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Background and Purpose: It remains unclear whether the lymph-node ratio (LNR) is a relevant factor for the risk of recurrence following neoadjuvant chemotherapy (nCT) with docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (DCF), which is a new standard of care for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) in Japan. This study aimed to evaluate the clinical utility of LNR as a risk factor for recurrence., Materials and Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 75 patients who underwent nCT-DCF followed by curative surgery for resectable ESCC. The cut-off for the LNR was determined using receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis for recurrence., Results: A higher LNR was observed in 34 (45.3%) patients. At a median follow-up of 19.2 months, the median disease-free survival (DFS)/recurrence-free survival (RFS) rate was not reached in patients with a lower LNR and was 8.0 months in those with a higher LNR (P < 0.01). The estimated 1-year DFS/RFS rate was 47.8% and 100% for patients with a higher LNR and lower LNR, respectively. LNR remained a risk factor, even when stratified by non-pathological complete response, the presence of positive ypN, or ypStage III. In those with a higher LNR, the median DFS/RFS was 18.3 versus 8.0 months with and without adjuvant nivolumab treatment, respectively., Conclusions: Higher LNR indicates a more aggressive phenotype with worse DFS/RFS rates and increased recurrence following nCT-DCF treatment and curative surgery for ESCC., Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors have declared no conflicts of interest. Ethical statement: This study was approved by the ethics review board of the Cancer Institute Hospital of the Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research (IRB number: 2023-GB-158)., (© 2025. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to The Japan Esophageal Society.)