2021 J1 League

The 2021 J1 League, also known as the 2021 Meiji Yasuda J1 League (Japanese: 2021 明治安田生命J1リーグ, Hepburn: 2021 Meiji Yasuda Seimei J1 Rīgu) for sponsorship reasons, was the 29th season of the J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. This was seventh season of J1 League as renamed from J. League Division 1. The league began on 26 February and ended on 4 December 2021.

J1 League

Season	2021
Dates	26 February – 4 December
Champions	Kawasaki Frontale 4th J1 title 4th Japanese title
Relegated	Tokushima Vortis Oita Trinita Vegalta Sendai Yokohama FC
Champions League	Kawasaki Frontale Yokohama F. Marinos Vissel Kobe Urawa Red Diamonds
Matches played	380
Goals scored	920 (2.42 per match)
Top goalscorer	Leandro Damião Daizen Maeda (23 goals each)
Biggest home win	Yokohama F. Marinos 8–0 FC Tokyo (6 November 2021)
Biggest away win	Urawa Red Diamonds 0–5 Kawasaki Frontale (21 March 2021)
Highest scoring	Kashima Antlers 5–3 Yokohama F. Marinos (15 May 2021) Yokohama FC 5–3 Tokushima Vortis (16 October 2021) Yokohama F. Marinos 8–0 FC Tokyo (6 November 2021)
Longest winning run	7 matches Kawasaki Frontale Yokohama F. Marinos
Longest unbeaten run	25 matches Kawasaki Frontale
Longest winless run	13 matches Yokohama FC
Longest losing run	7 matches Avispa Fukuoka Oita Trinita
Highest attendance	30,657[1] Yokohama F. Marinos 1–1 Kawasaki Frontale (4 December 2021)
Lowest attendance	1,899[1] Yokohama FC 0–3 Sanfrecce Hiroshima (7 April 2021) (excluding matches played behind closed doors)
Total attendance	2,531,007[1]
Average attendance	6,661[1] (excluding matches played behind closed doors)
← 2020 2022 →

Kawasaki Frontale were the reigning champions, having won their third title in 2020 with four rounds to play.^[2] They successfully retained the title, again with four rounds to play.^[3]

On 20 November 2021, Oita Trinita, Vegalta Sendai, and Yokohama FC were relegated to J2 League with two games to play. On the final matchday, Tokushima Vortis was relegated back to J2 League after just one season.

Changes from the previous season

There were no teams relegated the previous season due to impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[4] Instead, four relegation places were applied for the current season to reduce the total number of teams from 20 back to 18.^[5]

Two teams were promoted from the 2020 J2 League: Tokushima Vortis won the title and clinched a second promotion to J1 (the first came in 2013), while Avispa Fukuoka came second, returning to J1 after five seasons.^[6]

