Antlers edge epic title race

Kashima Antlers and Kashiwa Reysol take battle for J. League down to the wire

- MIKE PLASTOW

Kashima Antlers won a record ninth J. League title but their first since 2016 on the final day of the 2025 season. Their triumph was also a record fifth league win for coach Toru Oniki, a former Antlers player, in his first season in charge of his old club.

Antlers' standout players included new Brazilian signing Leo Ceara, the league's top scorer with 21 goals, and veteran Japan centre-back Naomichi Ueda marshalling the back-line. Ueda, Kento Misao and Yuma Suzuki were all part of the Antlers team that won their last league title in 2016. There was also Kei Chinen, who won the league four times under Oniki at Kawasaki Frontale, and J. League Player of the Year Tomoki Hayakawa, superb all season in goal.

The gap was razor-thin at the finish with Antlers and Kashiwa Reysol both in the hunt until the final day. For Antlers, it was a season of two halves, blowing hot and cold at the start but relentless by the finish. They lost 1-0 at Shonan Bellmare on the opening day before bouncing back immediately with four straight wins. In March, they even set a new J1 record of 26 home games without defeat a run that included the entire 2024 season - but ended at 27 in April. Conversely, three straight losses in April, then again from June into July, left them with some catching up to do. Antlers tightened up, played a generally cagey but always determined game, and never lost again, home or away, in their last 15 league outings.