2015 J2 League

The 2015 Meiji Yasuda J2 League (2015 明治安田生命J2リーグ)^[1] season was the 44th season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 17th season since the establishment of J2 League. The season began on 8 March 2015 and ended on 23 November 2015. This was first season of J2 League as renamed from J. League Division 2.

Meiji Yasuda J2 League

Season	2015
Champions	Omiya Ardija
Promoted	Omiya Ardija Júbilo Iwata Avispa Fukuoka
Relegated	Oita Trinita Tochigi SC
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,014 (2.19 per match)
Top goalscorer	Jay Bothroyd (20 goals)
Highest attendance	20,234 (Consadole vs Tochigi SC, 23 November)
Lowest attendance	1,227 (Zweigen vs Ehime FC, 1 April)
Average attendance	6,845
← 2014 2016 →

Clubs

Shonan Bellmare have stayed in the second division for just a year, winning promotion as the champions. Matsumoto Yamaga have spent only 3 seasons in J2 after promoted from Japan Football League in 2012, becoming the first club based in Nagano Prefecture which have promoted to the top flight. Sixth-placed Montedio Yamagata won the promotion playoffs and will return in the first division after playing in the J2 for 3 years. Tokushima Vortis were relegated from the J1 immediately after their inaugural promotion, while Cerezo Osaka and Omiya Ardija have suffered relegation respectively after five and ten years from their last presence in J2.

On the other end of the table, Zweigen Kanazawa have been promoted from 2014 J3 League as the champions of the inaugural season of the J3 League, replacing relegated Kataller Toyama.

Fukuoka

Sapporo

Ehime

Okayama

Gifu

Iwata

Kitakyushu

Sanuki

Kanazawa

Kyoto

Mito

Oita

Kumamoto

Gunma

Tochigi

Tokushima

Nagasaki

Greater Tokyo Area
Chiba, Omiya, Tokyo, Yokohama

Osaka

Locations of the 2015 J2 League teams

The participating clubs are listed in the following table:

Club name	Home town(s)	Note(s)
Omiya Ardija	Omiya, Saitama	Relegated from J1 League in 2014
Avispa Fukuoka	Fukuoka
Cerezo Osaka	Osaka	Relegated from J1 League in 2014
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	Not eligible for J1 promotion
Mito HollyHock	Mito, Ibaraki	Not eligible for J1 promotion
JEF United Chiba	Chiba & Ichihara, Chiba	2014 J2 League play-off finalist
Júbilo Iwata	Iwata, Shizuoka	2014 J2 League play-off contestant
Kamatamare Sanuki	Takamatsu, Kagawa Kagawa	Not eligible for J1 promotion
Roasso Kumamoto	Kumamoto
Kyoto Sanga	Southwestern cities/towns in Kyoto
Thespakusatsu Gunma	All cities/towns in Gunma	Not eligible for J1 promotion
Tochigi SC	Utsunomiya, Tochigi
Oita Trinita	Ōita
V-Varen Nagasaki	All cities/towns in Nagasaki
Tokyo Verdy	All cities/towns in Tokyo
Tokushima Vortis	All cities/towns in Tokushima	Relegated from J1 League in 2014
Yokohama FC	Yokohama, Kanagawa
Zweigen Kanazawa	Kanazawa	Promoted from J3 League in 2014

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of separation	Manner of departure	Incoming manager	Date of announcement
Oita Trinita	Kazuaki Tasaka	1 June	Sacked[2]	Nobuaki Yanagida	2 July
Mito HollyHock	Tetsuji Hashiratani	7 June	Sacked[3]	Takayuki Nishigaya	27 June
Kyoto Sanga	Masahiro Wada	10 July	Sacked[4]	Kiyotaka Ishimaru	10 July
Tochigi SC	Yuji Sakakura	20 July	Resigned[5]	Yasuharu Kurata	21 July
Consadole Sapporo	Ivica Barbarić	24 July	Resigned[6]	Shuhei Yomoda	24 July
Yokohama FC	Miloš Rus	15 September	Resigned[7]	Hitoshi Nakata	15 September[8]
Cerezo Osaka	Paulo Autuori	17 November	Sacked[9]	Kiyoshi Okuma	17 November[10]

