2017 J1 League

The 2017 J1 League (known as the 2017 Meiji Yasuda J1 League (2017 明治安田生命J1リーグ) for sponsorship reasons) was the 25th season of the J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. This was third season of J1 League as renamed from J. League Division 1. The season began on 25 February 2017 and ended on 2 December. Fixtures for the 2017 season were announced on 26 January 2017.^[3]

Meiji Yasuda J1 League

Season	2017
Champions	Kawasaki Frontale (1st title)
Relegated	Ventforet Kofu Albirex Niigata Omiya Ardija
AFC Champions League	Kawasaki Frontale Kashima Antlers Cerezo Osaka Kashiwa Reysol
Matches played	306
Goals scored	793 (2.59 per match)
Top goalscorer	Yu Kobayashi (Kawasaki Frontale) (23 goals)[1]
Biggest home win	Urawa 7-0 Sendai (7 April 2017)
Biggest away win	Niigata 1-6 Urawa (14 May 2017)
Highest scoring	Urawa 7-0 Sendai (7 April 2017) Niigata 1-6 Urawa (14 May 2017) Urawa 4-3 Hiroshima (1 July 2017) Kawasaki 2-5 Iwata (29 July 2017)
Longest winning run	Kashiwa Reysol (8 matches)
Longest unbeaten run	Kawasaki Frontale (15 matches)
Longest winless run	Albirex Niigata (16 matches)
Longest losing run	Omiya Ardija Consadole Sapporo Albirex Niigata (6 matches each)
Highest attendance	57,447[2] Urawa 0-1 Kashima (4 May 2017)
Lowest attendance	4,692[2] Kofu 2-3 Kobe (29 October 2017)
Total attendance	5,778,178[2]
Average attendance	18,883[2]
← 2016 2018 →

Kashima Antlers were the defending champions. Consadole Sapporo, Shimizu S-Pulse and Cerezo Osaka entered as the three promoted teams from the 2016 J2 League.

The league was won by Kawasaki Frontale, winning their first major title while in J1 and 40 years after their first season in the Japanese top division.

Clubs

Albirex Niigata

Consadole Sapporo

Greater Tokyo Area†

Júbilo Iwata

Keihanshin Area‡

Shimizu S-Pulse

Sagan Tosu

Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Vegalta Sendai

Ventforet Kofu

† Greater Tokyo teams

• FC Tokyo
• Kashiwa Reysol
• Kawasaki Frontale
• Omiya Ardija
• Urawa Red Diamonds
• Yokohama F. Marinos
• Kashima Antlers

‡ Keihanshin teams

• Cerezo Osaka
• Gamba Osaka
• Vissel Kobe

Locations of the 2017 J1 League teams

Kashima Antlers

Kashiwa Reysol

Omiya Ardija

Urawa Red Diamonds

FC Tokyo

Kawasaki Frontale

Yokohama F. Marinos

Greater Tokyo Area J1 League teams

A total of 18 clubs participated in this season, including 15 sides from the 2016 season and three promoted from the 2016 J2 League. These included the two top teams; Consadole Sapporo and Shimizu S-Pulse from the J2 League, and the winners of the play-offs; Cerezo Osaka.

The three promoted clubs replace Nagoya Grampus, Shonan Bellmare and Avispa Fukuoka. Former J1 League champion Nagoya Grampus were relegated to the J2 League for the first time in their history.

Stadiums and locations

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Albirex Niigata	Niigata & Seirō	Denka Big Swan Stadium	42,300
Cerezo Osaka	Osaka & Sakai	Yanmar Stadium	47,816
Consadole Sapporo	All Hokkaido[a]	Sapporo Dome	41,484
FC Tokyo	Tokyo	Ajinomoto Stadium	49,970
Gamba Osaka	Northern Osaka Prefecture[b]	Suita City Football Stadium	39,694
Júbilo Iwata	Iwata	Yamaha Stadium	15,165
Kashima Antlers	Southeast Ibaraki Prefecture[c]	Kashima Soccer Stadium	40,728
Kashiwa Reysol	Kashiwa	Kashiwa Soccer Stadium	15,900
Kawasaki Frontale	Kawasaki	Todoroki Athletics Stadium	26,232
Omiya Ardija	Saitama	NACK5 Stadium	15,500
Sagan Tosu	Tosu	Tosu Stadium	24,490
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshima	Hiroshima Big Arch	50,000
Shimizu S-Pulse	Shizuoka	IAI Stadium Nihondaira	20,339
Urawa Red Diamonds	Saitama	Saitama Stadium 2002	63,700
Vegalta Sendai	Sendai	Yurtec Stadium	19,694
Ventforet Kofu	All Yamanashi Prefecture[d]	Yamanashi Chuo Bank Stadium	17,000
Vissel Kobe	Kobe	Noevir Stadium	30,132
Yokohama F. Marinos	Yokohama & Yokosuka	Nissan Stadium	72,327

