2018 J2 League

The 2018 Meiji Yasuda J2 League (2018 明治安田生命J2リーグ) season was the 47th season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 20th season since the establishment of J2 League.

Meiji Yasuda J2 League

Season	2018
Champions	Matsumoto Yamaga
Promoted	Matsumoto Yamaga Oita Trinita
Relegated	Roasso Kumamoto Kamatamare Sanuki
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,143 (2.47 per match)
Top goalscorer	Genki Omae Omiya Ardija, 24 goals
Highest attendance	22,465[1] Niigata 1–1 Matsumoto (3 March)
Lowest attendance	1,510[1] Sanuki 1-1 Yamagata (19 September)
Average attendance	7,049
← 2017 2019 →

Clubs

The participating clubs are listed in the following table:

Club name	Home town(s)	Note(s)
Albirex Niigata	Niigata & Seirō, Niigata	Relegated from J1
Omiya Ardija	Saitama	Relegated from J1
Avispa Fukuoka	Fukuoka City, Fukuoka
Ehime FC	All cities/towns in Ehime[a]
Fagiano Okayama	All cities/towns in Okayama[b]
FC Gifu	All cities/towns in Gifu[c]
JEF United Chiba	Chiba & Ichihara, Chiba
Kamatamare Sanuki	Takamatsu, Kagawa
Kyoto Sanga	Southwestern cities/towns in Kyoto[d]
Machida Zelvia	Machida, Tokyo
Matsumoto Yamaga	Central cities/towns in Nagano[e]
Mito HollyHock	Mito, Ibaraki
Montedio Yamagata	All cities/towns in Yamagata[f]
Oita Trinita	Ōita
Renofa Yamaguchi	All cities/towns in Yamaguchi[g]
Roasso Kumamoto	Kumamoto
Tochigi SC	Utsunomiya, Tochigi	Promoted from J3
Tokushima Vortis	All cities/towns in Tokushima[h]
Ventforet Kofu	All Yamanashi Prefecture[i]	Relegated from J1
Tokyo Verdy	All cities/towns in Tokyo
Yokohama FC	Yokohama, Kanagawa
Zweigen Kanazawa	Kanazawa

1. centering on Matsuyama
2. centering on Okayama, Kurashiki, Tsuyama
3. centering on Gifu
4. Kyoto, Uji, Joyo, Kyōtanabe, Mukō, Nagaokakyō, Kizugawa, Kameoka, Nantan, Kyotanba
5. Matsumoto, Nagano, Azumino, Yamagata, Shiojiri, Ōmachi, Ikeda
6. centering on Yamagata, Tendō, Tsuruoka
7. centering on Yamaguchi, Shimonoseki, Sanyoonoda, Ube
8. centering on Tokushima, Naruto, Mima, Matsushige, Itano, Aizumi, Kitajima
9. centering on Kofu and Nirasaki

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer
Albirex Niigata	Masakazu Suzuki	Ryota Isomura	Adidas
Avispa Fukuoka	Masami Ihara	Hisashi Jogo	Yonex
Ehime FC	Shuichi Mase	Kazuhisa Kawahara	Mizuno
Fagiano Okayama	Tetsu Nagasawa	Kohei Kiyama	Penalty
FC Gifu	Takeshi Oki	Yuto Ono	New Balance
JEF United Chiba	Juan Esnáider	Naoya Kondo	Kappa
Kamatamare Sanuki	Makoto Kitano	Kazumasa Takagi	ATHLETA
Kyoto Sanga	Takanori Nunobe	Yuta Someya	Wacoal
Machida Zelvia	Naoki Soma	Ri Han-jae	SVOLME
Matsumoto Yamaga	Yasuharu Sorimachi	Masaki Iida	Adidas
Mito HollyHock	Shigetoshi Hasebe	Junya Hosokawa	GAViC
Montedio Yamagata	Takashi Kiyama	Takumi Yamada	New Balance
Oita Trinita	Tomohiro Katanosaka	Akira Takeuchi	Puma
Omiya Ardija	Masatada Ishii	Kosuke Kikuchi	Under Armour
Renofa Yamaguchi	Masahiro Shimoda	Hidetoshi Miyuki	Finta
Roasso Kumamoto	Hiroki Shibuya	Akihiro Sato	Puma
Tochigi SC	Yuji Yokoyama	Koji Hirose	ATHLETA
Tokushima Vortis	Ricardo Rodríguez	Ken Iwao	Mizuno
Tokyo Verdy	Miguel Ángel Lotina	Akira Ibayashi	ATHLETA
Ventforet Kofu	Tatsuma Yoshida	Hideomi Yamamoto	Mizuno
Yokohama FC	Edson Tavares	Kensuke Sato	SOCCER JUNKY
Zweigen Kanazawa	Masaaki Yanagishita	Tomonobu Hiroi	Adidas

