Tuan Anh (Vietnam\/Yokohama FC)<\/strong><\/p>\n A teammate of Nguyen Cong Phuong at HAGL, Nguyen Tuan Anh also arrived in Japan last winter on a year-long rental to\u00a0Yokohama FC. While he failed to make his J2 League debut, Nguyen still made a big impact for his team when he scored an extra time game-winner against AC Nagano Parceiro in the third round of the Emperor’s Cup, to push\u00a0Yokohama forward to the Round of 16.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 6. Chanathip Songkrasin (Thailand\/Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo)<\/strong><\/p>\n The two-time AFF Suzuki Cup Player of the Tournament had a short trial with J.League co-founders Shimizu S-Pulse in 2013, but a move did not materialize. After winning the league title and domestic cup with Muangthong United last season, the will the 23-year-old midfielder will join Consadole Sapporo on a year-and-a-half loan from July.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 7. Chan Vathanaka (Cambodia\/Fujieda MYFC)<\/strong><\/p>\n One of Cambodian football’s brightest young stars, Chan Vathanaka has scored an incredible 116 goals in just 90 appearances for Boeung Ket Angkor, including 55 goals in the 2015 campaign. His successful AFF Suzuki Cup appearance earned him a year-long loan to J3 League side Fujieda MYFC, where he could become the J.League’s first Cambodian player.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 8. Sittichok Phaso (Thailand\/Kagoshima United)<\/strong><\/p>\n Named by\u00a0British newspaper\u00a0The Guardian as one of their top 60 young footballers, the 18-year-old striker joined Kagoshima United on loan from Chonburi early this year. Despite his tender age, he has already impressed with steady preseason performances, including two goals in a training match against Zweigen Kanazawa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This season, the J1 League has returned to a single-stage format and Azul Claro Numazu joining an already-competitive J3 League field. Fans in those divisions will be able to enjoy a bumper crop of Southeast Asian players this year, including AFF Suzuki Cup MVP Chanathip Songkrasin who will land at Consadole Sapporo in July. They will follow in the footsteps of several other ASEAN players who have come to Japan in recent years as the J.League has expanded its footprint in the region through its Asian Strategy Office. Here’s a list of Southeast Asian players who\u00a0have played for J.League clubs or will make their debuts this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":1300,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[286,329,204,91,326,127,57,325,327,328,183,95,315,135,68,105],"class_list":["post-1293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-southeast-asia","tag-chan-vathanaka","tag-chanathip-songkrasin","tag-featured","tag-indonesia","tag-irfan-bachdim","tag-j-league","tag-japan","tag-le-cong-vinh","tag-nguyen-cong-phuong","tag-nguyen-tuan-anh","tag-sittichok-phaso","tag-slider","tag-southeast-asia","tag-stefano-lilipaly","tag-thailand","tag-vietnam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/02\/irfan-bachdim-consadole-sapporo-2_20150503_205259.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/02\/1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/02\/foto-stefano-lilipaly-dengan-jersey-consadole-sapporo.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/02\/2.1.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/02\/16809980_10154441551526325_637769575_n.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/02\/chan-vathanaka-fujieda-myfc_1klneibt3c39e1i19rkwxyrtxe.jpeg\")
<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/football-tribe.com\/asia\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2017\/02\/16426097_1303727326359378_3216476536755741345_n_0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n