J. League Division 2

The J. League Division 2 (Jリーグ・ディビジョン2, J Rīgu Dibijon 2^?) or J2 League (J2リーグ, J2 Rīgu^?) is the second division of Japan Professional Football League (日本プロサッカーリーグ, Nippon Puro Sakkā Rīgu^?) and is the second-tier professional association football league in Japan. Currently, J. League Division 2 is the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The first tier is represented by J. League Division 1.

The second-tier club football existed in the land of the rising sun since 1972; however, it was professionalized starting 1999 season with ten clubs. The league took one relegating club from the top division and nine clubs from the second-tier semi-professional former Japan Football League to create the J2 League. The remaining seven clubs in the Japan Football League, the newly formed Yokohama F.C., and one promoting club from the Regional Leagues, a total of nine clubs, formed the third-tier Japan Football League.

History

For history of Japanese club football before the inception of the professional league in 1993, see Japan Soccer League.

For detailed history of J. League Division 1, see J. League Division 1#History.

Phases of the Japanese second-tier association football

Amateur era (—1999)

A national second tier of Japanese association football was first established in 1972, when the Japan Soccer League formed a Second Division. Among the founding 10 clubs, 5 later competed in the J. League: Toyota Motors (inaugural champion), Yomiuri, Fujitsu, Kyoto Shiko Club and Kofu Club. The division, initially conformed of 10 clubs like the First Division, required at first both the champions and runner-up teams to play-off a Promotion/Relegation series of test matches against the top flight's bottom clubs. The requirement was abolished for the champions in 1980 and for the runners-up in 1984.

Before 1977 the way for clubs to gain access to the Second Division was by making the finals of the All Japan Senior Football Championship and then playing off in their own Promotion/Relegation series against the second tier's bottom clubs; after 1977 the new All Japan Regional Football Promotion League Series served as provider of aspiring League clubs. In 1985 the Second Division was augmented in size to 12 clubs and in 1986 the number reached 16; until 1989, the table was divided into East and West groups depending on geographical location, but after that year and until 1992 the table was unified.

In 1992, following the formation of the J. League, the JSL Second Division was renamed the (former) Japan Football League, dividing the tier into two hierarchical, non-equal tiers of 10 clubs each. In 1994 the JFL was reunified again into a single division. As the J. League expanded in numbers, the need for another second tier with promotion and relegation arose as the number of clubs which wanted to become professional increased (particularly in the case of Shonan Bellmare, Kashiwa Reysol, Cerezo Osaka and Júbilo Iwata, who had been JSL First Division champions but had not been chosen for the inaugural J. League season).

Professionalization era (1999–2004)

The infrastructure of the league was heavily changed in 1999. The league acquired nine clubs from the semi-professional JFL and one club from J. League to create a two division system, both being the professional leagues. The top flight became the J. League Division 1 (J1) with 16 clubs while J. League Division 2 (J2) was launched with ten clubs in 1999. The second-tier (former) Japan Football League, now became third-tier Japan Football League.

The criteria for becoming a J2 club was not as strict as those for the top division. This allowed smaller cities and towns to maintain a club successfully without investing as much as would be necessary for clubs in J1. In fact, clubs like Mito HollyHock only draw an average of 3,000 fans a game and receive minimal sponsorship, yet still field fairly competitive teams in J2.

Clubs in J2 took time to build their teams for J1 promotion as they also tried to gradually improve their youth systems, their home stadium, their financial status, and their relationship with their hometown. Clubs such as Oita Trinita, Albirex Niigata, Kawasaki Frontale, and Ventforet Kofu accomplished this successfully. All these clubs originally started as J2 in 1999 and were comparatively small, but they eventually earned J1 promotion in 2002, 2003, 2004, and 2005 respectively. Even though Kofu and Oita were later relegated back to the Division 2, they are well-established association football clubs as they are managing to attract average of 10,000 fans per game.

The league also began to follow European game formats as time went on. In the first three seasons (1999–2001), games were played with extra time for regular league matches if there were not winner at end of the regulation. The extra time was abolished in 2002, and the league adopted the standard 3-1-0 points system.

Early expansion era (2004–2009)

Two third-tier Japan Football League clubs, Mito HollyHock and Yokohama F.C. joined the J2 League in 2000 and 2001 seasons. Mito initially tried in 1999 season but failed, and had a better luck in the following year. On the other hand, Yokohama F.C. was formed by the fans of Yokohama Flügels, who went defunct after the merger with Yokohama Marinos on Jan 1st, 1999. In essence, these two clubs could and should have joined the league in the inaugural year with the original ten clubs, and it was inevitable that they were eventually accepted by the league.

