Even when I was a season ticket holder at Leicester City in the early-mid 1990s I doubt I went to as many football matches as I did in 2024. All league matches plus a few cup ties  and the occasional away day would still not have resulted in over 30 matches back then but this year I managed to pass that number. I visited a total of 21 grounds/stadiums to watch football matches in a wide variety of different leagues and cups in both the mens and womens game.

The ever changing poses of Tokyo Fox!!

There were 11 places where I watched football for the first time which is just crying out for a rankings compilation post! This is just about the venue only without (too much!) influence from the location, occasion, atmosphere, journey, weather, on-the-field action or anything else that makes up the match day experience. It is of course from my perspective and all of them were memorable in their own way so lets kick off this top 10 compilation post at number 11!!

11. Kiyose Uchiyama Athletic Park Soccer Field A, Kiyose (Tokyo), 2nd June.

Shibuya City FC 0-0 FC Casa Fortuna Oyama (5-4 on penalties) – Some kind of seating area is really needed for me to attend a match at a ground, and this one just about qualified with the bare minimum!

10. ZOZO Park Honda Football Area, Mihama-ku, Wakaba (Chiba Prefecture), 19th May.

Aries Tokyo 3-2 Tokyo United – An artificial pitch surrounded by netting isn’t the most appealing spectacle but this lower league ground possesses some cool signage and a nice-looking changing room and clubhouse with some autographs, signed boots and shirts from Nadeshiko Japan player  Saki Kumagai as well as Keisuke Honda himself. More details here.

9. Nisaan Field Kozukue, Kohoku-ku, Yokohama (Kanagawa Prefecture), 17th November.

Edo All United 1-2 Shibuya City FC – With the mammoth Nissan Stadium lingering in the background, this field offers quite the contrast. It does have a stand though which is an improvement on the other two listed thus far.

8. Daiichi Cutter Field, Narashino (Chiba Prefecture), 16th June.

– These municipality stadiums really are quite same-same but this differs ever so slightly as there’s no running track so you are right next to the pitch which in itself is in great condition. Sadly, the same can’t be said of the decaying old stand.

7. Kumagaya Athletic Stadium, Kumagaya (Saitama Prefecture), 10th March.

Chifure AS Elfen Saitama 2-1 Nojima Stella – Athletics tracks surrounding pitches are fairly common place in Japan but this one takes it a bit further by having an extra green coloured circuit around that. The main stand is pretty good, and I did enjoy watching the first half from behind the goal but it is all rather  basic.

6. ZA Oripri Stadium, Ichihara (Chiba Prefecture), 7th January.

JEF United Chiba Ladies 0-1 Mynavi Sendai Ladies – My first match of the year was at the former home of JEF United. The stadium we were sat in was fairly large with the other sides forming a smaller ring. I’d have preferred to be able to look at the main stand whilst watching this fairly dull match but that’s rarely the case at any ground. The cold Ichihara winds we were expecting never materialised on a sunny January afternoon.

5. Prince Chichibu Memorial Rugby Ground, Kita-Aoyama, Minat-ku (Tokyo), 2nd August.

J-League Select U-15s 7-3 Newcastle United U-15s – Check the wording of the title of this post! The chance of seeing a football match at this rugby stadium was too good an opportunity to turn down. It’s a place I’ve frequented many times for rugby and it was a little surreal to see this under-15s goal-fest (10 goals!) being played there.

4. Ishin Me-Life Stadium, Ishinkoen (Yamaguchi Prefecture), 10th August.

Renofa Yamaguchi 4-3 Tochigi SC – One of my longest ever day-return trips for a football match, and this was a stadium that appeared to look more impressive from the outside. At least I could look at the main stand and see some beautiul mountain scenery whilst watching a seven-goal thriller. More details here.

3. Sanga Stadium by Kyocera, Kameoka (Kyoto Prefecture), 26th June.

Kyoto Sanga 2-2 Kashiwa Reysol – One of the newest top flight grounds, and quite a rarity in Japan as it is principally a football stadium. It’s located in a valley so there are too many flies but it looks absolutely fantastic both internally and externally. More details here.

2. Ekimae Real Estate Stadium, Kyomachi, Tosu (Saga Prefecture), 30th June.

Sagan Tosu 1-4 Kashiwa Reysol – This was my favourite match-day in 2024, and it is unfortunate to not be number one as I loved the old-style retro rectangular stadium with four separate stands. More details here.

1. Oita Big Eye Stadium, Yokoo (Oita Prefecture), 29th June.

Oita Trinita 0-0 Ventforet Kofu – It’s lucky this listing is not based on the match itself as that was absolutely dreadful and one of the worst I’ve ever seen! However, this was the bucketlist stadium I’ve wanted to see for a long time in person thanks to its amazing architecture. More details here.

Click here to read ‘TF Top 10……Football Match Day Experiences So Far In 2024 (Part 2)’ 

Click here to read ‘TF Top 10……Football Match Day Experiences So Far In 2024 (Part 1)’

Click here to read ‘TF Top 10……Football Match Day Experiences In 2023 (Part 2)’

Click here to read ‘TF Top 10……Football Match Day Experiences So Far In 2023 (Part 1)’