2007 J.League Division 1

The 2007 J.League Division 1 season was the 15th season since the establishment of the J.League Division 1. The season began on March 3 and ended on December 1.

J.League Division 1

Season	2007
Champions	Kashima Antlers 5th J.League title 5th Japanese title
Relegated	Sanfrecce Hiroshima Ventforet Kofu Yokohama FC
Champions League	Kashima Antlers Urawa Red Diamonds Gamba Osaka (all to the group stage)
Matches played	306
Goals scored	867 (2.83 per match)
Top goalscorer	Juninho (22 goals)
Highest attendance	62,132 (Round 33, Reds vs. Antlers)
Lowest attendance	4,114 (Round 30, Yokohama vs. Ardija)
Average attendance	19,066
← 2006 2008 →

General

Promotion and relegation

• At the end of the 2006 season, Yokohama FC, Kashiwa Reysol, and Vissel Kobe were promoted to J1.
• At the end of the 2006 season, Avispa Fukuoka, Cerezo Osaka, and Kyoto Purple Sanga were relegated to J2.

Changes in competition formats

• In the past, J.League Champion qualified to A3 Champions Cup, but since 2007 this berth is given to the Nabisco Cup winner.

Honours

Competition	Champion	Runners-up	3rd place
J.League Division 1	Kashima Antlers	Urawa Red Diamonds	Gamba Osaka
J.League Division 2	Consadole Sapporo	Tokyo Verdy 1969	Kyoto Purple Sanga
Emperor's Cup	Kashima Antlers	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Kawasaki Frontale Gamba Osaka
Nabisco Cup	Gamba Osaka	Kawasaki Frontale	Kashima Antlers Yokohama F. Marinos
XEROX Super Cup	Gamba Osaka	Urawa Red Diamonds	—

Clubs

Albirex Niigata

Kashima Antlers

Omiya Ardija|Omiya Ardija

Urawa Red
Diamonds

FC Tokyo

Kawasaki Frontale

Ventforet Kofu

Kashiwa Reysol

JEF United
Chiba

Yokohama F. Marinos

Yokohama FC

Shimizu S-Pulse

Júbilo Iwata

Nagoya
Grampus
Eight

Gamba Osaka

Vissel Kobe

Sanfrecce
Hiroshima

Oita Trinita

Location of the clubs in Japan

The following eighteen clubs participated in J.League Division 1 during 2007 season. Of these clubs, Yokohama FC, Kashiwa Reysol, and Vissel Kobe were newly promoted clubs.

• Albirex Niigata
• FC Tokyo
• Gamba Osaka
• JEF United Chiba
• Júbilo Iwata
• Kashima Antlers
• Kashiwa Reysol
• Kawasaki Frontale
• Nagoya Grampus Eight
• Oita Trinita
• Omiya Ardija
• Sanfrecce Hiroshima
• Shimizu S-Pulse
• Urawa Red Diamonds
• Ventforet Kofu
• Vissel Kobe
• Yokohama FC
• Yokohama F. Marinos

Personnel

Club	Head coach
Albirex Niigata	Jun Suzuki
FC Tokyo	Hiromi Hara
Gamba Osaka	Akira Nishino
JEF United Chiba	Amar Osim
Júbilo Iwata	Atsushi Uchiyama
Kashima Antlers	Oswaldo de Oliveira
Kashiwa Reysol	Nobuhiro Ishizaki
Kawasaki Frontale	Takashi Sekizuka
Nagoya Grampus Eight	Sef Vergoossen
Oita Trinita	Péricles Chamusca
Omiya Ardija	Satoru Sakuma
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Mihailo Petrović
Shimizu S-Pulse	Kenta Hasegawa
Urawa Red Diamonds	Holger Osieck
Ventforet Kofu	Takeshi Oki
Vissel Kobe	Hiroshi Matsuda
Yokohama FC	Júlio César Leal
Yokohama F. Marinos	Hiroshi Hayano