Clubs

Avispa Fukuoka

Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo

Greater Tokyo Area†

Keihanshin‡

Shimizu S-Pulse

Sagan Tosu

Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Tokushima Vortis

Vegalta Sendai

Oita Trinita

Nagoya Grampus

† Greater Tokyo teams

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

‡ Keihanshin teams

• Cerezo Osaka
• Gamba Osaka
• Vissel Kobe

Locations of the 2021 J1 League teams

Kashima Antlers

Kashiwa Reysol

Urawa Red Diamonds

Yokohama FC

FC Tokyo

Kawasaki Frontale

Shonan Bellmare

Yokohama FC

Yokohama F. Marinos

2021 J1 League teams in Greater Tokyo Area

Cerezo Osaka

Gamba Osaka

Vissel Kobe

2021 J1 League teams in Keihanshin

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Previous season rank
Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	Hokkaido	Sapporo Dome Sapporo Atsubetsu Stadium	41,484 20,861	J1 (12th)
Vegalta Sendai	Miyagi Prefecture	Yurtec Stadium Sendai	19,694	J1 (17th)
Kashima Antlers	Ibaraki Prefecture	Kashima Soccer Stadium	40,728	J1 (5th)
Urawa Red Diamonds	Saitama Prefecture	Saitama Stadium 2002	63,700	J1 (10th)
Kashiwa Reysol	Chiba Prefecture	Hitachi Kashiwa Stadium	15,900	J1 (7th)
FC Tokyo	Tokyo	Ajinomoto Stadium	49,970	J1 (6th)
Yokohama FC	Kanagawa Prefecture	Mitsuzawa Stadium	15,046	J1 (15th)
Yokohama F. Marinos		Nissan Stadium	72,327	J1 (9th)
Kawasaki Frontale		Todoroki Stadium	26,232	J1 (1st)
Shonan Bellmare		Lemon Gas Stadium Hiratsuka	18,500	J1 (18th)
Shimizu S-Pulse	Shizuoka Prefecture	IAI Stadium Nihondaira	20,339	J1 (16th)
Nagoya Grampus	Aichi Prefecture	Toyota Stadium	45,000	J1 (3rd)
Gamba Osaka	Osaka Prefecture	Panasonic Stadium Suita	39,694	J1 (2nd)
Cerezo Osaka		Yanmar Stadium	47,853	J1 (4th)
Vissel Kobe	Hyōgo Prefecture	Noevir Stadium Kobe	30,132	J1 (14th)
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshima Prefecture	Edion Stadium	36,894	J1 (8th)
Tokushima Vortis	Tokushima Prefecture	Pocarisweat Stadium	20,441	J2 (1st)
Avispa Fukuoka	Fukuoka Prefecture	Best Denki Stadium	21,562	J2 (2nd)
Sagan Tosu	Saga Prefecture	Ekimae Real Estate Stadium	24,130	J1 (13th)
Oita Trinita	Ōita Prefecture	Showa Denko Dome Oita	40,000	J1 (11th)

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Front shirt sponsor
Avispa Fukuoka	Shigetoshi Hasebe	Hiroyuki Mae	Yonex	Shin Nihon Seiyaku
Cerezo Osaka	Akio Kogiku	Hiroshi Kiyotake	Puma	Yanmar
FC Tokyo	Shinichi Morishita (interim)	Keigo Higashi	New Balance	XFLAG
Gamba Osaka	Masanobu Matsunami (interim)	Genta Miura	Umbro	Panasonic
Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	Mihailo Petrović	Hiroki Miyazawa	Mizuno	Ishiya
Kashima Antlers	Naoki Soma	Kento Misao	Nike	Lixil
Kashiwa Reysol	Nelsinho Baptista	Hidekazu Otani	Yonex	Hitachi
Kawasaki Frontale	Toru Oniki	Shogo Taniguchi	Puma	Fujitsu
Nagoya Grampus	Massimo Ficcadenti	Yuichi Maruyama	Mizuno	Toyota
Oita Trinita	Tomohiro Katanosaka	Shun Takagi	Puma	Daihatsu Kyushu
Sagan Tosu	Kim Myung-hwi	Eduardo	New Balance	Kimura Information Technology
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Kentaro Sawada (interim)	Sho Sasaki	Nike	EDION
Shimizu S-Pulse	Hiroaki Hiraoka	Ryo Takeuchi	Puma	Suzuyo
Shonan Bellmare	Satoshi Yamaguchi	Takuya Okamoto	Penalty	Meldia
Tokushima Vortis	Dani Poyatos	Ken Iwao	Mizuno	Pocari Sweat
Urawa Red Diamonds	Ricardo Rodriguez	Shusaku Nishikawa	Nike	Polus
Vegalta Sendai	Makoto Teguramori	Simão Mate Junior	Adidas	Iris Ohyama
Vissel Kobe	Atsuhiro Miura	Andrés Iniesta	Asics	Rakuten
Yokohama FC	Tomonobu Hayakawa	Yuta Minami	Soccer Junky	Onodera Group
Yokohama F. Marinos	Kevin Muscat	Takuya Kida	Adidas	Nissan

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Yokohama FC	Takahiro Shimotaira[7]	Sacked	7 April 2021	Tomonobu Hayakawa[8]	8 April 2021
Kashima Antlers	Antônio Carlos Zago[9]		14 April 2021	Naoki Soma[10]	14 April 2021
Gamba Osaka	Tsuneyasu Miyamoto[11]		13 May 2021	Masanobu Matsunami (interim)[11][a]	14 May 2021
Yokohama F. Marinos	Ange Postecoglou[13]	Signed by Celtic	10 June 2021	Hideki Matsunaga (caretaker)[14]	10 June 2021
Yokohama F. Marinos	Hideki Matsunaga[15]	End of caretaker spell	18 July 2021	Kevin Muscat[15]	18 July 2021
Cerezo Osaka	Levir Culpi[16]	Sacked	26 August 2021	Akio Kogiku[17]	26 August 2021
Shonan Bellmare	Bin Ukishima[18]	Resigned	31 August 2021	Satoshi Yamaguchi[19]	1 September 2021
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshi Jofuku[20]		26 October 2021	Kentaro Sawada (interim)[20]	26 October 2021
Shimizu S-Pulse	Miguel Ángel Lotina[21]	Sacked	4 November 2021	Hiroaki Hiraoka[22]	4 November 2021
FC Tokyo	Kenta Hasegawa[23]	Resigned	7 November 2021	Shinichi Morishita (interim)[24]	10 November 2021

