Akinobu Yokouchi has been named Meiji Yasuda J2 League Manager of the Year after leading Júbilo Iwata to a late surge that saw them earn promotion back to the top flight.

Yokouchi took over freshly relegated Júbilo for the 2023 season with the hope that he could lead the club back into J1. It was a big expectation for a manager who had never led a club on a permanent basis before, but he proved up to the task.

Yokouchi was able to keep the spirits in Iwata up despite a slow start to the season. It took until April before they established themselves even in the top half of the table, but once Yokouchi’s system took hold, Júbilo were magnificent.

Iwata went 11 in a row unbeaten from June to August and had three other unbeaten streaks of at least four matches, including at the close of the season when they climbed to second place on the final day to snag the last automatic promotion place.

Now, Yokouchi is heading to the top flight with Júbilo and he’s doing it with a nice piece of silverware for the marvelous job he did in 2023.