The 28th<\/sup> season of top-flight, professional, football in Japan gets underway this weekend as Urawa Reds visit Shonan Bellmare in the opening match and we\u2019ve got you ready for kickoff with a look at how things might shake out in 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n KEY\nOFF-SEASON TALKING POINTS<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n * The\narrival of VAR<\/strong>: Japan has been fairly late in adopting video technology into\nthe league but after a trial in the Levain Cup last season the fully-fledged\narrival of VAR will be an extra element to watch. There have been plenty of\nhigh-profile gaffes in recent years and the hope is that they will be removed\nwhilst not stopping the flow of the game greatly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n * Pressure on the new coaches<\/strong>: It\u2019s been a disappointing start for new Kashima boss Zago, having been eliminated from the ACL and then having lost their opening Levain Cup fixture with a squad that features plenty of turnover and he will be in the spotlight early in the new season. That will be the same for new S-Pulse coach Peter Cklamovski who is set to usher in a completely new approach in Shizuoka, while Takashi Kiyama will have a huge task in trying to ensure that Vegalta Sendai stay up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n * Pressure\non the old coaches<\/strong>: There have been plenty of\nwhispers that Urawa coach Otsuki is far from safe in his role after boardroom\nchanges at Reds and along with Kim Myung-hwi and Bin Ukishima he\u2019s high on the\nlist of potential coaches to lose their jobs early on should those clubs start\nslowly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n * The impact of the Olympics:<\/strong> As was the case for the Rugby World Cup last year, several teams will again be inconvenienced by another major sporting event with Tokyo hosting the Olympic Games this year. FC Tokyo have a run of eight straight away matches in the middle of the year, Kashima have five in a row and Urawa are only at home in two of eight matches during the summer \u2013 that\u2019s a clear issue for those possible title contenders along with the six-week break for the Games that will impact all clubs across all three divisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After having not only won the league last season but having done so by playing in a style that revolutionised Japanese football, Yokohama F.Marinos will rightly enter 2020 as the title favourites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With greater squad depth following some solid off-season signings and only the one major departure, with on-loan winger Mateus returning to Nagoya, the champions will be very hard to beat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the club also setting the ACL alight early on and boss Ange Postecoglou having rightly been hailed as one of the world\u2019s leading coaches, if a major European club asks for his services in the middle of the year then that could be perhaps the only issue that could see the club struggle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The one team that is likely to challenge them is Kawasaki, who have admitted that they are looking to replicate Yokohama\u2019s up-tempo, high and hard pressing brand of attacking football in an adjusted 4-3-3 formation. That suits the players they have better and with Leandro Damiao finally set to be handed a chance as the lone forward they are a side that could score freely.<\/p>\n\n\n\nTHE TITLE CONTENDERS \u2013 Yokohama F.Marinos, Kawasaki Frontale, Urawa Red Diamonds, Kashiwa Reysol<\/h5>\n\n\n\n