Gokû's New Rivals

[Herms]

For reference, here's the relevant bit from the Q&A with producer Atsushi Kido:

Q: Will a new rival for Goku and the gang appear?
A: Yes. And there won’t just be one!

Q: About how strong will these new rivals be?
A: Roughly strong enough to be on par with Goku.

So, for one thing he says there'll be rivals for "Goku and the gang", rather than just Goku. The word used in the English word "rival" (ライバル), typically used throughout the series for relatively peaceful, martial arts style rivalries, like when Kuririn shows up.

[PolatGuy92]

Why will Goku have all the time new rivals? Sure it's awesome and all but it will be more awesome and interesting to see if Vegeta will have a good new rival. Now that will be awesome!

[Marco Polo]

Why will Goku have all the time new rivals? Sure it's awesome and all but it will be more awesome and interesting to see if Vegeta will have a good new rival. Now that will be awesome!

Yamcha gathers the Super Dragon Balls and wishes for Bulma to love him

[Makai]

Did he not just mean new strong enemies for Goku and the gang to face? That's what it seemed like to me.

[Marco Polo]

Did he not just mean new strong enemies for Goku and the gang to face? That's what it seemed like to me.

See Herms's post at the top of this page

[Herms]

On that note, in RoF Goku tells Freeza "you would have made a good rival if you weren't so evil", setting up a contrast between evil enemies like Freeza and rival characters. Doesn't necessarily mean Kido is using the word in exactly the same way, and of course throughout DB many of Goku's friendly rivals started out as villains.

[Polyphase Avatron]

I was thinking that Golden Freeza might be counted as one of the rivals.