2009 J.League Division 1

The 2009 J.League Division 1 season was the 45th season of the top-flight club football in Japan and the 17th season since the establishment of J.League Division 1. The season started on March 7 and ended on December, 5.

J.League Division 1

Season	2009
Champions	Kashima Antlers 7th J.League title 7th Japanese title
Relegated	Kashiwa Reysol JEF United Chiba Oita Trinita
Champions League	Kashima Antlers Kawasaki Frontale Gamba Osaka Sanfrecce Hiroshima (all to the group stage)
Matches played	306
Goals scored	791 (2.58 per match)
Top goalscorer	Ryoichi Maeda (20 goals)
Highest attendance	53,783 (Round 34, Reds vs. Antlers)
Lowest attendance	5,567 (Round 12, Sanga vs. JEF United)
Average attendance	18,985
← 2008 2010 →

A total of eighteen clubs participated in double round-robin format. At the end of the season, top three clubs received automatic qualification to the following years' AFC Champions League. Also starting this season, the bottom three clubs were relegated to J.League Division 2 by default.

Kashima Antlers became the first Japanese club win J.League Division 1 in three straight seasons.

Clubs

Montedio Yamagata

Albirex Niigata

Kashima Antlers

Omiya Ardija

Urawa Red
Diamonds

FC Tokyo

Kawasaki Frontale

Kashiwa Reysol

JEF United
Chiba

Yokohama F. Marinos

Shimizu S-Pulse

Júbilo Iwata

Nagoya Grampus

Kyoto Sanga

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 the 2009 season. Of these clubs, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Montedio Yamagata were newly promoted clubs.

Club name	Home town(s)	Note(s)
Albirex Niigata	Niigata & Seirō, Niigata
FC Tokyo	Tokyo
Gamba Osaka	Suita, Osaka	2009 ACL participant
JEF United Chiba	Chiba & Ichihara, Chiba
Júbilo Iwata	Iwata, Shizuoka
Kashima Antlers	Southwestern cities/towns of Ibaraki	2009 ACL participant Two-time defending champions
Kashiwa Reysol	Kashiwa, Chiba
Kawasaki Frontale	Kawasaki, Kanagawa	2009 ACL participant
Kyoto Sanga	Southwestern cities/town in Kyoto
Montedio Yamagata	All cities/towns in Yamagata	Promoted from J2 League in 2008
Nagoya Grampus	Nagoya, Aichi	2009 ACL participant
Oita Trinita	All cities/towns in Ōita
Omiya Ardija	Saitama
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshima	Promoted from J2 League in 2008
Shimizu S-Pulse	Shizuoka
Urawa Red Diamonds	Saitama
Vissel Kobe	Kobe, Hyōgo
Yokohama F. Marinos	Yokohama & Yokosuka

Personnel

Club	Head coach
Albirex Niigata	Jun Suzuki
FC Tokyo	Hiroshi Jofuku
Gamba Osaka	Akira Nishino
JEF United Chiba	Atsuhiko Ejiri
Júbilo Iwata	Masaaki Yanagishita
Kashima Antlers	Oswaldo de Oliveira
Kashiwa Reysol	Nelsinho Baptista
Kawasaki Frontale	Takashi Sekizuka
Kyoto Purple Sanga	Hisashi Kato
Montedio Yamagata	Shinji Kobayashi
Nagoya Grampus	Dragan Stojković
Oita Trinita	Ranko Popović
Omiya Ardija	Chang Woe-ryong
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Mihailo Petrović
Shimizu S-Pulse	Kenta Hasegawa
Urawa Red Diamonds	Volker Finke
Vissel Kobe	Toshiya Miura
Yokohama F. Marinos	Kokichi Kimura

