Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou's journey to the Premier League came through Japan and he sees plenty of homegrown J.League talent with the same potential to reach the elite ranks of European football.

"I truly believe that Japan is producing some world-class footballers," Postecoglou said as the Aussie manager met with the media ahead of Spurs' match with Vissel Kobe in the Meiji Yasuda J.League World Challenge 2024 powered by docomo.

"I really think that the J.League is a competition that ranks highly, apart from maybe the big five or six leagues in Europe. Some people consider its quality on par with other major leagues."

Postecoglou would know; he spent three and a half years in the J.League as the manager of Yokohama F·Marinos, winning a J1 League title in 2019.

"I obviously spent close to four years here in Japan, and I loved my time here," Postecoglou said.

Now, Big Ange is returning to Japan for the first time since he left Yokohama for Europe, with his current team set to take on the reigning J1 champions on Saturday at the National Stadium.

The match kicks off at 19:00 local time, with some tickets still available and the game set to be shown around the world, including in Japan on Lemino and on SPURSPLAY in the United Kingdom and Ireland.