1. Matsunami was initially appointed as caretaker manager, but he was made interim manager on 1 June 2021.^[12]

Foreign players

As of 2019 season, there are no more restrictions on a number of signed foreign players, but clubs could only register up to five foreign players for a single match-day squad.^[25] Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia and Qatar) were exempted from these restrictions.

• Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
• Player's name in italics indicates the player has Japanese nationality in addition to their FIFA nationality, or is exempt from being treated as a foreign player due to having been born in Japan and being enrolled in, or having graduated from an approved type of school in the country.^[26]

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6	Player 7	Player 8	Former players
Avispa Fukuoka	Jordy Croux	Bruno Mendes	Cauê	Douglas Grolli	John Mary	Carlos Gutiérrez	Juanma	Emil Salomonsson
Cerezo Osaka	Adam Taggart	Tiago Pagnussat	Kim Jin-hyeon	Đặng Văn Lâm					Dankler
FC Tokyo	Adaílton	Bruno Uvini	Diego Oliveira	Leandro	Joan Oumari
Gamba Osaka	Leandro Pereira	Patric	Tiago Alves	Wellington Silva	Ju Se-jong	Kim Young-gwon	Shin Won-ho
Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	Douglas Oliveira	Lucas Fernandes	Jay Bothroyd	Milan Tučić	Chanathip Songkrasin				Anderson Lopes Gabriel Okechukwu Kim Min-tae
Kashima Antlers	Arthur Caíke	Bueno	Diego Pituca	Everaldo	Juan Alano	Léo Silva	Kwoun Sun-tae
Kashiwa Reysol	Cristiano	Dodi	Emerson Santos	Matheus Sávio	Richardson	Rodrigo Angelotti	Ippey Shinozuka	Kim Seung-gyu	Pedro Raúl
Kawasaki Frontale	Jesiel	João Schmidt	Leandro Damião	Marcinho	Jung Sung-ryong	Lee Kyung-tae
Nagoya Grampus	Mitchell Langerak	Gabriel Xavier	Mateus	Jakub Świerczok	Kim Min-tae
Oita Trinita	Henrique Trevisan	Matheus Pereira
Sagan Tosu	Eduardo	Ismael Dunga	Chikeluba Ofoedu	Ryang Yong-gi	Hwang Seok-ho	Park Il-gyu	Ueom Ye-hoon
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Douglas Vieira	Ezequiel	Júnior Santos	Rhayner
Shimizu S-Pulse	Carlinhos Júnior	Elsinho	Renato Augusto	Ronaldo	Thiago Santana	Valdo	Benjamin Kololli	Erick Noriega	William Matheus
Shonan Bellmare	Welinton Júnior	Wellington	Tarik Elyounoussi						Riuler
Tokushima Vortis	Cacá	Diego	Mushaga Bakenga	Dušan Cvetinović					Cristian Battocchio
Urawa Red Diamonds	Thomas Deng	Alexander Scholz	Kasper Junker
Vegalta Sendai	Felippe Cardoso	Foguinho	Emmanuel Oti	Jakub Słowik	Nedeljko Stojišić				Quenten Martinus Simão Mate Junior Isaac Cuenca
Vissel Kobe	Thomas Vermaelen	Douglas	Lincoln	Andrés Iniesta	Bojan Krkić	Sergi Samper			Ayub Masika
Yokohama FC	Arthur Silva	Felipe Vizeu	Gabriel	Kléber	Maguinho	Saulo Mineiro	Svend Brodersen	Han Ho-gang	Calvin Jong-a-Pin
Yokohama F. Marinos	Élber	Léo Ceará	Marcos Júnior	Thiago Martins	Theerathon Bunmathan