1. centering on Sapporo
2. Suita, Ibaraki, Takatsuki, Toyonaka, Ikeda, Settsu, Minoh
3. Kashima, Kamisu, Itako, Hokota, Namegata
4. centering on Kōfu and Nirasaki

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Front shirt sponsor
Albirex Niigata	Wagner Lopes	Kazunari Ono	Adidas	HAPPY Turn's
Cerezo Osaka	Yoon Jong-hwan	Yoichiro Kakitani	Puma	Yanmar
Consadole Sapporo	Shuhei Yomoda	Hiroki Miyazawa	Kappa	Shiroi Koibito
FC Tokyo	Takayoshi Amma	Masato Morishige	Umbro	Lifeval
Gamba Osaka	Kenta Hasegawa	Yasuhito Endō	Umbro	Panasonic
Júbilo Iwata	Hiroshi Nanami	Kota Ueda	Puma	Yamaha
Kashima Antlers	Go Oiwa	Mitsuo Ogasawara	Nike	Lixil
Kashiwa Reysol	Takahiro Shimotaira	Hidekazu Otani	Yonex	Hitachi
Kawasaki Frontale	Toru Oniki	Yu Kobayashi	Puma	Fujitsu (home) Arrows (away)
Omiya Ardija	Masatada Ishii	Kosuke Kikuchi	Under Armour	D-point
Sagan Tosu	Massimo Ficcadenti	Yohei Toyoda	New Balance	DHC
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Jan Jönsson	Toshihiro Aoyama	Nike	EDION
Shimizu S-Pulse	Shinji Kobayashi	Jong Tae-se	Puma	Suzuyo
Urawa Red Diamonds	Takafumi Hori	Yuki Abe	Nike	Polus
Vegalta Sendai	Susumu Watanabe	Shingo Tomita	Adidas	Iris Ohyama
Ventforet Kofu	Tatsuma Yoshida	Hideomi Yamamoto	Mizuno	Hakubaku
Vissel Kobe	Takayuki Yoshida	Kazuma Watanabe	Asics	Rakuten
Yokohama F. Marinos	Erick Mombaerts	Manabu Saitō[4]	Adidas	Nissan

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Albirex Niigata	Fumitake Miura	Resigned	7 May 2017[5]	17th	Wagner Lopes	11 May 2017[5]
Omiya Ardija	Hiroki Shibuya	Sacked	28 May 2017[6]	18th	Akira Ito	28 May 2017[6]
Kashima Antlers	Masatada Ishii	Sacked	31 May 2017[7]	7th	Go Oiwa	31 May 2017[7]
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hajime Moriyasu	Resigned	4 July 2017[8]	17th	Jan Jönsson	10 July 2017[8]
Urawa Red Diamonds	Mihailo Petrović	Sacked	31 July 2017[9]	8th	Takafumi Hori	31 July 2017[9]
Vissel Kobe	Nelsinho Baptista	Sacked	16 August 2017[10]	11th	Takayuki Yoshida	16 August 2017[10]
FC Tokyo	Yoshiyuki Shinoda	Sacked	10 September 2017[11]	10th	Takayoshi Amma	10 September 2017[11]
Omiya Ardija	Akira Ito	Sacked	5 November 2017[12]	17th	Masatada Ishii	5 November 2017[12]

Foreign players

The total number of foreign players is restricted to five per club. For matchday squad registration, a club can register up to four foreign players, but a maximum of three can be from outside the AFC. Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, and Qatar) are exempt from these club registration and matchday squad registration restrictions.^[13]