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Ventforet Kofu	Tatsuma Yoshida	30 April 2018[2]	Nobuhiro Ueno	30 April 2018
Kyoto Sanga	Takanori Nunobe	11 May 2018[3]	Boško Gjurovski	11 May 2018
Ehime FC	Shuichi Mase	15 May 2018[4]	Kenta Kawai	15 May 2018
Albirex Niigata	Masakazu Suzuki	8 August 2018[5]	Koichiro Katafuchi	22 August 2018

Foreign players

The total number of foreign players is restricted to five per club. Clubs can register up to four foreign players for a single match-day squad, of which a maximum of three are allowed from nations outside the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, and Qatar) are exempt from these restrictions.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Other	Former
Albirex Niigata	Alex Muralha	Cauê	Jonathan Reis	Thalles	Song Ju-hun		Bruno Meneghel
Omiya Ardija	Marcelo Toscano	Mateus	David Babunski	Robin Simović	Kim Dong-su		Cauê
Avispa Fukuoka	Dudu	Léo Mineiro	Won Du-jae	Yu In-soo			Euller Túlio de Melo
Ehime FC	Park Seung-su					Woo Sang-ho
Fagiano Okayama	Ricardo Santos	Choi Jung-won	Jeong Chung-geun	Lee Kyung-tae	Lee Yong-jae
FC Gifu	Ezequiel Ham	Michael	Ryan De Vries	Jeon San-hae	Víctor Ibáñez		Woo Sang-ho
JEF United Chiba	Joaquín Larrivey	Diego Rodríguez	Jason Geria	Hebert	Jorge Salinas
Kamatamare Sanuki	Alex	Park Chan-yong	Song Young-min
Kyoto Sanga	Juninho	Kaio	Wu Shaocong	Kim Cheol-ho	Renzo López		Matías Caseras Alexandre
Machida Zelvia	Dorian Babunski	Romero Frank	Jung Han-cheol			Ri Han-jae
Matsumoto Yamaga	Dinei	Paulinho	Serginho	Goh Dong-min	Jo Jin-woo	Anders Aplin
Mito HollyHock	Batista	Diego	Jefferson Baiano	Danny Carvajal
Montedio Yamagata	Álvaro	Bruno Lopes	Felipe Alves	Jairo
Oita Trinita	Willian	Mun Kyung-gun				Hwang Song-su	Lim Seung-gyeom
Renofa Yamaguchi	Julinho	Renan	Washington				Gerson Min Kyung-jun
Roasso Kumamoto	Lim Jin-woo	Yang Sang-jun				An Byong-jun
Tochigi SC	Alex	Paulao	Henik	Mendes	Johnny Leoni		Diogo Ferreira Nejc Pečnik
Tokushima Vortis	Bueno	Peter Utaka	Kim Jong-pil	David Barral	Sisinio		Nathan Júnior Danny Carvajal
Ventforet Kofu	Diego	Éder Lima	Ferrugem	Junior Barros	Byeon Jun-byum		Dinei Lins
Tokyo Verdy	Alan Pinheiro	Douglas	Leandro			Ri Yong-jik	Carlos Martínez
Yokohama FC	Bruno Meneghel	Leandro Domingues	Calvin Jong-a-Pin	Ibba Laajab	Bae Seung-jin		Jeong Chung-geun
Zweigen Kanazawa	Allan	Rodrigo Maranhão

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Matsumoto Yamaga (C, P)	42	21	14	7	54	34	+20	77	Promotion to 2019 J1 League
2	Oita Trinita (P)	42	23	7	12	76	51	+25	76
3	Yokohama FC	42	21	13	8	63	44	+19	76	Qualification for promotion play-offs[a]
4	Machida Zelvia	42	21	13	8	62	44	+18	76
5	Omiya Ardija	42	21	8	13	65	48	+17	71	Qualification for promotion play-offs[a]
6	Tokyo Verdy	42	19	14	9	56	41	+15	71
7	Avispa Fukuoka	42	19	13	10	58	42	+16	70
8	Renofa Yamaguchi	42	16	13	13	63	64	−1	61
9	Ventforet Kofu	42	16	11	15	56	46	+10	59
10	Mito HollyHock	42	16	9	17	48	46	+2	57
11	Tokushima Vortis	42	16	8	18	48	42	+6	56
12	Montedio Yamagata	42	14	14	14	49	51	−2	56
13	Zweigen Kanazawa	42	14	13	15	52	48	+4	55
14	JEF United Chiba	42	16	7	19	72	72	0	55
15	Fagiano Okayama	42	14	11	17	39	43	−4	53
16	Albirex Niigata	42	15	8	19	48	56	−8	53
17	Tochigi SC	42	13	11	18	38	48	−10	50
18	Ehime FC	42	12	12	18	34	52	−18	48
19	Kyoto Sanga	42	12	7	23	40	58	−18	43
20	FC Gifu	42	11	9	22	44	62	−18	42
21	Roasso Kumamoto (R)	42	9	7	26	50	79	−29	34	Relegation to 2019 J3 League[b]
22	Kamatamare Sanuki (R)	42	7	10	25	28	72	−44	31

Source: 2018 MEIJI YASUDA J2 LEAGUE League table
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Only teams that meet J1 license criteria can participate in promotion play-offs. 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. Direct exchange between J2 and J3 is subject to eligibility of J2-licensed teams in top 2 of 2018 J3 League.