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Kawasaki Frontale (C)	38	28	8	2	81	28	+53	92	Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage
2	Yokohama F. Marinos	38	24	7	7	82	35	+47	79
3	Vissel Kobe	38	21	10	7	62	36	+26	73	Qualification for the AFC Champions League play-off round
4	Kashima Antlers	38	21	6	11	62	36	+26	69
5	Nagoya Grampus	38	19	9	10	44	30	+14	66
6	Urawa Red Diamonds	38	18	9	11	45	38	+7	63[a]	Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage[b]
7	Sagan Tosu	38	16	11	11	43	35	+8	59
8	Avispa Fukuoka	38	14	12	12	42	37	+5	54
9	FC Tokyo	38	15	8	15	49	53	−4	53
10	Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	38	14	9	15	48	50	−2	51
11	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	38	12	13	13	44	42	+2	49
12	Cerezo Osaka	38	13	9	16	47	51	−4	48
13	Gamba Osaka	38	12	8	18	33	49	−16	44
14	Shimizu S-Pulse	38	10	12	16	37	54	−17	42
15	Kashiwa Reysol	38	12	5	21	37	56	−19	41
16	Shonan Bellmare	38	7	16	15	36	41	−5	37[a]
17	Tokushima Vortis (R)	38	10	6	22	34	55	−21	36	Relegation to the J2 League
18	Oita Trinita (R)	38	9	8	21	31	55	−24	35
19	Vegalta Sendai (R)	38	5	13	20	31	62	−31	28
20	Yokohama FC (R)	38	6	9	23	32	77	−45	27

Source: Meiji Yasuda J1 League, J.League Data Site
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head goal scored; 7) Fair-play points.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegation to the J2 League
Notes:

1. The JPFL awarded a 3–0 win to Shonan Bellmare after Urawa Red Diamonds fielded Zion Suzuki who was an ineligible player. The original score was 3–2 for Shonan Bellmare.^[27][28]
2. Qualified as the 2021 Emperor's Cup winners.

Results table

Home \ Away	ANT	AVI	BEL	CER	CON	FMA	FRO	GAM	GRA	REY	RED	SAG	SFR	SSP	TOK	TRI	VEG	VIS	VOR	YFC
Kashima Antlers	—	0–3	3–1	1–0	4–0	5–3	1–2	3–1	0–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–3	3–0	0–0	1–1	1–1	3–0	1–2
Avispa Fukuoka	1–0	—	2–1	2–1	1–2	1–3	1–0	0–1	1–2	1–0	2–0	3–0	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	2–2	1–2	3–0	1–1
Shonan Bellmare	1–2	1–1	—	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–1	0–0	0–0	2–4	0–0	0–1	0–0	1–1	0–1	2–0	3–1	0–0	0–1	2–1
Cerezo Osaka	1–2	2–2	1–5	—	0–2	2–1	1–4	1–1	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	2–1	3–3	1–0	0–0	1–1	1–2	2–1
Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	2–2	0–0	1–1	0–3	—	1–3	0–2	0–2	0–2	3–1	2–1	0–0	0–2	2–0	3–2	2–0	2–1	3–4	1–0	5–1
Yokohama F. Marinos	0–2	2–0	1–1	1–0	2–1	—	1–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	3–0	2–0	3–3	2–1	8–0	5–1	5–0	2–0	1–0	5–0
Kawasaki Frontale	2–1	3–1	2–1	3–2	2–0	2–0	—	4–1	3–2	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	1–0	2–0	2–2	3–1	2–0	3–1
Gamba Osaka	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–1	1–5	2–3	0–2	—	1–3	2–1	0–3	1–0	1–2	0–0	0–0	2–1	2–3	1–2	2–1	2–0
Nagoya Grampus	0–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	0–4	2–0	—	2–0	0–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	0–1	2–2	3–0	3–0
Kashiwa Reysol	2–1	0–0	2–1	1–0	1–2	1–2	0–0	1–0	0–1	—	0–2	1–3	0–3	1–2	0–4	2–3	1–1	1–2	5–1	2–1
Urawa Red Diamonds	2–1	2–0	0–3[a]	2–0	0–0	2–1	0–5	1–1	0–0	5–1	—	2–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	3–2	2–0	2–0	1–0	2–0
Sagan Tosu	2–1	0–0	1–1	3–3	1–0	0–4	3–1	0–1	3–1	2–0	2–0	—	0–0	2–1	1–0	0–0	5–0	0–2	2–0	3–0
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	1–4	1–2	0–1	0–1	2–1	1–3	1–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–2	1–1	—	1–0	1–2	4–1	1–1	1–1	0–1	0–1
Shimizu S-Pulse	0–4	2–2	1–1	2–1	2–2	2–2	0–2	0–1	0–3	0–1	0–2	0–0	1–0	—	3–0	1–0	2–1	0–2	0–3	1–1
FC Tokyo	1–2	0–0	3–2	3–2	2–1	0–3	2–4	1–0	1–1	0–1	1–2	1–2	0–0	4–0	—	3–0	2–1	2–3	0–2	4–0
Oita Trinita	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	2–3	0–3	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–3	1–0	1–1	—	2–0	1–3	1–1	2–0
Vegalta Sendai	0–1	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	0–0	1–5	0–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–1	2–0	2–3	1–2	2–1	—	0–2	0–1	0–0
Vissel Kobe	1–0	1–0	3–1	1–1	1–0	0–2	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–2	5–1	1–1	3–0	1–1	0–1	1–0	4–2	—	1–0	5–0
Tokushima Vortis	0–1	1–2	1–1	0–1	1–2	0–1	1–3	2–1	0–0	0–1	1–2	3–0	2–4	2–2	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	—	2–1
Yokohama FC	0–3	1–1	2–0	1–4	0–1	2–2	0–2	3–1	2–0	1–1	0–2	0–0	0–3	1–1	0–1	1–2	2–2	0–2	5–3	—