• Players name in bold indicate players that were registered during the mid-season transfer window.
• Players name in ITALICS indicate players that were out of squad or left their respective clubs during the mid-season transfer window.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Other	Former players
Albirex Niigata	Douglas Tanque	Rony	Thiago Galhardo	Song Ju-hun		Frank Romero	Jean Patrick
Cerezo Osaka	Ricardo Santos	Souza	Matej Jonjić	Ahn Joon-soo	Kim Jin-hyeon
Consadole Sapporo	Diego Macedo	Jonathan Reis	Jay Bothroyd	Gu Sung-yun	Kim Min-tae	Chanathip Songkrasin	Julinho
FC Tokyo	Lipe Veloso	Peter Utaka	Jang Hyun-soo	Yu In-soo		Jakkit Wachpirom	Nathan Burns
Gamba Osaka	Ademilson	Fábio	Bae Soo-yong	Hwang Ui-jo	Oh Jae-suk	Kim Jung-ya
Júbilo Iwata	Adaílton	Krzysztof Kamiński	Fozil Musaev
Kashima Antlers	Leandro	Léo Silva	Pedro Júnior	Kwoun Sun-tae		Bueno
Kashiwa Reysol	Cristiano	Diego Oliveira	Ramon Lopes	Kim Bo-kyung	Yun Suk-young		Dudu
Kawasaki Frontale	Eduardo	Eduardo Neto	Elsinho	Rhayner	Jung Sung-ryong	Jefferson Tabinas
Omiya Ardija	Cauê	Marcelo Toscano	Mateus	Kim Dong-su			Dragan Mrđa Nejc Pecnik
Sagan Tosu	Víctor Ibarbo	An Yong-woo	Cho Dong-geon	Jung Seung-hyun	Kim Min-hyeok		Franco Sbuttoni
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Nathan Burns	Anderson Lopes	Felipe	Patric	Mihael Mikić
Shimizu S-Pulse	Mitch Duke	Freire	Kanu	Tiago Alves		Jong Tae-se	Byeon Jun-byum
Urawa Red Diamonds	Maurício Antônio	Rafael Silva	Zlatan Ljubijankič
Ventforet Kofu	Billy Konstantinidis	Dudu	Éder Lima	Lins			Oliver Bozanic Gabriel Rodrigues Junior Barros Wilson
Vegalta Sendai	Crislan	Vinícius	Lee Yun-oh			Ryang Yong-gi	Pablo Diogo
Vissel Kobe	Leandro	Nílton	Wescley	Lukas Podolski	Kim Seung-gyu
Yokohama F. Marinos	Miloš Degenek	Quenten Martinus	David Babunski	Hugo Vieira	Park Jeong-su	Ippey Shinozuka

Results

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Kawasaki Frontale (C)	34	21	9	4	71	32	+39	72	Champions League group stage
2	Kashima Antlers	34	23	3	8	53	31	+22	72
3	Cerezo Osaka	34	19	6	9	65	43	+22	63
4	Kashiwa Reysol	34	18	8	8	49	33	+16	62	Champions League play-off round[a]
5	Yokohama F. Marinos	34	17	8	9	45	36	+9	59
6	Júbilo Iwata	34	16	10	8	50	30	+20	58
7	Urawa Red Diamonds	34	14	7	13	64	54	+10	49
8	Sagan Tosu	34	13	8	13	41	44	−3	47
9	Vissel Kobe	34	13	5	16	40	45	−5	44
10	Gamba Osaka	34	11	10	13	48	41	+7	43
11	Consadole Sapporo	34	12	7	15	39	47	−8	43
12	Vegalta Sendai	34	11	8	15	44	53	−9	41
13	FC Tokyo	34	10	10	14	37	42	−5	40
14	Shimizu S-Pulse	34	8	10	16	36	54	−18	34
15	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	34	8	9	17	32	49	−17	33
16	Ventforet Kofu (R)	34	7	11	16	23	39	−16	32	Relegation to 2018 J2 League
17	Albirex Niigata (R)	34	7	7	20	28	60	−32	28
18	Omiya Ardija (R)	34	5	10	19	28	60	−32	25

Source: Meiji Yasuda J1 League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. The winner of the 2017 Emperor's Cup qualified for the group stage of the 2018 AFC Champions League. Since the Emperor's Cup winner Cerezo Osaka had already qualified for the AFC Champions League, the play-off round spot was awarded to the fourth-placed team.