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Non-visa foreign	Type-C contract	Former players
Albirex Niigata	Edmílson	Márcio Richardes	Silvinho
FC Tokyo	Evaldo	Lucas Severino				Rychely	Paulo Wanchope
Gamba Osaka	Baré	Magno Alves	Sidiclei
JEF United Chiba	Reinaldo	Nenad Đorđević	Park Jong-jin		Kim Dong-soo		Ilian Stoyanov
Júbilo Iwata	Fabrício	Henrique	Marquinhos Paraná
Kashima Antlers	Danilo	Fabão	Marquinhos
Kashiwa Reysol	Alceu	França	Márcio Araújo			Bruno Roque Seydou Doumbia
Kawasaki Frontale	Francismar	Juninho	Magnum		Jong Tae-se
Nagoya Grampus Eight	Frode Johnsen	Marek Špilár	Kim Jung-woo
Oita Trinita	Edmilson Alves	Luís Augusto	Roberto			Platini	Júnior Maranhão Serginho Baiano
Omiya Ardija	Dênis Marques	Leandro Euzébio				Pedro Júnior	Alison Enílton Mauricio Salles
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Ueslei	Ilian Stoyanov	Dario Dabac		Ri Han-jae	Jo Woo-jin
Shimizu S-Pulse	Alexandre Goulart	Anderson Andrade	Fernandinho	Cho Jae-jin		Kim Dong-sub
Urawa Red Diamonds	Nenê	Robson Ponte	Washington		Sergio Escudero
Ventforet Kofu	Alberto	Dženan Radončić					Josimar
Vissel Kobe	Emerson Thome	Leandro	Raphael Botti		Park Kang-jo	Kim Tae-yeon	Gabriel
Yokohama FC	Adriano Pimenta	Marcos Paulo	Cho Young-cheol	Oh Beom-seok	Chong Yong-de	Katatau Bae Seung-jin	Anderson Gilmar
Yokohama F. Marinos	Marques					Eltinho	Marcus Vinícius

Format

Eighteen clubs will play in double round-robin (home and away) format, a total of 34 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 differential
• Goals scored
• Head-to-head results

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 bottom two clubs will be relegated to J2, while the 16th placed club plays a two-legged promotion/relegation series.

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Kashima Antlers (C)	34	22	6	6	60	36	+24	72	2008 AFC Champions League Group Stage
2	Urawa Red Diamonds	34	20	10	4	55	28	+27	70	2008 AFC Champions League Knockout Stage
3	Gamba Osaka	34	19	10	5	71	37	+34	67	2008 AFC Champions League Group Stage[a][b]
4	Shimizu S-Pulse	34	18	7	9	53	36	+17	61
5	Kawasaki Frontale	34	14	12	8	66	48	+18	54
6	Albirex Niigata	34	15	6	13	48	47	+1	51
7	Yokohama F. Marinos	34	14	8	12	54	35	+19	50
8	Kashiwa Reysol	34	14	8	12	43	36	+7	50
9	Júbilo Iwata	34	15	4	15	54	55	−1	49
10	Vissel Kobe	34	13	8	13	58	48	+10	47
11	Nagoya Grampus Eight	34	13	6	15	43	45	−2	45
12	FC Tokyo	34	14	3	17	49	58	−9	45
13	JEF United Chiba	34	12	6	16	51	56	−5	42
14	Oita Trinita	34	12	5	17	42	60	−18	41
15	Omiya Ardija	34	8	11	15	24	40	−16	35
16	Sanfrecce Hiroshima (R)	34	8	8	18	44	71	−27	32	2007 promotion/relegation Series
17	Ventforet Kofu (R)	34	7	6	21	33	65	−32	27	Relegation to 2008 J.League Division 2
18	Yokohama FC (R)	34	4	4	26	19	66	−47	16

Updated to match(es) played on December 1, 2007. Source: J. League Division 1
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Urawa Red Diamonds won the 2006 Emperor's Cup and have already qualified for AFC Champions League. Since Urawa takes the extra spot as the defending 2007 ACL champion; therefore Gamba Osaka received the third ACL spot as the third place team of the league.
2. Gamba Osaka qualifies to Pan-Pacific Championship as the Nabisco Cup winner.