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	AFC player	Non-visa foreign	Type-C contract	Former players
Albirex Niigata	Éverton Santos	Gilton	Márcio Richardes	Cho Young-cheol			Bruno Suzuki Pedro Júnior
FC Tokyo	Bruno Quadros						Caboré
Gamba Osaka	Lucas Severino	Pedro Júnior		Cho Jae-jin			Leandro Park Dong-hyuk
JEF United Chiba	Alex	Michael	Neto Baiano	Eddy Bosnar
Júbilo Iwata	Gilsinho			Lee Keun-ho			Ferrugem
Kashima Antlers	Danilo	Marquinhos		Park Joo-ho
Kashiwa Reysol	Anselmo Ramon	França	Popó	Park Dong-hyuk		Adebayo Adigun	Alceu
Kawasaki Frontale	Juninho	Renatinho	Vitor Júnior		Jong Tae-se
Kyoto Sanga	Diego Souza	Sidiclei		Lee Jung-soo	Kim Song-yong		Paulinho
Montedio Yamagata	Jajá	Léo San		Kim Byung-suk		Fagner	André Silva
Nagoya Grampus	Magnum	Igor Burzanović	Miloš Bajalica	Joshua Kennedy			Davi
Oita Trinita	Edmilson Alves	Fernandinho	Ueslei			Choi Jung-han	Roberto
Omiya Ardija	Dudu	Rafael Marques	Mato Neretljak	Park Won-jae		Seo Yong-duk	Dênis Marques Klemen Lavrič
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Ilian Stoyanov	Mihael Mikić			Ri Han-jae
Shimizu S-Pulse	Marcos Paulo	Frode Johnsen					Kim Dong-sub
Urawa Red Diamonds	Edmílson	Robson Ponte				Mohammed Faisal
Vissel Kobe	Alan Bahia	Marcel	Raphael Botti	Kim Nam-il	Park Kang-jo
Yokohama F. Marinos				Kim Kun-hoan		Jeong Dong-ho

League 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
• 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 bottom three clubs will be relegated to J2 League. The top three clubs will qualify to AFC Champions League in the following year.

Changes from previous year

• Bottom three clubs are relegated by default; during 2004–2008 season, the 16th-place club needed to win playoffs to avoid relegation.
• The fourth foreign player slot (AFC player slot) is introduced.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Kashima Antlers (C)	34	20	6	8	51	30	+21	66	Qualification for 2010 AFC Champions League group stage[a]
2	Kawasaki Frontale	34	19	7	8	64	40	+24	64
3	Gamba Osaka	34	18	6	10	62	44	+18	60
4	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	34	15	11	8	53	44	+9	56
5	FC Tokyo	34	16	5	13	47	39	+8	53
6	Urawa Red Diamonds	34	16	4	14	43	43	0	52
7	Shimizu S-Pulse	34	13	12	9	44	41	+3	51
8	Albirex Niigata	34	13	11	10	42	31	+11	50
9	Nagoya Grampus	34	14	8	12	46	42	+4	50
10	Yokohama F. Marinos	34	11	13	10	43	37	+6	46
11	Júbilo Iwata	34	11	8	15	50	60	−10	41
12	Kyoto Sanga	34	11	8	15	35	47	−12	41
13	Omiya Ardija	34	9	12	13	40	47	−7	39
14	Vissel Kobe	34	10	9	15	40	48	−8	39
15	Montedio Yamagata	34	10	9	15	32	40	−8	39
16	Kashiwa Reysol (R)	34	7	13	14	41	57	−16	34	Relegation to 2010 J.League Division 2
17	Oita Trinita (R)	34	8	6	20	26	45	−19	30
18	JEF United Chiba (R)	34	5	12	17	32	56	−24	27

Updated to match(es) played on December 5, 2009. Source: J.League Division 1
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Sanfrecce Hiroshima received fourth Japanese berth in the group stage of the 2010 AFC Champions League because Gamba Osaka, the winners of the 2009 Emperor's Cup, had been already qualified for ACL through J.League championship.

