Football remains one of the most popular sports in Japan, along with basketball, sumo and martial arts. Baseball is also steadily gaining popularity. Make football bets on our online sports betting platform.

Betting on football in Japan

Japan did not qualify for its first FIFA World Cup until the 1998 tournament which was held in France. Since then, the Blue Samurai have become an Asian powerhouse, playing in seven consecutive World Cups.

The training of Japanese players benefits from the fact that, nearly all the best Japanese players play in European leagues. To try and encourage the development of local talent, Japanese clubs can only register a maximum of five foreign players for any single game on match day. The vast majority of foreigners players registered are Brazilian.

The J League is the Japanese football championship that runs from February to December, which means 380 games in total on which you can bet. It comprises 20 teams, 4 of which are relegated to the J2 League at the end of the season. Place your bets on the J2 League with bwin. The J League is one of the most competitive leagues in the Asian zone, with stadium capacities ranging from 15,000 to 72,000 seats.

The J2 League is similar in format of the major leagues. It spans across a marathon ten months months at the end of which is a playoff. The winner is the team that has been the most consistent over the entire season.

Betting on international football

The teams that finish first and second in the J League table get a direct ticket to the Asian Champions League (AFC) group stage. Make your Asian Champions League bets now.

In the record of the AFC Champions League to date, Japan is the second most successful country with many wins behind South Korea and ahead of Saudi Arabia.

Recommended bets on the J League

The Japanese football league is tactical with few goals being scored. The average number of goals scored in recent seasons is 2.43 goals per game, with only 43% of the matches exceeding the 2.5 goal mark.

The most frequent results were 1-0 home wins (13%) as well as 1-1 draws (12%), or 0-1 away wins (10%). Therefore, a recommended bet in the J League is to either bet on either wins with a one-goal lead or low-scoring matches.