In the Bundesliga, Japanese internationals Hikaru Endo (pictured left) and Daichi Kamata went head-to-head.
The issue of athletes' salaries is often an inextricable topic when discussing commentary on sporting events. China's national soccer team has long failed to break through the bottleneck, and some have suggested that high salaries are a stumbling block. Is this really accurate? What about the actual salary levels of Japanese players?
The 20 teams in Japan's J1 League recently announced their respective payroll expenditures, and Kobe Victory came out on top with a whopping 4,712.4 million yen (roughly Rs. 270 million), almost four times Kawasaki Frontale's 1,079.6 million yen (roughly Rs. 58 million).
At the end of 2014, Rakuten Group became the team's largest shareholder. The team's owner, Hiroshi Mikitani, has invested heavily in successive years, bringing in a number of stars such as Lukas Podolski, Villa, Iniesta and Vermaelen. However, these investments did not stir up the bubble of Japanese soccer, nor did they stop Japanese players from playing abroad. Even Iniesta enjoys a high salary in Japan.
J-League stars' salaries revealed
According to the J-League's published team and player salary data for the 2021 season (excluding recent transfers), Kobe Victory FC is undoubtedly the team that has invested the most in salary expenses out of the 20 teams.