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34
Kawasaki Frontale	2	6	3	8	6	5	6	7	9	6	7	5	5	9	6	6	6	3	4	5	4	4	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	1
Kashima Antlers	14	9	7	3	2	3	2	4	3	1	4	6	7	5	4	3	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2
Cerezo Osaka	11	16	13	10	8	6	7	8	5	7	6	4	3	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	5	4	4	4	5	5	4	3	3	3	3
Kashiwa Reysol	1	8	12	15	12	15	11	10	6	5	3	2	1	1	1	1	2	4	5	3	5	5	4	4	3	3	3	3	3	5	4	4	4	4
Yokohama F. Marinos	3	1	5	7	9	8	4	9	10	11	9	9	8	7	5	5	5	5	7	4	3	3	5	2	5	5	5	4	4	3	5	5	6	5
Júbilo Iwata	11	14	10	11	10	13	10	6	8	9	10	10	12	11	10	7	7	7	6	7	7	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	6
Urawa Red Diamonds	13	7	4	6	4	2	1	1	1	2	1	3	4	6	8	9	8	8	8	8	8	8	7	8	8	8	7	7	7	7	7	7	7	7
Sagan Tosu	17	15	11	12	14	11	13	11	13	10	11	11	10	12	12	10	10	11	10	9	9	10	9	9	9	9	9	8	9	8	9	8	8	8
Vissel Kobe	4	3	1	1	1	1	3	3	7	8	8	8	8	8	9	11	11	9	9	10	11	11	11	11	11	11	10	10	8	10	8	9	9	9
Gamba Osaka	7	5	2	5	3	4	5	2	2	3	2	1	2	3	3	4	4	6	3	6	6	7	8	7	7	7	8	9	10	9	10	10	10	10
Consadole Sapporo	14	17	17	13	15	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	15	16	15	15	14	15	15	15	15	14	14	14	14	14	13	13	13	13	12	11
Vegalta Sendai	4	4	9	4	7	10	12	13	11	13	14	13	11	10	11	12	12	13	13	13	13	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	12	11	11	12
FC Tokyo	4	2	8	2	5	7	8	5	4	4	5	7	6	4	7	8	9	10	11	11	10	9	10	10	10	10	11	11	11	11	11	12	13	13
Shimizu S-Pulse	14	9	6	9	13	9	9	11	14	14	12	12	13	13	13	13	13	12	12	12	12	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	14	14	14	14	15	14
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	7	12	14	17	17	16	17	16	16	16	17	16	16	16	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	16	15	15	15	16	16	16	15	14	15
Ventforet Kofu	7	12	16	13	11	12	14	14	12	12	13	14	14	14	14	14	14	14	15	14	14	14	14	15	15	16	16	16	15	15	15	16	16	16
Albirex Niigata	7	11	15	16	16	17	16	17	17	17	18	17	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	17
Omiya Ardija	18	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	16	18	18	17	16	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	18

	Leader and Qualification to 2018 AFC Champions League group stage
	Qualification to 2018 AFC Champions League group stage
	Qualification to 2018 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off
	Relegation to 2018 J2 League

Source: Meiji Yasuda J1 League

Results table

Home \ Away	ALB	ANT	ARD	CER	CON	FMA	FRO	GAM	JUB	RED	REY	SAG	SFR	SSP	TOK	VEG	VEN	VIS
Albirex Niigata	—	2–4	1–2	1–0	1–0	0–2	0–2	2–3	0–2	1–6	0–1	1–0	0–0	0–2	0–3	1–2	1–0	0–2
Kashima Antlers	2–0	—	1–0	0–1	3–0	1–0	0–3	2–1	0–3	1–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	2–0	0–1	2–0	3–0	1–2
Omiya Ardija	1–0	0–1	—	0–3	2–2	1–2	0–2	2–2	1–2	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–2	2–1	0–0	0–2
Cerezo Osaka	4–0	0–1	2–1	—	3–1	2–0	2–0	2–2	0–0	4–2	2–1	1–0	5–2	1–1	3–1	1–4	2–0	3–1
Consadole Sapporo	2–2	1–2	1–0	1–1	—	0–2	1–1	0–2	2–1	2–0	3–0	3–2	2–1	1–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	1–2
Yokohama F. Marinos	1–1	3–2	1–1	1–4	3–0	—	2–0	0–1	2–1	3–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–2	1–0	1–1	1–0	2–0
Kawasaki Frontale	3–0	3–1	5–0	5–1	2–1	3–0	—	1–0	2–5	4–1	2–1	1–1	1–0	2–2	1–1	3–2	1–1	5–0
Gamba Osaka	0–1	0–1	6–0	3–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	—	0–2	1–1	0–1	3–0	0–1	1–1	3–0	1–1	1–1	1–2
Júbilo Iwata	2–2	0–0	2–1	1–1	2–2	2–1	0–2	3–0	—	1–1	0–2	2–1	2–3	3–1	2–0	0–1	1–0	2–1
Urawa Red Diamonds	2–1	0–1	2–2	3–1	3–2	0–1	0–1	3–3	2–4	—	1–2	2–2	4–3	3–3	2–1	7–0	4–1	1–1
Kashiwa Reysol	1–1	2–3	4–2	1–0	2–1	2–0	2–2	1–3	1–0	1–0	—	0–0	1–0	0–2	4–1	0–1	0–1	3–1
Sagan Tosu	3–0	1–0	3–0	1–2	1–0	1–0	2–3	1–3	0–2	2–1	1–3	—	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	2–1	1–0
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	1–1	1–3	0–3	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–3	2–2	0–0	0–1	0–2	0–1	—	0–1	2–1	3–3	1–0	1–1
Shimizu S-Pulse	2–3	2–3	1–1	3–2	0–2	1–3	0–3	2–0	0–3	1–2	1–4	1–1	1–3	—	0–2	0–3	1–0	0–1
FC Tokyo	1–1	2–2	2–0	1–4	1–2	0–1	3–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–2	3–3	1–0	0–0	—	1–0	1–1	1–0
Vegalta Sendai	2–1	1–4	3–0	2–4	1–0	2–2	0–2	2–3	0–0	2–3	1–1	4–1	1–0	0–0	0–2	—	3–0	0–2
Ventforet Kofu	0–2	0–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	3–2	2–2	1–0	0–0	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	—	2–3
Vissel Kobe	2–1	1–2	3–1	1–2	2–0	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–0	1–3	1–2	1–2	1–2	1–3	1–1	3–0	0–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 2 December 2017. Source: Meiji Yasuda J1 League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of matches played on December 2nd, 2017.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Yu Kobayashi	Kawasaki Frontale	23
2	Kenyu Sugimoto	Cerezo Osaka	22
3	Shinzo Koroki	Urawa Red Diamonds	20
4	Kengo Kawamata	Júbilo Iwata	14
5	Cristiano	Kashiwa Reysol	12
	Rafael Silva	Urawa Red Diamonds
	Mu Kanazaki	Kashima Antlers
8	Leandro	Kashima Antlers	11

