TOKYO (Reuters) – Debt-ridden Japanese club Oita Trinita have been bailed out by the J-League after being on the brink of bankruptcy.

The league’s administrators had decided to lend Trinita around 600 million yen ($6.72 million) as part of a special fund set aside for clubs in financial peril, Japanese media reported on Wednesday.

J-League officials estimate Oita’s cumulative losses at more than a billion yen.

“Oita are in a financial crisis that threatens their continued existence,” J-League chairman Kenji Onitake told the Sankei Sports newspaper. “They could go under.”

Oita have suffered from tumbling turnstile receipts and were relegated from the J-League’s top flight last month.

The Kyushu-based club won last year’s J-League Cup but their first major domestic trophy was followed by an injury crisis and the loss of key players.

Onitake also confirmed former J-League champions Tokyo Verdy would play in the top-flight next year after their operational plans were approved.

The league had ordered Verdy to secure sponsorship revenue of at least 540 million yen.

“They managed to secure that,” said Onitake of the second division side, Japan’s top club in 1993 and 1994. “We have also verified the conditions and timing of payments.”

Japanese sport has been hit hard by the global financial crisis over the past year, which has seen the world’s largest carmaker Toyota and Japan’s number two manufacturer Honda both quit Formula One to cut costs.

Subaru, Suzuki and Kawasaki have also pulled out of motorsport, while local soccer, rugby and ice hockey have all felt the economic pinch.

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