M-League 2026-27 is upon us! Today, we will see who and what is new for the 9th season of M-League!
New (And Returning) Players
During the offseason, the Sega Sammy Phoenix dropped Asai Takaki, the Kadokawa Sakura Knights dropped Shibukawa Nanba and the U-Next Pirates dropped Kobayashi Go. At the M-League 2026-27 draft, these three teams had an opportunity to draft a new player.
1st Overall Pick: Shirinashihama Wataru (尻無濱航)
Birthday: January 26, 1992 (Age 34)
Professional Organization: NPM
Pro League: B2
Titles: 2nd fuzz Cup team Championship
To replace Shibukawa Nanba, the Kadokawa Sakura Knights chose Shirinashihama Wataru.
In 2021, Shirinashihama finished was part of the winning team at the fuzz Cup tournament. He was also in the top 16 three years in the row for Mahjong Saikyousen.
2nd Overall Pick: Asakura Koushin (朝倉康心)
Birthday: March 4, 1986 (Age 40)
Professional Organization: Saikouisen
Pro League: A1
Titles: 1st・11th Tenhoui (天鳳位), 4th・8th Tenhou Meijinsen (天鳳名人戦), 2019-20 M-League Champion (U-Next Pirates)
As the U-Next Pirates dropped their last player from their original 2018-19 crew (Kobayashi Go), they brought back another original: Asakura Koushin.
First drafted by the U-Next Pirates as their 2nd round pick back in the first season, he helped the team get their first championship in the 2019-20 season. However, after failing to make the finals in the two following seasons, the team dropped him and Ishibashi Nobuhiro.
In his note, Asakura stated that his mental state was one of the reasons why he was dropped in the first place, but even with the life circumstances that he is still going through now, manager Kinoshita still wanted to nominate him. He also stated that Kobayashi gave his full support in the manager’s decision to bring Asakura in to replace Kobayashi.
3rd Overall Pick: Sano Hinako
Birthday: October 13, 1994 (Age 31)
Professional Organization: Saikouisen
Pro League: D2
For the Sega Sammy Phoenix, they chose to fill the spot with Saikouisen’s Sano Hinako.
Though more known as a gravure idol, this 2024 mahjong pro has had multiple appearances in mahjong videos, including the U-Next Pirates’ 2026 Treasure Hunt and the winning “Team e” of the 2025 menu team tournament (both Table A and the Finals)
Uniforms
↑ Last Season ↑
↓ This Season ↓
As with every year, the new uniforms were revealed for all of the teams. Big uniform changes include the U-Next pirates adding pink highlights to their jersey, the Akasaka Drivens having a more mosaic uniform (replacing their classic tartan style), Team Raiden having more yellow on their jersey and the Kadokawa Sakura Knights having a more white jersey.
Schedule
Similar to last year,
- The regular season will consist of 300 games (120 by each team), with the top 6 teams advancing to the semifinals
- The semifinals will have 30 games (20 by each team), with the top 4 teams advancing to the finals
- The finals will have 16 games, with the top team winning the championship
However, this year will have two tables going at the same time every game day (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday) starting from the 2nd week (September 21) until the end of the 2026 games (December 25). After a 1-week break, they will return to the single-table format until the end of the regular season. As a result of the more condensed schedule, the season will end at March 2, much earlier than usual.
M-League Theme
For the fifth year in a row, band UVERworld will be providing the theme song for M-League. This year, their song “BAD BOY PROUD” (which will be heard first on M-League) will be played during the credits of each broadcast.
And that’s all for today! The opening ceremony starts at 17:30 JST on September 14, with the first game starting at 19:00 JST.
What’s in store for us this season? Who will win? Well, we’ll just have to wait and see!
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