However, excluding these two clubs, it seemed that there were no interests from the lower-level clubs; the second division did not see any farther expansion for few seasons. In 2004 seasons, however, suddenly two clubs showed interested as Thespa Kusatsu and Tokushima Vortis were accepted to the league. Two years later in the 2006 season, Ehime F.C. followed their footsteps. It turned out that many clubs were aiming for membership at the professional level; however, in the early 2000s these clubs were still in the regional leagues, and it took them three to four years to even eye the professionalism.

Clearly, the concept of second-tier professional association football – the fact that a club can compete at the professional league with low budge was something that attracted many amateur clubs across the nation of Japan. At the beginning of the 2006 season, the league took a survey to figure out the number of non-league clubs interested in joining the professional league. The results showed that about 40 to 60 clubs in Japan have plans to professionalize in the next 30 years. From the league's perspective, the J. League Hundred Year Vision from the late 90s has been moving in a positive direction.

In light of this, the league management formed a committee and looked at two practical options for further expansion – either expand the second division or form a third division. In other words, the league had a choice between letting the non-league clubs catch up to the J2 standard or forming a third division with non-league clubs where these clubs can prepare for J2. After conducting several case studies, the committee made a professional assessment that it is the best interest of the league to expand the J2 to 22 clubs rather than forming a third division. Several reasons led the committee to such decision:

• Japan Football League, the third-tier in Japanese football league system was already serving the purpose of preparing the non-league clubs.
• At the time, most non-league clubs interested in professionalism were still in the regional or prefectural leagues, two to four levels below J2.
• Twenty-two clubs is the perfect number for J2 league as it allows enough number of home games for annual revenue, while keeping the competition a fair double-round robin format.
• Most European leagues have similar association football pyramids where there are more clubs in 2nd- and 3rd-tier leagues than the topflight.

The committee also reintroduced Associate Membership System starting 2006 season. This will allow the committee to identify interested non-league clubs and provide necessary resources to such clubs. The membership is exclusively given to non-league clubs that have intention to joining the J. League and also fulfill most of the criteria for J2 promotion. Several clubs in Japan Football League and Regional Leagues have applied and received the membership. Associate members finishing top 4 of JFL will be promoted to J2. Following the promotion of Ehime F.C., six more clubs have joined J2 League through this system.

As the number of clubs increased, league format changed from quadruple round-robin to triple round-robin format. This was adopted during 2008 season with 15 clubs and 2009 season with 18 clubs. In the 2009, the J2 league also saw increase of promotion slot to three to accommodate the eighteen-club league. As the result Promotion/Relegation Series which allowed the third-placed J2 clubs to fight for J1 slots for the following season was abolished after its introduction in the 2004 season.

Double round-robin era (2010–present)

As the league has reached 19 clubs in the 2010 season, the J2 League has adopted the double round-robin format. The league will continue to expand to 22 clubs, and until then there will be no relegation to Japan Football League. In the next few seasons, maximum number of clubs that can be promoted to J2 is decided by taking the difference of twenty-two minus the number of clubs in J2. The league marked 20 clubs in the 2011 season. With this rule, currently maximum of two clubs can be promoted from JFL.

Plans (2012—)

J. League Division 2 has 20 clubs and is in the process of expansion. As mentioned in the last section, eventually the league plans to have 22 clubs. Although, J. League have yet to make an official announcements about their plans, they have vaguely mentioned

• Promotion/relegation between J2 and Japan Football League
• Raising the football competitiveness and financial standard of Japan Football League

However, it is still unclear whether the third-tier association football will remain as a semi-professional league or it will be professionalized as happened to J2 in 1999.

From 2012, J2 will implement a promotion playoff tournament in the style of the Football League Championship, Serie B, or Segunda División.^[1] However, the rules will be heavily slanted to favor those with higher league placement:

• The team 3rd in the standings will face the 6th placed team, and the 4th placed team will face the 5th, as in the European leagues; however, unlike these leagues, the round will be only one match, at the home side of the higher placed team.
• The winners of the two matches face at the home side of the higher placed team, or potentially at a neutral venue (likely Tokyo National Stadium). The winner of this match is promoted to J1.
• In all matches, in case of a draw after regulation time, the team that ended the season with the higher placement in the league table will be considered the winner, so there will be no extra time and/or penalty shootout in the final.