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Asian player	Non-visa foreign	Type-C contract
Omiya Ardija	Carlinhos Paraiba	Mateus	Dragan Mrđa
Avispa Fukuoka	Moisés	Wellington		Lee Kwang-seon
Cerezo Osaka	Edmílson	Magno Cruz	Pablo Felipe	Kim Jin-hyeon
Consadole Sapporo	Nildo	Paulão	Cristian Nazarit	Gu Sung-yun	Irfan Bachdim
Ehime FC	Park Chan-yong			Gang Yoon-goo		Park Seong-su
Fagiano Okayama				Hwang Jin-sung
FC Gifu	Gilsinho	Henik	Leo Mineiro		Yun Chang-su
Giravanz Kitakyushu
Mito HollyHock	Song Ju-hun			Park Kwang-il	Kim Song-gi
JEF United Chiba	Paulinho	Nejc Pecnik		Kim Hyun-hun	An Byong-jun
Júbilo Iwata	Adaílton	Jay Bothroyd	Krzysztof Kaminski
Kamatamare Sanuki	Allan	Evson	Andrea	Han Chang-joo
Roasso Kumamoto	Anderson	Kweon Han-jin		Kim Byeong-yeon
Kyoto Sanga	Daniel Lovinho	Ferro	Miloš Bajalica	Kim Nam-il	Hwang Te-song
Thespakusatsu Gunma	Acleisson	Hugo	Tanque	Yoon Young-seung	Hwang Song-su	Kaique
Tochigi SC	Jhonatan	Han Hee-hoon	Lee Joo-young	Park Hyung-jin
Oita Trinita	Daniel	Evandro	Paulinho	Kim Jeong-hyun
Tokyo Verdy	Alan Pinheiro	Bruno Coutinho	Weslley	Ko Kyung-joon
V-Varen Nagasaki	Cho Min-woo			Lee Yong-jae	Ri Yong-jik
Tokushima Vortis	Alex	Estiven	Kim Kyung-jung	Kim Jong-min		Son Se-hwan
Yokohama FC	Rok Štraus	Bae Hu-min	Park Tae-hong	Na Sung-soo	An Yong-hak
Zweigen Kanazawa	Jean Moser	Mendes		Cha Young-hwan

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Omiya Ardija (C, P)	42	26	8	8	72	37	+35	86	Promotion to 2016 J1 League
2	Júbilo Iwata (P)	42	24	10	8	72	43	+29	82
3	Avispa Fukuoka (O, P)	42	24	10	8	63	37	+26	82	Qualification for promotion playoffs[a]
4	Cerezo Osaka	42	18	13	11	57	40	+17	67
5	Ehime FC	42	19	8	15	47	39	+8	65
6	V-Varen Nagasaki	42	15	15	12	42	33	+9	60
7	Giravanz Kitakyushu	42	18	5	19	59	58	+1	59
8	Tokyo Verdy	42	16	10	16	43	41	+2	58
9	JEF United Chiba	42	15	12	15	50	45	+5	57
10	Consadole Sapporo	42	14	15	13	47	43	+4	57
11	Fagiano Okayama	42	12	18	12	40	35	+5	54
12	Zweigen Kanazawa	42	12	18	12	46	43	+3	54
13	Roasso Kumamoto	42	13	14	15	42	45	−3	53
14	Tokushima Vortis	42	13	14	15	35	44	−9	53
15	Yokohama FC	42	13	13	16	33	58	−25	52
16	Kamatamare Sanuki	42	12	15	15	30	33	−3	51
17	Kyoto Sanga	42	12	14	16	45	51	−6	50
18	Thespakusatsu Gunma	42	13	9	20	34	56	−22	48
19	Mito HollyHock	42	10	16	16	40	47	−7	46
20	FC Gifu	42	12	7	23	37	71	−34	43
21	Oita Trinita (R)	42	8	14	20	41	51	−10	38	Qualification for relegation playoffs[b]
22	Tochigi SC (R)	42	7	14	21	39	64	−25	35	Relegation to 2016 J3 League

Source: Meiji Yasuda J2 League Standing
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Only teams that meet J1 license criteria can participate in promotion playoffs. If one or more teams fail to meet the criteria, only eligible teams that finished 3rd to 6th will participate and no replacement teams will be added.
2. The playoffs and direct exchange between J2 and J3 are subject to eligibility of J2-licensed teams in top 2 of 2015 J3 League.

