2022 J2 League

The 2022 J2 League, also known as the 2022 Meiji Yasuda J2 League (Japanese: 2022 明治安田生命J2リーグ, Hepburn: 2022 Meiji Yasuda Seimei J2 Rīgu) for sponsorship reasons, was the 24th season of the J2 League, the second-tier Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1999.

J2 League

Season	2022
Dates	19 February – 23 October
Champions	Albirex Niigata 2nd J2 title 2nd D2 title
Promoted	Albirex Niigata Yokohama FC
Relegated	FC Ryukyu Iwate Grulla Morioka
Champions League	Ventforet Kofu
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,136 (2.46 per match)
Top goalscorer	Koki Ogawa (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Tokushima Vortis 5–0 Iwate Grulla Morioka (20 April 2022)
Biggest away win	Thespakusatsu Gunma 1–6 Renofa Yamaguchi (24 September 2022)
Highest scoring	FC Ryukyu 2–5 Tokyo Verdy (30 March 2022) Albirex Niigata 4−3 Tokyo Verdy (8 May 2022) Ventforet Kofu 5–2 FC Ryukyu (6 August 2022) Roasso Kumamoto 3–4 Yokohama FC (23 October 2022)
Longest winning run	6 matches Tokyo Verdy
Longest unbeaten run	19 matches Tokushima Vortis
Longest winless run	12 matches Blaublitz Akita
Longest losing run	7 matches Iwate Grulla Morioka Ventforet Kofu
Highest attendance	32,979 Albirex Niigata 3–0 Vegalta Sendai (8 October 2022)
Lowest attendance	608 FC Ryukyu 0–1 Blaublitz Akita (3 September 2022)
Total attendance	2,318,829
Average attendance	5,019
← 2021 2023 →

Clubs

Albirex Niigata

Blaublitz Akita

Fagiano Okayama

Zweigen Kanazawa

Renofa Yamaguchi

V-Varen Nagasaki

FC Ryukyu

Yamagata

Ventforet Kofu

Roasso Kumamoto

Iwate Grulla Morioka

Oita Trinita

Tokushima Vortis

Vegalta Sendai

Greater Tokyo Area

† Greater Tokyo teams
Mito HollyHock
JEF United Ichihara Chiba
Omiya Ardija
FC Machida Zelvia
Tokyo Verdy
Yokohama FC
Tochigi SC
Thespakusatsu Gunma

Locations of the 2022 J2 League teams

Mito HollyHock

JEF United Ichihara Chiba

Omiya Ardija

Machida Zelvia

Tokyo Verdy

Tochigi SC

Thespakusatsu Gunma

Yokohama FC

Greater Tokyo Area J2 League teams

Club name	Hometown	Stadium	Capacity	Previous season rank	License
Albirex Niigata	Niigata & Seiro, Niigata	Denka Big Swan Stadium	42,300	J2 (6th)	J1
Blaublitz Akita	Akita	Soyu Stadium	20,125	J2 (13th)	J1
Fagiano Okayama	All cities/towns in Okayama[a]	City Light Stadium	20,000	J2 (11th)	J1
Iwate Grulla Morioka	All cities/towns in Iwate	Iwagin Stadium & Kitakami Stadium	4,946	J3 (2nd)	J1
JEF United Chiba	Chiba & Ichihara, Chiba	Fukuda Denshi Arena	18,500	J2 (8th)	J1
Machida Zelvia	Machida, Tokyo	Machida Athletic Stadium	10,600	J2 (5th)	J1
Mito HollyHock	Cities/towns in Ibaraki[b]	K's denki Stadium Mito	12,000	J2 (10th)	J1
Montedio Yamagata	All cities/towns in Yamagata[c]	ND Soft Stadium	20,315	J2 (7th)	J1
Oita Trinita	Ōita Prefecture	Showa Denko Dome Oita	40,000	J1 (18th)	J1
Omiya Ardija	Saitama, Saitama	NACK5 Stadium Omiya	15,500	J2 (16th)	J1
Renofa Yamaguchi	All cities/towns in Yamaguchi	Yamaguchi Ishin Park Stadium	20,000	J2 (15th)	J1
Roasso Kumamoto	Kumamoto, Kumamoto	Egao Kenko Stadium	32,000	J3 (1st)	J1
FC Ryukyu	All cities/towns in Okinawa[d]	Tapic Kenso Hiyagon Stadium	25,000	J2 (9th)	J1
Thespakusatsu Gunma	All cities/towns in Gunma[e]	Shoda Shoyu Stadium Gunma	15,253	J2 (18th)	J1
Tochigi SC	Utsunomiya, Tochigi	Kanseki Stadium Tochigi	25,244	J2 (14th)	J1
Tokushima Vortis	Tokushima Prefecture	Pocarisweat Stadium	20,441	J1 (17th)	J1
Tokyo Verdy	All cities/towns in Tokyo	Ajinomoto Stadium	49,970	J2 (12th)	J1
V-Varen Nagasaki	All cities/towns in Nagasaki Prefecture[f]	Nagasaki Athletic Stadium	20,246	J2 (4th)	J1
Vegalta Sendai	Miyagi Prefecture	Yurtec Stadium Sendai	19,694	J1 (19th)	J1
Ventforet Kofu	All cities/towns in Yamanashi Prefecture[g]	Yamanashi Chuo Bank Stadium	17,000	J2 (3rd)	J1
Yokohama FC	Kanagawa Prefecture	Mitsuzawa Stadium	15,046	J1 (20th)	J1
Zweigen Kanazawa	All cities/towns in Ishikawa[h]	Ishikawa Kanazawa Stadium	20,000	J2 (17th)	J1

