Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-31337598-20180712092855/@comment-36238563-20180718162548

Considering Barcelona Orb have been introduced as the series' first non-Japanese club, a Champions League-style international club competition seems like a logical next step. The UCL is Europe-only, but there's also a FIFA Club World Cup, which doesn't get as much coverage but happens every year. In 2016 Japanese side Kashima Antlers got to the final and very narrowly lost to Real Madrid. A tournament like this could be the ideal place for a Raimon v Barcelona rematch, plus appearances from some FFI favourites - would personally love to see Hino's take on an English or Italian club.

European football has a renewed presence in Japan with older talent like Iniesta and Torres joining the J-League recently, so it makes sense if they choose to capitalise on that by pushing European teams later on in Ares.

There's no reason there couldn't be an FFI as well, if the 126 episodes thing is legit. In terms of Inazuma Japan, it's worth nothing that Aphrodi played for Fire Dragon, so he's likely out of the running as a Japan rep. A player like Perseus seems like a prime Neo/Resistance Japan candidate, he's got presence on the pitch but not in the plot. All they need to do is not have characters like Tobitaka, Hijikata and Kogure show up in the Ares plot and they've got room for some of the new players (I like these players, but realistically they seem like they'd be the easiest to replace with no excuses, story-wise).