Results

Home \ Away	ARD	AVI	CER	CON	EHI	FAG	GIF	GIR	HOL	JEF	JÚB	KAM	ROS	SAN	SPA	TOC	TRI	VVN	VER	VOR	YFC	ZWE
Omiya Ardija		2–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	3–0	5–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	1–0	3–2	2–1	0–2	1–2	3–0	1–0
Avispa Fukuoka	1–3		1–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	2–2	4–2	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–3	1–0	1–3	4–1	4–2	1–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	4–0	0–2
Cerezo Osaka	3–1	0–1		3–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–0	2–2	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	3–0	1–2	4–1	0–0	1–2	2–0	1–0	2–0	0–2
Consadole Sapporo	2–3	2–1	1–1		0–1	0–0	1–2	1–1	1–0	3–2	3–0	0–1	2–3	1–2	0–0	4–1	1–1	0–1	1–1	2–0	2–0	2–1
Ehime FC	3–1	2–1	2–1	0–0		1–1	3–0	2–3	0–2	1–0	0–2	1–0	0–1	3–2	3–0	0–0	2–0	0–0	2–1	3–0	3–0	1–1
Fagiano Okayama	0–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–2		3–0	0–1	3–0	1–0	1–2	1–2	3–0	2–0	3–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–3	0–0	0–0
FC Gifu	0–5	1–4	0–2	0–1	2–1	0–0		1–0	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–3	1–0	0–2	1–2	0–1	0–2
Giravanz Kitakyushu	1–2	0–1	0–3	1–1	3–2	2–3	2–1		2–2	3–1	2–3	2–0	2–0	1–2	0–1	2–2	2–1	2–1	0–1	2–0	3–1	1–1
Mito HollyHock	1–0	2–2	1–1	2–1	3–1	1–0	0–2	1–2		1–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–2	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–3	2–0	3–0	0–1	1–1
JEF United Chiba	2–0	2–2	4–4	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–1	1–3	2–0		0–2	0–2	2–3	1–1	1–2	2–0	2–2	1–1	1–0	1–0	3–0	1–1
Júbilo Iwata	2–2	0–1	0–1	3–0	0–0	1–1	2–3	3–1	2–1	1–0		1–1	1–1	3–3	1–2	3–0	2–1	4–2	2–0	3–1	0–0	2–1
Kamatamare Sanuki	1–1	0–1	1–3	0–0	0–0	0–1	3–0	1–0	0–0	0–1	1–0		0–2	1–1	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	1–1	2–2
Roasso Kumamoto	3–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	0–1	1–1	0–4	0–2	0–1		0–0	2–2	2–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	2–2	0–1	0–2
Kyoto Sanga	2–2	1–2	1–0	2–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	0–2	0–2	1–1	2–1		0–1	1–2	2–1	1–4	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–1
Thespakusatsu Gunma	0–2	0–4	2–0	0–2	0–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	0–1	2–0	2–3	1–0	1–1	1–1		1–0	1–1	0–1	1–3	2–1	0–1	1–0
Tochigi SC	0–2	0–0	0–3	1–2	0–1	2–2	0–1	2–4	2–2	1–1	0–2	1–0	2–2	0–1	5–1		1–1	0–1	0–1	2–1	2–1	1–1
Oita Trinita	0–3	1–2	1–3	2–0	0–1	0–1	6–2	2–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	0–0	0–1	2–2	2–0	0–1		2–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–1
V-Varen Nagasaki	0–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	3–1	2–2	2–1	2–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	0–0	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	0–1		1–1	1–1	2–0	1–1
Tokyo Verdy	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	0–1	1–1	4–3	2–0	2–0	0–0	0–3	2–0	0–2	1–0	2–0	3–2	1–2	0–1		0–0	0–1	1–1
Tokushima Vortis	0–0	0–3	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–2	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	2–2	2–2	2–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	1–0		0–0	0–0
Yokohama FC	0–3	2–2	0–0	0–0	2–1	0–0	3–2	1–0	0–2	0–1	2–3	1–2	0–3	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–2	1–6	1–1		2–1
Zweigen Kanazawa	1–2	0–1	3–0	1–1	3–1	1–1	1–1	0–4	1–0	0–0	0–3	1–0	1–1	1–3	2–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	3–0	0–1	1–2

Updated to match(es) played on 23 November 2015. Source: J.League Data
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-offs

J1 Promotion Playoffs

2015 J.League Road To J1 Play-Offs (2015 J1昇格プレーオフ)

	Semifinals					Final
	3	Avispa Fukuoka	1
	6	V-Varen Nagasaki	0
						3	Avispa Fukuoka	1
						4	Cerezo Osaka	1
	4	Cerezo Osaka	0
	5	Ehime FC	0

Semifinals

---

29 November 2015 (2015-11-29)

15:30

Avispa Fukuoka	1–0	V-Varen Nagasaki
Wellington 48'	Report

Level-5 stadium, Fukuoka

Attendance: 17,129

---

29 November 2015 (2015-11-29)

15:30

Cerezo Osaka	0–0	Ehime FC
	Report

Yanmar Stadium Nagai, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka

Attendance: 13,893

Final

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6 December 2015 (2015-12-06)

15:35

Avispa Fukuoka	1–1	Cerezo Osaka
Nakamura 87'	Report	Tamada 60'

Yanmar Stadium Nagai, Higashisumiyoshi-ku, Osaka

Attendance: 29,314

Avispa Fukuoka was promoted to J1 League.

