Football Season Guide

Renofa were the first team above the relegation zone at the end of last season and only bottom-dwellers Zweigen had one fewer win than the 10 in 42 matches for Renofa. It was more luck than anything that saw Renofa surviving with the team’s form awful for the last 3 months of the season but mistakes by others seeing this go unpunished. Despite the lucky escape Juan Esnaider was sacked at the end of the season. Ryo Shigaki, an ex-Renofa player, is now in charge. Shigaki has limited experience as a head coach but he knows the club very well and the players trust him. Star playmaker Shinya Yajima left this winter and with him gone Renofa lost arguably their best player from 2023. Yet to find proper replacement for him and it seems captain Sato will be given more responsibilities this season. Renofa have financial difficulties and they haven’t strengthened much so far this winter. The good thing is that only a handful of important players have left too but still the team needed serious improvement and they are yet to find the right players. The new manager hinted that in late February he will explore the market for players available for loan moves.