Timetable

Stance in the Japanese football pyramid

Since the inception of the second division in 1999, promotion and relegation follow a pattern similar to European leagues, where the two bottom clubs of J1 and the top two clubs of J2 are guaranteed to move. From 2004 to 2008 season, the third-placed J2 club entered Promotion/Relegation Series against the sixteenth-placed J1 club and the winner had right to play in the top flight in the following year. Starting 2009 season, top three J2 clubs receives J1 promotion by default in place of three bottom J1 clubs. However, promotion or right to play the now-defunct pro/rele series relies on the J2 clubs meeting the requirements for J1 franchise status set by the league. This has generally not been a hindrance, in fact, no club is yet to be denied promotion due to not meeting the J1 criteria.

Japan Football League (JFL) is currently the third level in the association football system and being a semi-professional league, the J. League allows only certain clubs from JFL to be promoted. In 2000, 2001, and 2006 the JFL league champion was promoted to J2; in 2005 two teams were promoted. From 2007, the league requires J. League Associate Membership and at least 4th-place finish in JFL to be promoted to J2. Currently, there is no relegation from J2 to JFL. Since 1999, a total of twelve clubs from JFL were promoted J2, two of which were expanded into J1. Currently, J1 has 18 clubs and J2 has 20 clubs. The division two will keep expanding until it has 22 clubs and afterwards there will be regular promotion and relegation.

Since the inception in 1999, format of J2 has been very consistent. The clubs played a quadruple round-robin (two home and away) format during the 1999 to 2007 seasons. To accommodate the on-going expansion process triple round-robin format was implemented during the 2008 and 2009 seasons. Also until the 2001 season, the clubs played extra time if they were tied after regulation and the clubs received 3pts for a regulation win, 2pts for an extra time win, 1pt for a tie, and 0pts for loss (there were no penalties). However, starting 2002, the league abolished extra time and set the points system to the standard 3-1-0 system.

The number of clubs reached 19 in 2010; thus the league format has been changed to double round-robin format.

J. League associate membership

J. League Associate Membership is a status given to the non-league association football clubs in Japan that has intention to join J. League, in the near future. Clubs from the Japan Football League, Regional and Prefectural Leagues, may apply for the membership. The applications are reviewed and inspected by a committee formed by the league. The Associate Membership is now required for J2 promotion and the system allows the J. League to identify the clubs that are intending to join the league and provide necessary resources.

Current Members

• Machida Zelvia (JFL)
• V-Varen Nagasaki (JFL)
• Matsumoto Yamaga (JFL)
• Kamatamare Sanuki (JFL)
• S.C. Sagamihara (Kantō League D2)

2011 season

League Formats (2011)

Twenty clubs will play in double round-robin format, a total of 38 games each. A club receives 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. The clubs are ranked by points, and tie breakers are, in the following order:

• Goal difference
• Goals scored
• Head-to-head results
• Disciplinary points

A draw would be conducted, if necessary. However, if two clubs are tied at the first place, both clubs will be declared as the champions. The top three clubs will be promoted to J1. Further, there will be no relegation to Japan Football League.

Prize Money

• First Place: 20,000,000 Yen
• Second Place: 10,000,000 Yen
• Third Place: 5,000,000 Yen

Participating Clubs (2011)

• Gray background denotes club was most recently relegated/demoted from J1 League.
• Pink background denotes club was most recently promoted from Japan Football League.
• "Year joined" is the year the club joined the J. League (Division 2 unless otherwise indicated).
• "Last spell in top flight" includes seasons in the old Japan Soccer League First Division.

Stadiums (2011)

Primary venues used in the J. League:

Championship/Promotion History

The top two clubs receive promotion. From the 2004 season to the 2008 seasone, the 3rd placed club plays Promotion/Relegation Series against 16th-placed club in J1. Starting from the 2009 season, the 3rd placed club is promoted by default.

* Bold designates the promoted club; † Lost the Promotion/Relegation Series; ‡ Won the Promotion/Relegation Series and promoted

Most successful clubs

Other tournaments

Domestic Tournaments

• Emperor's Cup (1921—)
• XEROX Super Cup (1994—)

Defunct Tournament

• Promotion/Relegation Series (2004–2008)

Players and managers

Players

• List of J. League players
• List of J-League players from Japan
• List of J-League players from AFC
• List of J-League players from CAF
• List of J-League players from CONCACAF
• List of J-League players from CONMEBOL
• List of J-League players from OFC
• List of J-League players from UEFA

Managers

• List of J. League managers

See also

• J. League records
• J. League contracts
• Winning Eleven (Official video game)

References

External links

• (Japanese) Official Website
• (English) Official Website
• (Japanese) Official YouTube Channel