Results

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

Updated to match(es) played on December 5, 2009. Source: J. League Division 1
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:

1. The Kashima Antlers-hosted game against Kawasaki Frontale on the 25th week was halted at 74th minute due to the pitch condition caused by heavy rain, the score at the moment was 1–3 (Marquinhos 30' — Jong Tae-se 19', 32', Juninho 66'). The game resumed on October 7 from the 74th minute. (Iwamasa 74')^[1]

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals[2]
1	Ryoichi Maeda	Júbilo Iwata	20
2	Edmílson	Urawa Red Diamonds	17
	Juninho	Kawasaki Frontale
4	Hisato Satō	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	15
	Naohiro Ishikawa	FC Tokyo
6	Shinji Okazaki	Shimizu S-Pulse	14
	Jong Tae-se	Kawasaki Frontale
8	Marquinhos	Kashima Antlers	13
	Pedro Júnior	Gamba Osaka[note 1]
	Kazuma Watanabe	Yokohama F. Marinos

Notes:

1. Transferred from Albirex Niigata after 24th week

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Urawa Red Diamonds	751,565	53,783	18,777	44,210	−7.1%†
2	Albirex Niigata	568,582	40,268	24,392	33,446	−3.0%†
3	FC Tokyo	440,032	40,701	18,221	25,884	+0.7%†
4	Yokohama F. Marinos	374,975	40,228	11,025	22,057	−6.9%†
5	Kashima Antlers	367,486	37,878	14,473	21,617	+9.7%†
6	Kawasaki Frontale	320,394	22,390	14,696	18,847	+7.3%†
7	Oita Trinita	313,281	24,833	14,163	18,428	−9.3%†
8	Shimizu S-Pulse	304,900	30,851	9,756	17,935	+8.0%†
9	Gamba Osaka	301,105	20,394	10,159	17,712	+9.8%†
10	Nagoya Grampus	270,773	32,435	9,355	15,928	−3.8%†
11	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	267,299	27,113	9,479	15,723	+45.0%†
12	JEF United Chiba	250,413	17,916	12,349	14,730	+4.6%†
13	Omiya Ardija	233,013	37,842	7,796	13,707	+46.6%†
14	Júbilo Iwata	229,891	22,152	8,716	13,523	−12.6%†
15	Vissel Kobe	222,153	20,721	6,002	13,068	+0.7%†
16	Montedio Yamagata	204,953	20,102	6,554	12,056	+92.2%†
17	Kashiwa Reysol	199,552	32,854	8,124	11,738	−4.6%†
18	Kyoto Sanga	189,149	18,121	5,567	11,126	−18.7%†
	League total	5,809,516	53,783	5,567	18,985	−1.1%†

Updated to games played on December 5, 2009
Source: J. League Division 1
Notes:
^† Team played previous season in J2.

Awards

Individual awards

Award	Recipient	Club
Most Valuable Player	Mitsuo Ogasawara	Kashima Antlers
Rookie of the Year	Kazuma Watanabe	Yokohama F. Marinos
Manager of the Year	Oswaldo de Oliveira	Kashima Antlers
Top Scorer	Ryoichi Maeda	Júbilo Iwata

Best eleven

Pos	Footballer	Club	Nationality
GK	Eiji Kawashima	Kawasaki Frontale	Japan
DF	Atsuto Uchida	Kashima Antlers	Japan
DF	Daiki Iwamasa	Kashima Antlers	Japan
DF	Marcus Tulio Tanaka	Nagoya Grampus	Japan
DF	Yuto Nagatomo	FC Tokyo	Japan
MF	Kengo Nakamura	Kawasaki Frontale	Japan
MF	Mitsuo Ogasawara	Kashima Antlers	Japan
MF	Naohiro Ishikawa	FC Tokyo	Japan
MF	Yasuhito Endō	Gamba Osaka	Japan
FW	Ryoichi Maeda	Júbilo Iwata	Japan
FW	Shinji Okazaki	Shimizu S-Pulse	Japan