2010 J.League Division 2

The 2010 J. League Division 2 season was the 39th season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 12th season since the establishment of J2 League. The season began on March 6 and ended on December 4.^[1]

J.League Division 2

Season	2010
Champions	Kashiwa Reysol 1st J2 title 2nd D2 title
Promoted	Kashiwa Reysol Ventforet Kofu Avispa Fukuoka
Matches played	342
Goals scored	835 (2.44 per match)
Top goalscorer	Mike Havenaar (20 goals total)
Highest attendance	26,875 (Round 19, Consadole vs. Yokohama)
Lowest attendance	1,456 (Round 27, HollyHock vs. Fagiano)
Average attendance	6,696
← 2009 2011 →

In this season, the number of participating clubs was increased by one, making the total number, nineteen. As opposed to the last two seasons, clubs will play double-round robin, instead of triple-round robin. At the end of the season, the top three clubs were promoted to J. League Division 1 for the 2011 season. Furthermore, there was no relegation to the third-tier Japan Football League.

Clubs

Consadole Sapporo

Tochigi SC

Thespa Kusatsu

Mito HollyHock

Ventforet Kofu

Tokyo Verdy

Kashiwa Reysol

JEF United Chiba

Yokohama FC

Kataller Toyama

FC Gifu

Fagiano Okayama

Tokushima Vortis

Ehime FC

Giravanz Kitakyushu

Avispa Fukuoka

Sagan Tosu

Oita Trinita

Roasso Kumamoto

Locations of the 2010 J.League 2 teams

The following nineteen clubs will play in J. League Division 2 during the 2010 season. Of these clubs, JEF United Chiba, Kashiwa Reysol, and Oita Trinita were relegated from J1 League last year. Also, Giravanz Kitakyushu (formerly known as New Wave Kitakyushu) newly joined from Japan Football League.

Club name	Home town(s)	Note(s)
Avispa Fukuoka	Fukuoka, Fukuoka
Consadole Sapporo	Sapporo, Hokkaidō
Ehime FC	All cities/towns in Ehime
Fagiano Okayama	All cities/towns in Okayama
FC Gifu	All cities/towns in Gifu
Giravanz Kitakyushu	Kitakyushu, Fukuoka	Promoted from JFL in 2009 Renamed from New Wave Kitakyushu
JEF United Chiba	Chiba & Ichihara, Chiba	Relegated from J1 League in 2009
Kashiwa Reysol	Kashiwa, Chiba	Relegated from J1 League in 2009
Kataller Toyama	All cities/towns in Toyama
Mito HollyHock	Mito, Ibaraki
Oita Trinita	All cities/towns in Oita	Relegated from J1 League in 2009
Roasso Kumamoto	Kumamoto, Kumamoto
Sagan Tosu	Tosu, Saga
Thespa Kusatsu	All cities/towns in Gunma
Tochigi SC	Utsunomiya, Tochigi
Tokushima Vortis	All cities/towns in Tokushima
Tokyo Verdy	All cities/towns in Tokyo
Ventforet Kofu	All cities/towns in Yamanashi
Yokohama FC	Yokohama, Kanagawa

League format

Nineteen clubs will play in double round-robin (home and away) format, a total of 36 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. Three top clubs will be promoted to J1 (see below).

Changes from Previous Year

• Nineteen participating clubs, increased by one, Giravanz Kitakyushu, from last year
• Due to abolishment of triple round-robin format, which has been applied for the past two seasons, and installation of double round-robin, the number of games per club decreased to 36, down from 51, the fewest games played in J2, as same as 1999 J2 season. Therefore, regular season schedule had a month break after June 13 games during 2010 FIFA World Cup, first World Cup break as J2 since the 2002 events held in Japan, then the season resumed from July 17.
• As in J1, J2 teams may now have 7 substitute players per match, up from 5.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Kashiwa Reysol (C, P)	36	23	11	2	71	24	+47	80	Promotion to 2011 J. League Division 1
2	Ventforet Kofu (P)	36	19	13	4	71	40	+31	70
3	Avispa Fukuoka (P)	36	21	6	9	63	34	+29	69
4	JEF United Chiba	36	18	7	11	58	37	+21	61
5	Tokyo Verdy	36	17	7	12	47	34	+13	58
6	Yokohama FC	36	16	6	14	54	47	+7	54
7	Roasso Kumamoto	36	14	12	10	39	43	−4	54
8	Tokushima Vortis	36	15	6	15	51	47	+4	51
9	Sagan Tosu	36	13	12	11	42	41	+1	51
10	Tochigi SC	36	14	8	14	46	42	+4	50
11	Ehime FC	36	12	12	12	34	34	0	48
12	Thespa Kusatsu	36	14	6	16	36	48	−12	48
13	Consadole Sapporo	36	11	13	12	37	38	−1	46
14	FC Gifu	36	13	6	17	32	45	−13	45
15	Oita Trinita	36	10	11	15	39	49	−10	41
16	Mito HollyHock	36	8	14	14	29	45	−16	38
17	Fagiano Okayama	36	8	8	20	27	51	−24	32
18	Kataller Toyama	36	8	4	24	39	71	−32	28
19	Giravanz Kitakyushu	36	1	12	23	20	65	−45	15

Updated to match(es) played on December 4, 2010. Source: J.League Division 2
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted

Results

Home \ Away	AVI	CON	EHI	FAG	GIF	GIR	HOL	JEF	KAT	REY	ROS	SAG	SPA	TOC	TRI	VEN	VER	VOR	YFC
Avispa Fukuoka		0–0	2–0	0–0	0–2	2–0	5–0	2–1	5–0	0–2	6–1	0–1	2–1	2–3	2–1	3–1	3–2	1–0	2–1
Consadole Sapporo	0–3		2–2	2–0	0–0	2–0	1–2	1–0	3–1	1–1	4–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	2–2	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–2
Ehime FC	2–1	2–1		0–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–2	0–3	2–0	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	2–0
Fagiano Okayama	1–2	1–0	1–2		2–2	0–0	2–1	2–1	1–2	0–2	0–0	2–1	0–1	1–2	1–0	0–4	0–1	1–2	0–1
FC Gifu	0–2	3–0	1–1	1–0		1–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–2	1–1	0–1	2–1	4–2	2–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	0–1
Giravanz Kitakyushu	0–1	0–1	0–3	2–2	0–1		1–1	0–3	1–2	0–2	2–2	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–3	1–4
Mito HollyHock	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–0		1–0	3–1	1–4	0–1	0–0	1–1	2–1	2–1	2–2	0–4	0–2	3–1
JEF United Chiba	1–1	0–3	3–0	4–0	2–0	2–1	1–0		2–1	2–3	2–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	5–0	1–2	2–1	1–1	4–0
Kataller Toyama	1–2	0–2	3–3	4–0	3–2	1–0	0–0	0–1		1–2	0–2	2–1	1–2	0–3	1–3	0–3	2–3	2–3	2–1
Kashiwa Reysol	1–0	5–1	1–0	1–1	3–0	2–0	1–0	2–2	2–1		0–0	2–0	3–2	1–1	2–1	2–2	0–1	6–0	2–0
Roasso Kumamoto	2–1	0–0	1–0	2–1	1–0	3–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	1–3		2–0	0–1	0–2	0–0	0–1	3–2	2–1	0–2
Sagan Tosu	0–1	1–1	2–1	0–0	3–0	3–2	1–0	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–1		0–0	3–1	0–0	1–2	0–1	1–0	4–4
Thespa Kusatsu	2–1	1–1	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–1	0–0	2–0	2–1	0–4	1–2	0–2		2–1	1–3	1–4	1–0	1–4	0–3
Tochigi SC	1–2	0–1	1–0	1–2	2–0	2–0	0–1	2–2	1–0	0–0	1–2	2–1	0–0		2–0	0–2	0–1	2–0	2–1
Oita Trinita	0–0	1–2	0–2	1–0	3–1	0–0	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	3–4	1–0	1–4		0–1	1–1	1–0	2–2
Ventforet Kofu	2–2	4–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	6–0	1–1	2–2	5–0	1–1	3–3	0–2	2–4	4–3	3–3		0–1	1–0	0–0
Tokyo Verdy	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	4–0	3–1	1–2	1–0	0–2	1–2	1–1	3–0	0–0	0–1	1–2		1–1	1–1
Tokushima Vortis	2–3	0–0	0–0	2–3	4–0	4–4	3–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	4–0	0–3	0–1	2–3		1–0
Yokohama FC	1–3	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	4–1	2–2	1–2	4–0	0–1	0–2	2–1	3–4	3–2	1–2

Updated to match(es) played on December 4, 2010. Source: J. League Division 2
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals[2]
1	Mike Havenaar	Ventforet Kofu	20
2	Ricardo Lobo	Tochigi SC	16
	Tomohiro Tsuda	Tokushima Vortis	16
4	Genki Nagasato	Avispa Fukuoka	15
5	Paulinho	Ventforet Kofu	14
6	Leandro Domingues	Kashiwa Reysol	13
	Yohei Toyoda	Sagan Tosu	13
8	Masashi Oguro[note 1]	Yokohama FC	12
9	Ryohei Hayashi	Kashiwa Reysol	11
10	Kazuki Hiramoto	Tokyo Verdy	10
	Masato Kudo	Kashiwa Reysol	10
	Kosuke Nakamachi	Avispa Fukuoka	10
	Neto Baiano	JEF United Chiba	10

Notes:

1. Moved on loan to FC Tokyo after 17th week.

Attendance

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Ventforet Kofu	223,309	16,431	10,316	12,406	+12.2%†
2	JEF United Chiba	210,394	18,031	8,381	11,689	−20.6%†
3	Consadole Sapporo	193,280	26,875	5,429	10,738	+5.2%†
4	Oita Trinita	188,340	14,518	4,594	10,463	−43.2%†
5	Avispa Fukuoka	158,777	14,713	5,012	8,821	+13.6%†
6	Kashiwa Reysol	145,766	10,768	6,844	8,098	−31.0%†
7	Fagiano Okayama	128,900	11,290	4,025	7,161	+16.2%†
8	Roasso Kumamoto	124,317	16,098	2,803	6,907	+15.0%†
9	Sagan Tosu	119,392	12,301	3,658	6,633	+11.7%†
10	Yokohama FC	104,230	10,809	3,553	5,791	+63.8%†
11	Tokyo Verdy	100,297	25,110	2,512	5,639	+1.2%†
12	Tokushima Vortis	83,057	11,115	2,117	4,614	+13.3%†
13	Kataller Toyama	80,327	10,726	2,542	4,463	+19.3%†
14	Thespa Kusatsu	79,638	9,382	2,232	4,424	+2.2%†
15	Ehime FC	78,945	10,630	2,787	4,386	+18.7%†
16	Giravanz Kitakyushu	75,393	7,470	2,389	4,189	+22.9%‡
17	Tochigi SC	74,821	6,933	1,913	4,157	−11.7%†
18	Mito HollyHock	64,949	10,181	1,456	3,608	+35.0%†
19	FC Gifu	55,950	5,133	2,006	3,108	−27.8%†
	League total	2,290,082	26,875	1,456	6,696	+5.8%†

Updated to games played on December 4, 2010
Source: J. League Division 2
Notes:
^† Team played previous season in J1.
^‡ Team played previous season in JFL.