1972 Japan Soccer League
The 1972 season in Japanese football introduced a Second Division to the Japan Soccer League. 9 clubs were chosen from the 1971 Japanese Regional Leagues, but as Nagoya Mutual Bank resigned from the League, a tenth club was chosen from the Kansai League.
League Tables
JSL First Division
No relegation took place as the First Division was being expanded to 10 clubs.
| Pos | Club | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Hitachi | 21 | 9 | 3 | 2 | 36 | 16 | ＋20 | Champions |
| 2. | Yanmar Diesel | 20 | 7 | 6 | 1 | 30 | 11 | ＋19 | |
| 3. | Toyo Industries | 16 | 7 | 2 | 5 | 20 | 13 | ＋7 | |
| 4. | Mitsubishi Motors | 16 | 5 | 6 | 3 | 26 | 19 | ＋7 | |
| 5. | Nippon Kokan | 13 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 15 | 18 | -3 | |
| 6. | Nippon Steel | 12 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 22 | 30 | －8 | |
| 7. | Furukawa Electric | 8 | 3 | 2 | 9 | 17 | 41 | －24 | |
| 8. | Towa Real Estate | 6 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 11 | 29 | －18 |
JSL Second Division
Toyota Motors, later one of the Japanese big names as Nagoya Grampus, was crowned the inaugural Second Division champion. Tanabe Pharmaceutical, a club from Osaka, followed them into the expanded 10-team First Division. No relegations took place, to keep the Second Division at 10 clubs.
| Pos | Club | Pts | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Toyota Motors | 30 | 13 | 4 | 1 | 34 | 16 | ＋18 | Promoted to First Division |
| 2. | Tanabe Pharmaceutical | 26 | 10 | 6 | 2 | 37 | 22 | ＋15 | |
| 3. | Kofu Club | 21 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 33 | 21 | ＋12 | |
| 4. | Kyoto Shiko Club | 17 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 19 | 23 | －4 | |
| 5. | Fujitsu | 17 | 4 | 9 | 5 | 26 | 31 | －5 | |
| 6. | Nippon Light Metal | 16 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 31 | 33 | －2 | |
| 7. | Yomiuri | 15 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 27 | 31 | －4 | |
| 8. | Dainichi Nippon Cable Industries | 14 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 36 | 40 | －4 | |
| 9. | NTT Kinki | 14 | 4 | 6 | 8 | 21 | 25 | －4 | |
| 10. | Toyota Industries | 10 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 14 | 36 | －22 |