Top assists

As of matches played on December 2nd, 2017.

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Kengo Nakamura	Kawasaki Frontale	12
2	Cristiano	Kashiwa Reysol	10
	Yusuke Maruhashi	Cerezo Osaka
4	Kosuke Ota	FC Tokyo	9
	Kota Mizunuma	Cerezo Osaka
	Shintaro Kurumaya	Kawasaki Frontale
	Yōsuke Kashiwagi	Urawa Red Diamonds
8	Manabu Saitō	Yokohama F. Marinos	8
	Shunsuke Nakamura	Júbilo Iwata
	Yu Kobayashi	Kawasaki Frontale

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Shinzo Koroki	Urawa Red Diamonds	Vegalta Sendai	7–0 (H)	7 April 2017
Shinzo Koroki	Urawa Red Diamonds	Shimizu S-Pulse	3–3 (H)	20 May 2017
Leandro	Kashima Antlers	Albirex Niigata	4–2 (A)	16 September 2017
Yu Kobayashi	Kawasaki Frontale	Omiya Ardija	5–0 (H)	2 December 2017

Note

(H) – Home; (A) – Away

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Urawa Red Diamonds	570,215	57,447	21,603	33,542	−9.2%†
2	FC Tokyo	450,331	42,979	13,417	26,490	+10.2%†
3	Gamba Osaka	412,710	36,177	13,074	24,277	−4.2%†
4	Yokohama F. Marinos	386,875	42,483	11,036	24,180	+0.7%†
5	Kawasaki Frontale	375,910	25,904	17,358	22,112	−0.1%†
6	Albirex Niigata	374,585	31,014	16,461	22,034	+4.0%†
7	Cerezo Osaka	356,491	42,438	8,998	20,970	+67.6%†
8	Kashima Antlers	347,942	36,080	10,838	20,467	+7.1%†
9	Consadole Sapporo	313,100	33,353	9,535	18,418	+26.5%†
10	Vissel Kobe	310,625	25,278	7,911	18,272	+7.4%†
11	Júbilo Iwata	277,450	40,491	11,762	16,321	+11.7%†
12	Shimizu S-Pulse	256,965	18,556	11,007	15,116	+34.1%†
13	Vegalta Sendai	250,677	18,059	11,500	14,746	−4.7%†
14	Sagan Tosu	241,295	21,245	7,381	14,194	+12.3%†
15	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	238,720	22,333	8,319	14,042	−9.2%†
16	Kashiwa Reysol	200,936	14,096	9,432	11,820	+10.2%†
17	Omiya Ardija	194,887	13,364	9,598	11,464	−3.0%†
18	Ventforet Kofu	184,311	14,680	4,692	10,842	+0.1%†
	League total	5,778,178	57,447	4,692	18,883	+5.1%†

Updated to games played on 2017年12月2日
Source: J. League Data
Notes:
^† Promoted from J2.