2019 J2 League

The 2019 Meiji Yasuda J2 League (Japanese: 2019 明治安田生命J2リーグ, Hepburn: 2019 Meiji Yasuda Seimei J2 Rīgu) season was the 48th season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 21st season since the establishment of J2 League.

Meiji Yasuda J2 League

Season	2019
Champions	Kashiwa Reysol 2nd J2 title 3rd D2 title
Promoted	Kashiwa Reysol Yokohama FC
Relegated	Kagoshima United FC Gifu
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,197 (2.59 per match)
Highest attendance	20,486 Niigata vs. Kashiwa (9 March)
Lowest attendance	2,111 Yokohama vs. Tokushima (15 June)
Average attendance	7,176
← 2018 2020 →

Clubs

Albirex Niigata

Avispa Fukuoka

Ehime FC

Fagiano Okayama

FC Gifu

Zweigen Kanazawa

Kyoto Sanga

Renofa Yamaguchi

Tokushima Vortis

V-Varen Nagasaki

Kagoshima United

FC Ryukyu

Montedio Yamagata

Ventforet Kofu

Mito HollyHock

Kashiwa Reysol

JEF United Chiba

Omiya
Ardija

Machida Zelvia

Tokyo Verdy

Yokohama FC

Tochigi SC

Locations of the 2019 J2 League teams

Following eight successful seasons, Kashiwa Reysol bid farewell to the first division. A similar fate befell V-Varen Nagasaki, who returned to J2 after their inaugural season in the top tier.^[1] Matsumoto Yamaga and Oita Trinita, having earned promotion, filled their vacancies, while Tokyo Verdy missed out on promotion after losing the play-off against Júbilo Iwata. In addition, four teams experienced changes in their league status: Roasso Kumamoto and Kamatamare Sanuki exited J2, paving the way for the newly-promoted FC Ryukyu and Kagoshima United, both set to embark on their inaugural J2 season.^[2]

The participating clubs are listed in the following table:

Club name	Home town(s)	Stadium	Capacity	Last season
Albirex Niigata	Niigata & Seirō, Niigata	Denka Big Swan Stadium	42,300	J2 (16th)
Avispa Fukuoka	Fukuoka City, Fukuoka	Level5 Stadium	22,563	J2 (7th)
Ehime FC	All cities/towns in Ehime[a]	Ningineer Stadium	20,000	J2 (18th)
Fagiano Okayama	All cities/towns in Okayama[b]	City Light Stadium	20,000	J2 (15th)
FC Gifu	All cities/towns in Gifu[c]	Gifu Nagaragawa Stadium	26,109	J2 (20th)
JEF United Chiba	Chiba & Ichihara, Chiba	Fukuda Denshi Arena	18,500	J2 (14th)
Kashiwa Reysol	Chiba Prefecture	Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium	15,349	Relegated from J1 (17th)
Kyoto Sanga	Southwestern cities/towns in Kyoto[d]	Kyoto Nishikyogoku Athletic Stadium	20,588	J2 (19th)
Machida Zelvia	Machida, Tokyo	Machida Athletic Stadium	10,600	J2 (4th)
Mito HollyHock	Mito, Ibaraki	K's denki Stadium Mito	12,000	J2 (10th)
Montedio Yamagata	All cities/towns in Yamagata[e]	ND Soft Stadium	20,315	J2 (12th)
Omiya Ardija	Saitama, Saitama	NACK5 Stadium Omiya	15,500	J2 (5th)
Renofa Yamaguchi	All cities/towns in Yamaguchi[f]	Yamaguchi Ishin Park Stadium	20,000	J2 (8th)
Tochigi SC	Utsunomiya, Tochigi	Tochigi Green Stadium	18,025	J2 (17th)
Tokushima Vortis	All cities/towns in Tokushima[g]	Pocarisweat Stadium	20,441	J2 (11th)
V-Varen Nagasaki	Nagasaki Prefecture	Nagasaki Athletic Stadium	20,246	Relegated from J1 (18th)
Ventforet Kofu	All Yamanashi Prefecture[h]	Yamanashi Chuo Bank Stadium	17,000	J2 (9th)
Tokyo Verdy	All cities/towns in Tokyo	Ajinomoto Stadium	49,970	J2 (6th)
Yokohama FC	Yokohama, Kanagawa	Nippatsu Mitsuzawa Stadium	15,454	J2 (3rd)
Zweigen Kanazawa	Kanazawa, Ishikawa	Ishikawa Kanazawa Stadium	20,000	J2 (13th)
FC Ryukyu	Okinawa	Tapic Kenso Hiyagon Stadium	25,000	Promoted from J3 (champions)
Kagoshima United FC	Kagoshima	Shiranami Stadium	19,934	Promoted from J3 (2nd)

