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The story
PSV midfielder and Japan international Kota Sano scored his first-ever UEFA Champions League goal in Matchday 4 of the league phase against Club Brugge. Trailing 0-1, Sano reacted quickly to a loose ball off a Guus Til shot in the 54th minute of the second half to find the net. At 23 years, 1 month and 10 days old, it stands as the second-youngest Champions League goal by a Japanese player on record. The record belongs to Shinji Kagawa, who scored at 22 years, 8 months and 6 days in 2012 — Sano falls just short. On 5ch, the thread focused less on the record itself and more on how much attention the Champions League actually gets in Japan, with many posters comparing it to the ratings and buzz generated by the concurrent MLB postseason.
In Matchday 4 of the UEFA Champions League league phase, PSV vs. Club Brugge, Japan international midfielder Kota Sano scored his first-ever Champions League goal.
[Video] A composed touch and a flash of the right foot — here’s Kota Sano’s first Champions League goal!
Trailing by one goal in the 54th minute of the second half, Sano reacted quickly to a loose ball off Guus Til’s shot.
Source: youtu.be / original article here
What people said
Making a huge deal out of something that only matters within the tiny world of 'Japanese players'
This is exactly what you call forced hype lol
South Korea's population is half that, 50 million
Pretty impressive when you think of it that way, no?
Does Kubo hold onto the ball and dribble too much?
Or is he more of a defensive mid?
2nd place behind 22 years and 8 months, 6 days
Kubo can never go back to being 22
Men's soccer and women's soccer are basically different sports
Dutch football's level is low too
Club Brugge is on another level even within Belgium
They beat Inter this season too — might honestly be the strongest club outside the top 5 leagues right now
? What do you mean?
Next up: Real Madrid
Tough road ahead lol
[PSV Champions League 2026/27 League Phase]
*Times in Japan Standard Time
MD1 9/11 Home vs Shakhtar 1-1 Draw
MD2 10/14 Away vs Leipzig 0-1 Loss
MD3 10/21 Away vs Porto 1-0 Win
MD4 11/5 Home vs Club Brugge 1-2 Loss
MD5 11/25 (Wed) 5:00 Away vs Real Madrid
MD6 12/10 (Thu) 5:00 Home vs Atletico
MD7 1/21 (Thu) 5:00 Away vs Viking
MD8 1/28 (Thu) 5:00 Home vs Stuttgart
Next match is against us? Wonder if it'll catch the eye of Hande, the 'Special One' (apparent nickname for a PSV player)?
Real and Atletico will be tough, but could they still go through if they win the remaining two?
It was written in a way where you couldn't tell at a glance which team Kota Sano actually plays for — I don't follow soccer, so it threw me for a second
'(PSV) Hande'… lol, I mean, you should at least know Hande is PSV's heartbeat to begin with
Ueda, right lol
Hope he's back soon
Nobody was talking about it so I had no clue
The MLB playoffs got so much buzz by comparison
How did this become such a has-been competition
I think they changed the format for the worse, so the big favorites don't get knocked out early anymore
The World Series didn't even get a thread going
MLB got absolutely steamrolled by the soccer World Cup
Ohtani had threads popping up every single day
And a goal only gets this thread going?
The Champions League really is washed up
Here comes the yakibuta (derogatory slang for an obsessive baseball fan) fresh off the World Series lol
Quit whining to yourself like a sore loser lol
Comparing Ohtani, the best in the world, to some guy who's just playing overseas is pretty unfair
The guy with zero research skills who's obsessively fixated on just Mitoma or Kubo might actually be happier
High schoolers and middle schoolers picked in the draft are more famous than this
Calling this level of performance a 'breakthrough'
feels like setting the bar way too low
https://www.videor.co.jp/tvrating/2026/10/92770.html
Compare that to the Champions League — the last terrestrial broadcast was back in 2018,
and even the CL final couldn't crack 5% ratings
Kicked off free-to-air TV lol
Unlike the WBC, this got axed because it couldn't pull ratings lol
Hilarious
Literally nobody watches the Champions League anymore lol
So the championship decider of yakyu (mocking term for baseball)
rates lower than soccer's Asian Games, huh lol
Below even soccer's lowest-tier tournament? lol
Background and Key Points of This Discussion
Since the 2024-25 season, the UEFA Champions League has used a 36-club league-phase format, making it harder for top clubs to be eliminated early. The ’22 years, 8 months, 6 days’ figure cited in the thread refers to Shinji Kagawa’s age when he scored his first Champions League goal for Borussia Dortmund in 2012, known as the Japanese record. Sano’s mark of 23 years, 1 month and 10 days places him second on that list — a detail that’s easy to miss amid the banter, since he didn’t actually break the record. It’s also true that Japan hasn’t had a terrestrial broadcast of the Champions League since 2018, and posters often frame that limited domestic exposure as proof the competition has lost popularity. In reality, that reflects shifting broadcast-rights deals, not a verdict on the sport’s standing. Several posts in the thread compared this to MLB postseason ratings over the same period, but time-zone differences, broadcast formats, and viewing habits vary so much between the two that a simple ratings comparison doesn’t really settle which is more popular.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Geisports Sokuho+) thread “[Soccer] Japan international MF Kota Sano (PSV) scores first European Champions League goal! Deft control and a flash of the right foot — 2nd-youngest Japanese record.”
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