Foreign Superstars who have played in J League
J.League has witnessed an inflow of foreign superstars over the years and here are the best of the lot…
- J.League
Table of Contents
Toggle1Lukas Podolski
Born 4 June 1985, a German national. His has soccer player father and handball player mother, and the family migrated from Poland to Germany when he was two years old. Podolski joined Cologne Academy in 1995, and in 2003 he was promoted to the top team and made the professional debut. Soon after he was selected for the German national team and became a very popular star player, then moved to one of the top German clubs Bayern Munich in 2006. While he was in Bayern he contributed to the league title win once, and as the national player, he played for almost all the major events including the World Cup in Germany in 2006, until his retirement from the national in 2017. He moved to Cologne in 2009, Arsenal in England in 2012, Inter Milan in Italy in 2015, then Galatasaray in Turkey, then has been playing for Vissel Kobe from 2017 to date.
- J.League
2Leonardo
Born 5 September 1969, Brazilian national. He joined Flamengo Academy when he was 15 years old, and made his top debut at 17. In 1990, he moved to Sao Paulo and contributed to their national title win for 2 times. In 1991 he moved to Valencia in Spain, then back to Sao Paulo. At the World Cup in USA in 1994, he played a great part as a regular for the victorious cup winner team, however he was banned to play by the act of group league’s ‘revenge’. After the World Cup, in 1994, he was invited by Zico and joined Kashima Antlers, and played as a great pacemaker for the team. After that he played for Paris Saint-Germain in France, Milan in Italy, Sao Paulo and Flamengo in Brazil, and then retired from activity in 2003. He’s been working in his 2nd career as front and instructor.
- J.League
3Ramon Diaz
Born 29 August 1959, Argentinian national. At his training era, he was described as one of the two Argentine’s assets with Diego Maradona and became the top-scorer in 1979’s World Youth (currently U20 World Cup). He couldn’t leave remarkable result as an Argentinian national player but showed his abilities off at River Plate, Fiorentina and Internazionale in Italy. From 1989, he played for Monaco in France, and then back to River Plate from 1991, and in 1993, the establishment year of J League, he joined Yokohama Marinos (currently Yokohama F Marinos). In his 1st year with Yokohama, he recorded 28 goals in 32 games, became the 1st top-scorer of J League and left his name in the league’s history book. After the retirement, he became manager of several soccer teams.
- J.League
4Michael Laudrup
Born 15 June 1964, Danish national. He joined the Brondby Academy at his young age and was awarded the Best Player of Denmark in 1982. In 1983, Laudrup moved to Juventus in Italy and contributed to their league title win in 1985-86 season. In 1989, he moved to Barcelona in Spain, and earned the club four consecutive league title wins and Champions Cup (currently Champions League) titles. In 1994, he moved to Real Madrid and was a sensation. He contributed to the club's league title success too and earned 5 consecutive league wins. As a Danish national, he kept his ace status in the team for a long time. In 1996, Laudrup joined Vissel Kobe who were in JFL (aka 2nd division) then, and helped them gain promotion to J1 League.
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