Results

Home \ Away	ALB	ANT	ARD	FRO	GAM	GRA	JEF	JÚB	REY	SFR	SSP	TOK	TRI	RED	VEN	VIS	YFC	FMA
Albirex Niigata		1–1	1–0	2–0	2–1	4–0	0–1	1–1	1–2	2–1	0–2	2–1	0–2	2–2	3–1	3–1	3–1	0–6
Kashima Antlers	3–1		0–0	4–1	0–1	2–1	3–1	2–1	1–0	5–1	3–0	1–2	3–0	0–1	2–0	3–2	2–1	1–1
Omiya Ardija	2–1	1–2		1–1	0–3	1–0	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–2	0–2	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–3	1–0	0–0
Kawasaki Frontale	4–3	1–0	1–1		4–1	1–1	1–1	2–3	0–0	3–0	2–1	5–2	2–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	6–0	1–2
Gamba Osaka	3–1	5–1	1–0	2–2		3–1	2–0	5–2	2–1	3–0	1–1	6–2	1–0	0–1	5–0	1–1	2–1	0–2
Nagoya Grampus Eight	2–0	3–0	5–0	2–2	1–4		2–0	0–0	2–0	2–3	1–2	0–1	1–2	1–2	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–3
JEF United Chiba	1–2	3–3	1–0	1–3	1–2	0–2		3–2	1–1	1–3	1–3	3–2	6–0	2–4	3–2	4–2	4–0	2–3
Júbilo Iwata	2–4	1–3	0–0	1–3	1–1	1–0	1–0		4–0	4–2	0–1	5–2	2–1	0–2	2–1	2–3	3–0	1–0
Kashiwa Reysol	0–0	0–1	0–0	4–0	1–2	2–0	1–0	4–0		2–0	1–3	2–0	2–0	0–2	2–1	1–3	1–1	1–0
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	0–0	0–1	2–1	1–1	2–2	1–3	2–2	0–1	1–1		2–1	0–5	2–0	2–4	2–2	1–1	0–2	1–3
Shimizu S-Pulse	3–1	1–2	2–2	3–1	3–1	3–0	2–2	2–1	0–1	3–1		1–3	2–0	0–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–1
FC Tokyo	1–3	1–2	1–2	0–7	1–1	0–1	4–1	0–1	0–1	2–4	2–0		1–2	0–2	2–1	3–1	1–0	2–1
Oita Trinita	1–1	2–2	3–1	2–0	0–4	1–3	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–2	3–4	0–0		2–2	4–1	2–0	2–0	0–3
Urawa Red Diamonds	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	1–1	4–1	0–0	3–2	2–1		2–0	2–0	2–1	1–1
Ventforet Kofu	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–3	1–2	0–2	0–1	1–6	3–2	2–1	0–0	0–1	2–0	1–4		4–3	1–0	1–1
Vissel Kobe	0–1	1–1	0–0	1–1	2–2	5–0	2–1	4–0	2–1	3–2	1–0	0–0	1–3	1–2	4–1		3–0	0–0
Yokohama FC	0–2	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–2	0–1	1–2	2–4	1–2	1–1	0–2	2–1	1–0	0–2	0–3		1–0
Yokohama F. Marinos	1–0	2–3	0–2	2–1	0–0	0–2	1–0	4–1	0–2	2–2	0–2	0–1	5–0	0–1	1–0	1–4	8–1