Results

Home \ Away	ALB	ARD	AVI	EHI	FAG	GIF	HOL	JEF	KAM	MON	REN	ROS	SAN	TOC	TRI	VEN	VER	VOR	YAM	YFC	ZEL	ZWE
Albirex Niigata		0–1	0–3	0–1	0–1	5–0	1–1	1–2	2–1	0–0	0–2	2–3	1–1	0–3	1–2	1–5	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–1	2–0	2–1
Omiya Ardija	2–1		2–1	1–1	1–1	0–2	2–1	0–1	2–2	2–1	4–4	2–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	2–1	2–0	0–1	1–2	4–0	1–0	1–1
Avispa Fukuoka	0–2	3–1		2–0	1–1	2–0	2–0	3–1	3–1	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–2	2–1	1–0	0–2	0–0	1–0	0–1	0–0	2–2	2–2
Ehime FC	0–0	2–3	1–5		2–0	1–3	0–1	1–0	0–0	0–2	2–0	1–2	1–2	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–2	1–0	1–1	0–2	0–2	1–2
Fagiano Okayama	1–2	0–1	2–2	0–1		0–0	0–1	0–2	3–0	2–2	0–1	3–1	2–2	3–0	1–0	1–0	0–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	1–0	3–3
FC Gifu	2–1	0–1	0–0	1–2	2–1		4–0	2–0	2–3	0–1	2–2	0–2	2–3	1–1	0–2	3–4	1–1	0–0	2–0	0–1	0–1	0–1
Mito HollyHock	0–1	0–2	1–2	4–1	3–0	1–1		1–0	5–0	3–0	3–0	3–2	1–2	0–0	1–2	0–1	2–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–0
JEF United Chiba	1–2	1–3	3–3	2–1	1–0	2–3	0–0		6–1	2–1	2–2	3–1	2–0	0–0	2–4	2–1	2–3	2–0	2–3	0–1	3–2	3–4
Kamatamare Sanuki	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–1	1–0	1–2	2–1		1–1	0–0	1–0	0–2	1–2	1–2	0–3	3–1	0–4	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–2
Montedio Yamagata	1–2	1–1	2–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	2–1	2–0		0–1	2–1	1–1	3–3	1–1	2–1	0–1	1–0	3–2	2–3	2–2	2–1
Renofa Yamaguchi	1–2	2–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	4–1	2–2	0–4	1–0	0–1		4–1	1–2	1–0	1–3	0–1	4–3	2–2	2–2	0–3	0–1	2–2
Roasso Kumamoto	3–1	2–1	0–1	3–0	0–0	1–2	2–1	1–3	1–1	1–2	2–2		0–4	0–1	1–3	1–4	0–0	2–1	1–3	3–5	2–3	0–1
Kyoto Sanga	0–3	0–2	1–0	0–1	0–1	2–1	0–1	0–3	1–1	1–0	1–2	1–2		0–2	0–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	0–2	0–0
Tochigi SC	2–1	0–1	1–0	1–3	0–1	4–1	1–2	0–1	1–0	1–0	2–5	1–0	3–1		2–4	0–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–0	1–1
Oita Trinita	4–0	1–2	1–0	0–1	4–1	2–1	3–1	4–0	5–0	2–2	2–2	2–0	2–1	0–0		2–4	0–0	0–1	1–0	1–1	4–3	2–1
Ventforet Kofu	0–0	1–0	1–2	0–1	2–0	1–3	1–1	1–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	3–2	1–1	2–1	6–2		0–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–3
Tokyo Verdy	4–3	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	3–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	3–1	2–2	3–1	3–0	0–0	0–1		2–1	2–1	2–1	1–4	0–1
Tokushima Vortis	0–0	2–1	3–1	2–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	4–1	0–1	5–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	4–1	3–0	0–1	0–4		1–1	0–1	1–2	0–3
Matsumoto Yamaga	2–0	3–2	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–0	4–2	1–1	1–0	0–0	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–4	0–0	1–0	1–0		1–3	0–1	5–0
Yokohama FC	0–3	2–2	3–0	2–1	3–0	2–0	2–3	4–2	3–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	3–3	2–2	1–0	0–0		2–3	0–4
Machida Zelvia	0–0	3–2	2–1	2–1	1–3	1–0	0–0	3–3	3–0	0–0	1–2	2–2	2–1	0–1	3–2	0–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–0		1–0
Zweigen Kanazawa	2–3	1–1	0–1	0–0	0–1	2–0	3–1	3–1	0–1	1–0	2–2	0–0	1–3	2–0	0–1	1–2	0–1	0–0	0–2	0–0	1–1