J3 Relegation Playoffs

2015 J2/J3 Play-Offs (2015 J2・J3入れ替え戦)

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Oita Trinita	1–3	FC Machida Zelvia	1–2	0–1

---

29 November 2015 (2015-11-29)

12:30

Machida Zelvia	2–1	Oita Trinita
K. Suzuki 45+2', 72'	Report	Daniel 22'

Machida Municipal Athletic Stadium, Machida, Tokyo

Attendance: 8,629

---

6 December 2015 (2015-12-06)

12:30

Oita Trinita	0–1	Machida Zelvia
	Report	K. Suzuki 58' (pen.)

Ōita Bank Dome, Ōita

Attendance: 14,217

Oita Trinita was relegated to J3 League.
Machida Zelvia was promoted to J2 League.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Jay Bothroyd	Júbilo Iwata	20
2	Dragan Mrdja	Omiya Ardija	19
3	Rui Komatsu	Giravanz Kitakyushu	18
4	Adailton	Júbilo Iwata	17
5	Masashi Oguro	Kyoto Sanga	15
6	Nejc Pečnik	JEF United Chiba	14
7	Ken Tokura	Consadole Sapporo	13
	Ataru Esaka	Thespa Kusatsu
	Shohei Kiyohara	Zweigen Kanazawa
	Kazuki Hara	Giravanz Kitakyushu
11	Hiroaki Namba	FC Gifu	12
	Kazuki Saito	Roasso Kumamoto
13	Akihiro Ienaga	Omiya Ardija	11
	Kazuhisa Kawahara	Ehime FC
15	Keiya Nakami	Tochigi SC	10
	Shuto Minami	Tokyo Verdy
	Diego Forlán	Cerezo Osaka
	Keiji Tamada	Cerezo Osaka

Updated to games played on 23 November 2015
Source: Meiji Yasuda J2 League Stats & Data - Ranking:Goals

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Cerezo Osaka	256,880	17,212	8,047	12,232	−43.4%†
2	Consadole Sapporo	251,161	20,234	6,981	11,960	+8.1%†
3	JEF United Chiba	225,219	15,051	8,123	10,725	+14.9%†
4	Júbilo Iwata	210,865	13,576	6,946	10,041	+14.4%†
5	Omiya Ardija	199,280	14,410	5,428	9,490	−12.2%†
6	Avispa Fukuoka	183,466	16,676	4,553	8,736	+72.6%†
7	Fagiano Okayama	176,652	15,820	4,346	8,412	+0.1%†
8	Oita Trinita	158,194	15,152	4,103	7,533	−10.6%†
9	Kyoto Sanga	157,306	16,920	3,206	7,491	−0.4%†
10	Roasso Kumamoto	147,785	13,132	3,956	7,037	+0.5%†
11	FC Gifu	129,756	8,814	3,539	6,179	−18.5%†
12	Tokyo Verdy	118,751	16,629	2,691	5,655	+4.1%†
13	Tochigi SC	108,501	9,319	2,581	5,167	−2.4%†
14	Yokohama FC	107,364	9,663	2,208	5,113	−0.6%†
15	Tokushima Vortis	105,398	8,684	3,307	5,019	−43.5%†
16	V-Varen Nagasaki	106,953	10,184	2,994	4,931	+1.9%†
17	Zweigen Kanazawa	103,120	12,353	1,227	4,910	+42.7%‡
18	Mito HollyHock	101,132	8,391	2,290	4,816	+1.7%†
19	Thespakusatsu Gunma	86,077	11,303	1,618	4,099	+9.0%†
20	Ehime FC	79,193	9,158	1,722	3,771	−1.3%†
21	Kamatamare Sanuki	76,824	10,447	2,152	3,658	+10.3%†
22	Giravanz Kitakyushu	73,243	8,501	1,939	3,488	−3.7%†
	League total	3,162,194	20,234	1,227	6,845	+3.9%†

Updated to games played on 23 November 2015
Source: J. League data
Notes:
^† Team played previous season in J1.
^‡ Team played previous season in J3.