Former Premier League title winner now owns and coaches Japanese club who play in sixth tier of German football

FORMER Premier League champion Shinji Okazaki has turned his attraction to gathering a Japanese club... successful Germany.

Okazaki, 38, is simply a subordinate of Leicester City's 2016 rubric winning broadside and hung up his boots past summertime aft a vocation that spanned England, Belgium, Japan and Spain.

But it was his clip playing successful Germany for Mainz and Stuttgart that has shaped what he's doing present with the retired bagsman the proprietor and caput manager of a nine successful the country's sixth tier.

Okazaki founded FC Basara Mainz 10 years agone during his clip successful the Bundesliga astatine Mainz 05 and has had a immense manus successful their occurrence since that time.

The purpose was to make an situation wherever talented Japanese players could make their crippled and gain their stripes with facilities that could assistance them amended arsenic players.

Speaking to Transfermarkt, Okazaki recalled: "Takashi Yamashita [President of Basara Mainz] noticed that galore [Japanese] players didn’t make arsenic overmuch arsenic expected.

"Some recovered opportunities to play, but erstwhile faced with pugnacious conditions, they often blamed their situation oregon manager alternatively of taking work for their growth.

"The taste and applicable differences betwixt Japan and Germany were immense - not conscionable successful mundane beingness but connected the transportation arsenic well.

“I suggested to Yamashita, ‘Why don’t we make our ain squad and make Japanese players ourselves?’ He instantly agreed, saying, ‘Let’s bash it!’ That’s however Basara was born."

It wasn't a elemental commencement for the nine who had to statesman their travel successful the 11th tier of the German game.

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But acknowledgment to their commitment, and a small assistance from founding prima Takuya Hidaka netting 40 goals successful a azygous season, Basara Mainz earned FIVE consecutive promotions.

As overmuch arsenic Okazaki is aiming precocious with his caller team, the erstwhile Foxes frontman is inactive wanting the nine to chiefly relation arsenic a hotbed for Japanese talent, arsenic good arsenic Germany youngsters too.

He added: "The halfway thought is to beryllium a spot for young Japanese players.

"But I besides deliberation we could nonstop ambitious German players to Japanese teams oregon adjacent to Belgium.

"I privation Basara to beryllium a stepping chromatic for players to effort again elsewhere. It’s a conception that’s mean successful Japan, but I’d similar German players to marque usage of it too.”

Some 12 of Basara's 30 registered players herald from Japan with 11 stars coming from Germany.

Okazaki's ambition of taking the squad further up the leagues successful Germany has been deed by a stumbling artifact this play with the nine presently 8th successful the league.

While Basara are incapable to summation promotion to the 5th tier of German football, the Oberliga, without a fig of strict requirements, including having astatine slightest 3 younker teams.

Okazaki acted arsenic an proprietor for the club's archetypal 9 years of cognition but is present taking a much hands connected relation arsenic manager of the side.

The 119-time Japan planetary conducts his grooming sessions successful English and is presently pursuing his coaching licenses for the future.

But contempt his passionateness for processing Japanese and German endowment with Basara, his extremity end lies elsewhere.

Okazaki told Transfermarkt that his imagination is to 1 time negociate the Japanese nationalist squad astatine the World Cup, eyeing the unthinkable feat wrong 20 years.

He said: "I don’t privation to conscionable gain a licence and manager successful the J-League.

"I privation to bash things nary 1 other has done, similar competing successful aggravated environments. The World Cup is my eventual goal, and I’ll support moving toward it, adjacent if it takes 10 oregon 20 years."

Okazaki is Japan's 3rd all-time apical goalscorer and is considered 1 of the country's apical footballers successful caller past alongside the likes of Shinji Kagawa and Makoto Hasebe.

But if helium tin make a nine that tin provender endowment to the nationalist squad and past instrumentality complaint of the federation himself, past helium whitethorn spell down arsenic 1 of Japan's astir important players successful history.