1. centering on Matsuyama
2. centering on Okayama, Kurashiki, Tsuyama
3. centering on Gifu
4. Kyoto, Uji, Joyo, Kyotanabe, Muko, Nagaokakyo, Kizugawa, Kameoka, Nantan, Kyotanba
5. centering on Yamagata, Tendo, Tsuruoka
6. centering on Yamaguchi, Shimonoseki, Sanyoonoda, Ube
7. centering on Tokushima, Naruto, Mima, Matsushige, Itano, Aizumi, Kitajima
8. centering on Kofu and Nirasaki

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer
Albirex Niigata	Kazuaki Yoshinaga	Masaru Kato	Adidas
Avispa Fukuoka	Kiyokazu Kudo	Jun Suzuki	Yonex
Ehime FC	Kenta Kawai	Go Nishida	Mizuno
Fagiano Okayama	Kenji Arima	Kohei Kiyama	Penalty
FC Gifu	Takeshi Oki	Masanori Abe	New Balance
FC Ryukyu	Yasuhiro Higuchi[3]	Kazumasa Uesato	sfida
JEF United Chiba	Atsuhiko Ejiri	Yūto Satō	Kappa
Kagoshima United FC	Kim Jong-song[4]	Shuto Nakahara	Puma
Kashiwa Reysol	Nelsinho Baptista	Hidekazu Otani	Yonex
Kyoto Sanga	Ichizo Nakata	Takumi Miyayoshi	Puma
Machida Zelvia	Naoki Soma	Yudai Inoue	SVOLME
Mito HollyHock	Shigetoshi Hasebe	Junya Hosokawa	GAViC
Montedio Yamagata	Takashi Kiyama	Takumi Yamada	Penalty
Omiya Ardija	Takuya Takagi	Genki Omae	Under Armour
Renofa Yamaguchi	Masahiro Shimoda	Hidetoshi Miyuki	Finta
Tochigi SC	Kazuaki Tasaka[5]	Kotaro Fujiwara	ATHLETA
Tokushima Vortis	Ricardo Rodríguez	Ken Iwao	Mizuno
V-Varen Nagasaki	Makoto Teguramori	Masato Kurogi	Hummel
Ventforet Kofu	Akira Ito	Yuta Koide	Mizuno
Tokyo Verdy	Hideki Nagai	Naoya Kondo	ATHLETA
Yokohama FC	Takahiro Shimotaira	Yuta Minami	SOCCER JUNKY
Zweigen Kanazawa	Masaaki Yanagishita	Tomonobu Hiroi	Adidas

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
JEF United Chiba	Juan Esnáider	17 April 2019[6]	Atsuhiko Ejiri	18 April 2019[7]
Albirex Niigata	Koichiro Katafuchi	14 April 2019[8]	Kazuaki Yoshinaga	14 April 2019[8]
Yokohama FC	Edson Tavares	14 May 2019[9]	Takahiro Shimotaira	14 May 2019[10]
Avispa Fukuoka	Fabio Pecchia	3 June 2019[11]	Kiyokazu Kudo	3 June 2019[12]
FC Gifu	Takeshi Oki	16 June 2019[13]	Makoto Kitano	18 June 2019[14]
Tokyo Verdy	Gary White	17 July 2019[15]	Hideki Nagai	17 July 2019[16]

Foreign players

The total number of foreign players is limitless, but clubs can only register up to five foreign players for a single match-day squad. Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Iran and Qatar) are exempt from these restrictions.

