Vissel Kobe are top of the Meiji Yasuda J1 League table after a fabulous start to their campaign and that terrific play has earned Takayuki Yoshida Manager of the Month honors for February and March.

The Ushi took 12 of a possible 15 points to begin the season, taking them to first place. They featured an attack that ranked among the league’s best, with a resurgent Yoshinori Muto leading the way. They also allowed a mere two goals in those first five matches, exhibiting defensive excellence as well.

Yoshida took over the Ushi midway through last season with the club sitting bottom of the table. He managed to reconfigure the team well enough that Vissel earned enough points to avoid the drop and now he’s taken the Ushi to whole new heights in 2023, pushing them above every other team in the country so far.

In J2, the award for top manager went to Machida Zelvia’s Go Kuroda. Zelvia drew their opening match of the campaign before running off five straight wins through the end of March to take the top spot in the second division. They outscored opponents 11-1 in those six contests, exhibiting uncommon dominance.

Iwate Grulla Morioka’s Yoshika Matsubara has been named Manager of the Month in J3. His team outscored opponents 10-4 over four matches and took seven points.