Updated to match(es) played on December 1, 2007. Source: J. League Division 1
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals[1]
1	Juninho	Kawasaki Frontale	22
2	Baré	Gamba Osaka	20
3	Edmílson	Albirex Niigata	19
4	Ueslei	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	17
5	Washington	Urawa Red Diamonds	16
6	Leandro	Vissel Kobe	15
7	Marquinhos	Kashima Antlers	14
	Hideo Ōshima	Yokohama F. Marinos
	Yoshito Ōkubo	Vissel Kobe
10	Frode Johnsen	Nagoya Grampus Eight	13
	Cho Jae-jin	Shimizu S-Pulse

Attendance

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Urawa Red Diamonds	793,347	62,123	16,709	46,667	+2.4%†
2	Albirex Niigata	650,698	42,015	31,500	38,276	−1.1%†
3	FC Tokyo	429,934	38,439	17,264	25,290	+5.0%†
4	Yokohama F. Marinos	408,656	53,916	10,828	24,039	+1.6%†
5	Oita Trinita	335,896	27,811	14,671	19,759	−2.9%†
6	Gamba Osaka	296,465	20,982	12,163	17,439	+7.3%†
7	Kawasaki Frontale	294,751	23,355	13,185	17,338	+20.9%†
8	Júbilo Iwata	278,109	35,072	9,292	16,359	−9.1%†
9	Kashima Antlers	276,058	36,146	8,036	16,239	+5.2%†
10	Shimizu S-Pulse	271,180	20,318	11,460	15,952	+11.5%†
11	Nagoya Grampus Eight	264,939	34,347	7,553	15,585	+4.4%†
12	JEF United Chiba	240,535	16,756	9,481	14,149	+5.6%†
13	Yokohama FC	238,662	46,697	4,114	14,039	+174.3%†
14	Ventforet Kofu	233,476	36,756	8,373	13,734	+12.5%†
15	Kashiwa Reysol	220,442	35,013	8,947	12,967	+55.7%†
16	Vissel Kobe	211,822	22,236	7,769	12,460	+80.3%†
17	Omiya Ardija	194,912	33,162	6,149	11,465	+12.0%†
18	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	194,199	22,675	6,037	11,423	+2.2%†
	League total	5,834,081	62,123	4,114	19,066	+4.2%†

Updated to games played on December 1, 2007
Source: J. League Division 1
Notes:
^† Team played previous season in J2.

Awards

Individual

Award	Recipient	Club
Player of the Year	Robson Ponte	Urawa Red Diamonds
Young Player of the Year	Takanori Sugeno	Yokohama FC
Manager of the Year	Oswaldo de Oliveira	Kashima Antlers
Top Scorer	Juninho	Kawasaki Frontale
Fair Play Player Award	Daisuke Sakata	Yokohama F. Marinos
	Hisato Satō	Sanfrecce Hiroshima
	Teruyoshi Ito	Shimizu S-Pulse
Referee of the Year	Masayoshi Okada
Assistant Referee of the Year	Toru Sagara
Meritoriousness Player Award	Amaral
	Shoji Jo
	Yasuto Honda

Best Eleven

Position	Footballer	Club	Nationality
GK	Ryōta Tsuzuki (1)	Urawa Red Diamonds	Japan
DF	Daiki Iwamasa (1)	Kashima Antlers	Japan
DF	Marcus Tulio Tanaka (4)	Urawa Red Diamonds	Japan
DF	Satoshi Yamaguchi (1)	Gamba Osaka	Japan
MF	Robson Ponte (1)	Urawa Red Diamonds	Brazil
MF	Keita Suzuki (2)	Urawa Red Diamonds	Japan
MF	Kengo Nakamura (2)	Kawasaki Frontale	Japan
MF	Yasuhito Endō (5)	Gamba Osaka	Japan
MF	Yuki Abe (3)	Urawa Red Diamonds	Japan
FW	Baré (1)	Gamba Osaka	Brazil
FW	Juninho (1)	Kawasaki Frontale	Brazil

* The number in brackets denotes the number of times that the footballer has appeared in the Best 11.