Take a look at the J1 League table this season and you'll see Nagoya Grampus challenging for the lead. It has been a long time since you could say that.
With the exception of a brief period at the start of the 2020 and 2021 seasons, the one-time Japanese champions have been significantly further down the table. They even spent a season down in the second tier, suffering relegation in 2016 but bouncing right back through the play-offs.
It is a far cry from the 90s, when Nagoya was home to high-profile European imports. Decades on from Arsene Wenger and Gary Lineker, though, things are starting to look up.