Players in bold are players who join midway through the competition.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6	Player 7
Albirex Niigata	Cauê	Franci	Leonardo	Paulão	Samuel Santos	Silvinho	Cho Young-cheol
Avispa Fukuoka	Félix Micolta	Won Du-jae	Jon Ander Serantes	Yang Dong-hyen
Ehime FC	Mladen Jutrić	Park Seong-su	Woo Sang-ho
Fagiano Okayama	Léo Mineiro	Hadi Fayyadh	Choi Jung-won	Lee Kyung-tae	Lee Yong-jae	Yu Yong-hyeon
FC Gifu	Junior Barros	Michael	Víctor Ibáñez	Frédéric Bulot	Jan-Ole Sievers	Ham Yeong-jun	Ryan De Vries
JEF United Chiba	Jason Geria	Alan Pinheiro	Hebert	Kléber	Williams Velásquez
Kashiwa Reysol	Cristiano	Gabriel	Júnior Santos	Matheus Sávio	Richardson	Michael Olunga
Kyoto Sanga	Juninho	Renan Mota
Machida Zelvia	Dorian Babunski	Ri Han-jae	Romero Frank	Jeong Chung-geun
Mito HollyHock	Jo	Lelêu
Montedio Yamagata	Alvaro	Jefferson Baiano	Rodolfo
Omiya Ardija	David Babunski	Juanma	Robin Simović
Renofa Yamaguchi	Renan	Dostonbek Tursunov
Tochigi SC	Henik	Mendes	Yuri	Yoo Hyun	Lee Rae-jun
Tokushima Vortis	Diego	Jordy Buijs	Sisi	Chakkit Laptrakul	Zabikhillo Urinboev
Tokyo Verdy	Jaílton Paraíba	Klebinho	Leandro	Walmerson	Ri Yong-jik	Nemanja Kojić	Kang Soo-il
V-Varen Nagasaki	Caio César	Víctor Ibarbo	Lee Jong-ho	Lee Sang-min
Ventforet Kofu	Allano	Dudú	Éder Lima	Peter Utaka
Yokohama FC	Leandro Domingues	Calvin Jong-a-Pin	Ibba Laajab
Zweigen Kanazawa	Allan	Giovanni Clunie
FC Ryukyu	Ramon	Danny Carvajal	Kim Song-sun
Kagoshima United	Lucão	Nildo	Han Yong-thae	Ahn Joon-soo

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion, qualification or relegation
1	Kashiwa Reysol (C, P)	42	25	9	8	85	33	+52	84	Promotion to 2020 J1 League
2	Yokohama FC (P)	42	23	10	9	66	40	+26	79
3	Omiya Ardija	42	20	15	7	62	40	+22	75	Qualification for promotion play-offs[a]
4	Tokushima Vortis	42	21	10	11	67	45	+22	73
5	Ventforet Kofu	42	20	11	11	64	40	+24	71
6	Montedio Yamagata	42	20	10	12	59	40	+19	70
7	Mito HollyHock	42	19	13	10	56	37	+19	70
8	Kyoto Sanga	42	19	11	12	59	56	+3	68
9	Fagiano Okayama	42	18	11	13	49	47	+2	65
10	Albirex Niigata	42	17	11	14	71	52	+19	62
11	Zweigen Kanazawa	42	15	16	11	58	46	+12	61
12	V-Varen Nagasaki	42	17	5	20	57	61	−4	56
13	Tokyo Verdy	42	14	13	15	59	59	0	55
14	FC Ryukyu	42	13	10	19	57	80	−23	49
15	Renofa Yamaguchi	42	13	8	21	54	70	−16	47
16	Avispa Fukuoka	42	12	8	22	39	62	−23	44
17	JEF United Chiba	42	10	13	19	46	64	−18	43
18	Machida Zelvia	42	9	16	17	36	59	−23	43
19	Ehime FC	42	12	6	24	46	62	−16	42
20	Tochigi SC	42	8	16	18	33	53	−20	40
21	Kagoshima United (R)	42	11	7	24	41	73	−32	40	Relegation to 2020 J3 League[b]
22	FC Gifu (R)	42	7	9	26	33	78	−45	30

Source: Meiji Yasuda J2 League
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 2019 J3 League.