Updated to match(es) played on 17 November 2018. Source: J.League Data
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion–Relegation Playoffs

2018 J.League J1/J2 Play-Offs (2018 J1参入プレーオフ)
Because Machida Zelvia did not own a J1 license for the 2019 season, they were ineligible to participate in the play-offs. Thus, Yokohama FC, finishing third in the season, received a bye into the second round, from which the winner will play the team finishing 16th in J1.

1st Semi-Final

2nd Semi-Final

Final

J1 (16)

Júbilo Iwata

2

J2 (3)

Yokohama FC

0

J2 (6)

Tokyo Verdy

0

J2 (5)

Omiya Ardija

0

J2 (6)

Tokyo Verdy

1

J2 (6)

Tokyo Verdy

1

First Semi-Final

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Omiya Ardija	0–1	Tokyo Verdy
		Taira 71'

25 November 2018 (2018-11-25)

13:00

NACK5 Stadium Omiya, Saitama

Attendance: 11,858

Referee: Hiroyoshi Takayama

Second Semi-Final

---

Yokohama FC	0–1	Tokyo Verdy
		Douglas Vieira 90+7'

2 December 2018 (2018-12-02)

13:00

Mitsuzawa Stadium, Yokohama

Attendance: 12,625

Referee: Hajime Matsuo

Final

Júbilo Iwata	2–0	Tokyo Verdy
K. Ogawa 41' (pen.) Taguchi 80'	Report

8 December 2018 (2018-12-08)

14:00

Yamaha Stadium, Iwata

Attendance: 14,588

Júbilo Iwata remains in J1 League.
Tokyo Verdy remains in J2 League.

Top scorers

As of matches played 17 November 2018.^[6]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Genki Omae	Omiya Ardija	24
2	Ado Onaiwu	Renofa Yamaguchi	22
3	Takayuki Funayama	JEF United Chiba	19
4	Ibba	Yokohama FC	17
5	Douglas Vieira	Tokyo Verdy	13
6	Masashi Oguro	Tochigi SC	12
	Seigo Kobayashi	Renofa Yamaguchi
	Yuki Nakashima	Machida Zelvia
	Mateus	Omiya Ardija
	Kenji Baba	Oita Trinita
	Noriaki Fujimoto

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Albirex Niigata	313,080	22,465	8,614	14,913	−32.3%†
2	Matsumoto Yamaga	278,948	19,066	9,490	13,283	−21.0%†
3	JEF United Chiba	207,025	12,440	6,152	9,858	−1.3%†
4	Omiya Ardija	193,711	12,400	6,506	9,224	−19.5%†
5	Oita Trinita	187,052	15,125	4,880	8,907	+10.5%†
6	Avispa Fukuoka	186,323	15,331	6,684	8,873	−7.1%†
7	Fagiano Okayama	180,586	13,851	5,034	8,599	−9.2%†
8	Ventforet Kofu	155,054	10,192	3,130	7,384	−31.9%†
9	FC Gifu	144,011	12,045	3,819	6,858	−1.7%†
10	Montedio Yamagata	142,094	13,609	4,675	6,766	+2.8%†
11	Yokohama FC	128,959	10,978	3,051	6,141	+2.9%†
12	Renofa Yamaguchi	128,579	12,927	3,133	6,123	+12.3%†
13	Tokyo Verdy	124,654	10,529	3,048	5,936	−4.4%†
14	Kyoto Sanga	118,931	9,036	2,624	5,663	−16.1%†
15	Tochigi SC	118,805	11,562	3,203	5,657	+9.9%‡
16	Roasso Kumamoto	110,643	10,226	3,206	5,269	−19.6%†
17	Tokushima Vortis	104,941	8,753	2,974	4,997	+0.4%†
18	Mito HollyHock	103,698	7,858	2,736	4,938	+0.1%†
19	Machida Zelvia	103,215	10,013	2,414	4,915	+21.2%†
20	Zweigen Kanazawa	95,093	9,645	2,108	4,528	+3.0%†
21	Ehime FC	66,382	5,319	2,196	3,161	−18.2%†
22	Kamatamare Sanuki	64,532	5,668	1,510	3,073	−19.2%†
	League total	3,256,416	22,465	1,510	7,049	+1.1%†

Updated to games played on 17 November 2018
Source: J. League Data
Notes:
^† Relegated from J1.^‡ Promoted from J3.