Source: Meiji Yasuda J1 League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

1. The JPFL awarded 3–0 win to Shonan Bellmare after Urawa Red Diamonds fielded Zion Suzuki which was an ineligible player. The original score was 3–2 for Shonan Bellmare.^[29][30]

Season statistics

Scoring

Top scorers

Further information: J.League Top Scorer

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[31]
1	Leandro Damião	Kawasaki Frontale	23
	Daizen Maeda	Yokohama F. Marinos
3	Kyogo Furuhashi	Vissel Kobe	15
4	Ayase Ueda	Kashima Antlers	14
5	Diego Oliveira	FC Tokyo	13
	Patric	Gamba Osaka
	Thiago Santana	Shimizu S-Pulse
8	Anderson Lopes	Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	12
	Ado Onaiwu	Yokohama F. Marinos
10	Léo Ceará	Yokohama F. Marinos	10
	Ryotaro Araki	Kashima Antlers
	Yu Kobayashi	Kawasaki Frontale

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date
Anderson Lopes	Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	Vissel Kobe	3–4 (H)[32][33]	20 March 2021
Ado Onaiwu	Yokohama F. Marinos	FC Tokyo	3–0 (A)[34]	1 May 2021
Shoma Doi	Kashima Antlers	Yokohama F. Marinos	5–3 (H)[35]	15 May 2021
Kyogo Furuhashi	Vissel Kobe	Yokohama FC	5–0 (H)[36]	23 June 2021
Daizen Maeda	Yokohama F. Marinos	Oita Trinita	5–1 (H)[37]	15 August 2021
Léo Ceará	Yokohama F. Marinos	Vegalta Sendai	5–0 (H)[38]	21 August 2021
Douglas Vieira	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Kashiwa Reysol	3–0 (A)[39]	18 September 2021
Daizen Maeda	Yokohama F. Marinos	FC Tokyo	8–0 (H)[40]	6 November 2021
Patric	Gamba Osaka	Oita Trinita	3–2 (A)[41]	7 November 2021

Top assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists[42]
1	Miki Yamane	Kawasaki Frontale	12
2	Kota Mizunuma	Yokohama F. Marinos	9
3	Leandro Damião	Kawasaki Frontale	8
	Yuki Soma	Nagoya Grampus
5	Ryotaro Araki	Kashima Antlers	7
	Tatsuki Seko	Yokohama FC
	Yoshinori Muto	Vissel Kobe
8	Élber	Yokohama F. Marinos	6
	Hokuto Shimoda	Yokohama F. Marinos
	Ryo Hatsuse	Vissel Kobe
	Teruhito Nakagawa	Yokohama F. Marinos
	Yusuke Maruhashi	Cerezo Osaka
	Yuta Higuchi	Sagan Tosu
	Emil Salomonsson	Avispa Fukuoka
	Chanathip Songkrasin	Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 9^[43]
  • Douglas Grolli (Avispa Fukuoka)
• Most red cards: 2^[44]
  • Takumi Kamijima (Kashiwa Reysol)
  • Kim Min-tae (Nagoya Grampus)
  • Takaaki Shichi (Avispa Fukuoka)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 49^[45]
  • Avispa Fukuoka
  • Kashima Antlers
• Most red cards: 3^[46]
  • FC Tokyo
  • Kashima Antlers
  • Sagan Tosu
  • Yokohama F. Marinos

See also

• J.League MVP of the month