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	35	36	37	38	39	40	41	42
Kashiwa Reysol	4	3	3	2	2	4	3	4	4	5	5	7	6	6	6	7	7	7	6	5	3	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Yokohama FC	18	21	17	19	13	18	12	12	15	12	12	14	14	12	13	12	11	14	14	13	12	9	8	7	6	4	5	4	4	2	2	3	3	3	3	4	3	2	3	2	2	2
Omiya Ardija	8	15	9	13	16	10	7	7	3	2	3	3	3	3	3	5	3	2	2	2	5	4	5	5	4	3	3	2	3	4	5	6	5	2	2	3	4	3	2	3	3	3
Tokushima Vortis	16	11	14	17	17	15	9	11	11	14	14	10	12	14	16	14	12	11	10	9	9	11	10	12	9	11	12	10	9	9	8	9	9	9	9	8	7	5	5	6	5	4
Ventforet Kofu	8	4	4	3	3	3	1	2	5	3	4	4	7	4	4	3	4	4	4	6	6	6	7	9	8	7	7	7	7	7	7	8	8	8	6	7	9	8	8	7	6	5
Montedio Yamagata	22	12	6	5	5	5	5	1	2	4	2	2	1	1	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	2	4	4	5	6	4	6	5	6	4	2	2	4	4	2	2	4	4	4	4	6
Mito HollyHock	5	1	2	4	4	2	2	3	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	2	1	3	3	3	4	5	3	3	3	5	6	5	6	5	3	5	4	6	7	5	6	6	6	4	8	7
Kyoto Sanga	8	6	5	8	7	7	11	8	7	9	9	6	5	5	5	4	5	5	5	4	2	1	1	1	2	2	2	3	2	3	6	4	6	5	5	6	5	9	9	8	7	8
Fagiano Okayama	18	12	15	10	6	6	10	10	11	8	8	11	12	11	11	10	8	8	9	11	10	7	6	6	7	8	9	9	10	10	9	7	7	7	8	9	8	7	7	9	9	9
Albirex Niigata	8	5	8	6	8	13	8	9	10	11	10	8	10	13	15	16	14	13	13	12	11	12	13	13	13	9	10	12	13	13	13	13	13	12	12	11	12	11	11	10	11	10
Zweigen Kanazawa	8	16	19	11	15	9	6	6	8	7	6	5	4	7	8	8	9	9	7	8	7	8	11	10	11	10	8	8	8	8	10	10	10	11	11	12	10	10	10	11	10	11
V-Varen Nagasaki	5	7	10	14	11	17	20	20	13	10	10	12	9	8	7	6	6	6	8	7	8	10	9	8	10	12	11	13	12	11	11	11	11	10	10	10	11	12	12	12	12	12
Tokyo Verdy	18	20	16	18	18	14	15	16	17	18	16	13	11	10	10	11	13	12	12	10	14	13	12	11	12	13	13	11	11	12	12	12	12	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13	13
FC Ryukyu	1	2	1	1	1	1	4	5	6	6	7	9	8	9	9	9	10	10	11	14	13	14	14	14	15	17	15	16	16	19	15	16	15	14	15	15	15	15	15	15	14	14
Renofa Yamaguchi	17	22	12	16	21	20	21	21	19	15	17	20	19	20	21	20	20	19	17	16	15	15	15	15	16	14	16	14	15	15	16	14	14	15	14	14	14	14	14	14	15	15
Avispa Fukuoka	21	17	20	22	20	22	18	17	20	17	18	18	20	21	19	18	21	21	21	21	21	19	21	19	19	19	18	19	19	17	19	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	16
JEF United Chiba	8	18	22	21	22	19	13	15	16	19	19	15	17	15	14	15	16	15	15	18	18	17	16	16	14	15	17	17	17	16	18	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	16	16	17
Machida Zelvia	5	14	18	20	14	8	14	14	9	13	13	16	15	16	12	13	15	16	16	15	16	16	17	17	18	18	19	20	18	18	17	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	19	18
Ehime FC	8	7	11	9	10	16	19	13	14	16	15	17	21	17	17	19	17	17	19	17	17	18	18	18	17	16	14	15	14	14	14	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	17	17	19
Tochigi SC	8	19	21	15	12	12	17	18	18	20	20	22	18	19	18	17	19	20	20	20	20	21	20	21	20	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	21	20
Kagoshima United	3	10	13	12	18	21	22	22	22	22	22	21	16	18	20	21	18	18	18	19	19	20	19	20	21	20	20	18	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	20	21
FC Gifu	2	8	7	7	9	11	16	19	21	21	21	19	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22	22

	Leader and qualification for 2020 J1 League
	Runner-up and qualification for 2020 J1 League
	Qualification for promotion play-offs
	Relegation to 2020 J3 League

Source: Meiji Yasuda J2 League

Promotion–Relegation Playoffs

In the first two rounds of the 2019 J.League J1/J2 Play-Offs (2019 J1参入プレーオフ), if the score is tied after 90 minutes, no extra time is played and the winner is the team with the best J2 League ranking. In the final match against the J1 team, if the score is tied after 90 minutes, no extra time is played and the J1 team wins.

1st Round 01 Dec

2nd Round 08 Dec

Final 14 Dec

J2 (4)

Tokushima Vortis

1

J1 (16)

Shonan Bellmare

1

J2 (5)

Ventforet Kofu

1

J2 (4)

Tokushima Vortis

1

J2 (4)

Tokushima Vortis

1

J2 (6)

Montedio Yamagata

0

J2 (3)

Omiya Ardija

0

J2 (6)

Montedio Yamagata

2

1st round

---

Omiya Ardija	0–2	Montedio Yamagata
	Report	Shinozuka 73' (o.g.) Yamagishi 82'

1 December 2019 (2019-12-01)

13:05

NACK5 Stadium Omiya, Saitama

Attendance: 10,942

---

Tokushima Vortis	1–1	Ventforet Kofu
Buijs 37'	Report	Utaka 39'

1 December 2019 (2019-12-01)

13:05

Pocarisweat Stadium, Naruto, Tokushima

Attendance: 8,418

2nd round

---

Tokushima Vortis	1–0	Montedio Yamagata
Kawata 53'	Report

8 December 2019 (2019-12-08)

13:05

Pocarisweat Stadium, Naruto, Tokushima

Attendance: 10,376

Final

---

Shonan Bellmare	1–1	Tokushima Vortis
Matsuda 64'	Report	Suzuki 20'

14 December 2019 (2019-12-14)

13:03

Shonan BMW Stadium Hiratsuka, Hiratsuka, Kanagawa

Attendance: 13,814

Shonan Bellmare remains in J1 League.
Tokushima Vortis remains in J2 League.

Top scorers

As of matches played November 24th, 2019.^[17]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Leonardo	Albirex Niigata	28
2	Michael Olunga	Kashiwa Reysol	27
3	Hiroto Goya	V-Varen Nagasaki	22
4	Peter Utaka	Ventforet Kofu	20
5	Cristiano	Kashiwa Reysol	19
6	Ibba	Yokohama FC	18
	Lee Yong-jae	Fagiano Okayama
8	Kléber	JEF United Chiba	17
	Kazunari Ichimi	Kyoto Sanga
10	Junki Koike	Tokyo Verdy	16
11	Koji Suzuki	FC Ryukyu	15
	Hayato Nakama	Fagiano Okayama

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Albirex Niigata	304,445	20,486	8,777	14,497	−2.8%†
2	JEF United Chiba	203,725	14,950	5,885	9,701	−1.6%†
3	Omiya Ardija	199,040	12,090	5,874	9,478	+2.8%†
4	Kashiwa Reysol	198,887	13,056	6,415	9,471	−16.9%†
5	Fagiano Okayama	198,331	17,288	5,298	9,444	+9.8%†
6	Montedio Yamagata	174,064	18,721	5,415	8,289	+22.5%†
7	Ventforet Kofu	173,742	15,665	4,870	8,273	+12.0%†
8	Kyoto Sanga	164,845	14,069	3,385	7,850	+38.6%†
9	V-Varen Nagasaki	162,476	11,924	4,872	7,737	−31.1%†
10	Yokohama FC	148,280	12,937	2,111	7,061	+15.0%†
11	Avispa Fukuoka	146,639	12,028	3,578	6,983	−21.3%†
12	FC Gifu	139,526	11,787	4,212	6,644	−3.1%†
13	Mito HollyHock	127,824	9,874	3,886	6,087	+23.3%†
14	Kagoshima United	121,493	7,955	4,079	5,785	+43.2%‡
15	Tokushima Vortis	120,460	10,526	3,870	5,736	+14.8%†
16	Renofa Yamaguchi	112,601	12,105	3,662	5,630	−8.1%†
17	Tokyo Verdy	112,789	8,545	2,331	5,371	−9.5%†
18	Zweigen Kanazawa	109,386	13,070	2,543	5,209	+15.0%†
19	Tochigi SC	108,105	8,426	3,725	5,148	−9.0%†
20	FC Ryukyu	100,409	12,019	2,428	4,953	+57.4%‡
21	Machida Zelvia	99,077	8,814	3,009	4,718	−4.0%†
22	Ehime FC	79,373	7,874	2,540	3,780	+19.6%†
	League total	3,315,234	20,486	2,111	7,176	+1.8%†

Updated to games played on 24 November 2019
Source: J. League Data
Notes:
^† Last year in J1 League。^‡ Last year in J3 League。

Notes