1. centering on Okayama, Kurashiki, Tsuyama
2. Mito, Hitachinaka, Kasama, Naka, Omitama, Ibaraki, Shirosato, Oarai, Tokai
3. centering on Yamagata, Tendo, Tsuruoka
4. centering on Okinawa
5. centering on Kusatsu and Maebashi
6. centering on Nagasaki and Isahaya
7. centering on Kofu and Nirasaki
8. centering on Kanazawa, Nonoichi, Kahoku, Tsubata, Tsubata

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer
Albirex Niigata	Rikizo Matsuhashi	Yuto Horigome	Adidas
Blaublitz Akita	Ken Yoshida[1]	Shuto Inaba	ATHLETA
Fagiano Okayama	Takashi Kiyama	Junki Kanayama	Penalty
Iwate Grulla Morioka	Yutaka Akita	Yusuke Muta	Kelme
JEF United Chiba	Yoon Jong-hwan	Daisuke Suzuki	Hummel
Machida Zelvia	Ranko Popović	Taiki Hirato	SVOLME
Mito HollyHock	Tadahiro Akiba[2]	Ryo Niizato	soccer junky
Montedio Yamagata	Peter Cklamovski	Shuto Minami	Penalty
Oita Trinita	Takahiro Shimotaira	Hokuto Shimoda	Puma
Omiya Ardija	Naoki Soma	Yuta Mikado	Under Armour
Renofa Yamaguchi	Yoshihiro Natsuka	Joji Ikegami	Finta
Roasso Kumamoto	Takeshi Oki	So Kawahara	Puma
FC Ryukyu	Nacho Fernández	Ryohei Okazaki	sfida
Thespakusatsu Gunma	Tsuyoshi Otsuki	Hajime Hosogai	Kelme
Tochigi SC	Yu Tokisaki	Yuki Nishiya	ATHLETA
Tokushima Vortis	Dani Poyatos	Hidenori Ishii	Mizuno
Tokyo Verdy	Hiroshi Jofuku	Tomohiro Taira	ATHLETA
V-Varen Nagasaki	Fábio Carille	Caio César	Umbro
Vegalta Sendai	Akira Ito	Ryang Yong-gi	Adidas
Ventforet Kofu	Tatsuma Yoshida	Sho Araki	Mizuno
Yokohama FC	Shuhei Yomoda	Tatsuya Hasegawa	Soccer Junky
Zweigen Kanazawa	Masaaki Yanagishita	Tomonobu Hiroi	Hummel

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing	Manner	Exit date		Position in table	Incoming	Incoming date		Ref.
			Announced on	Departed on			Announced on	Arrived on
Omiya Ardija	Masahiro Shimoda	Sacked	26 May 2022	26 May 2022	20th	Naoki Soma	26 May 2022	28 May 2022	[3]
FC Ryukyu	Tetsuhiro Kina	Sacked	8 June 2022	8 June 2022	22nd	Kazuki Kuranuki (caretaker)	9 June 2022	9 June 2022	[4]
V-Varen Nagasaki	Hiroshi Matsuda	Sacked	12 June 2022	12 June 2022	5th	Takeo Harada (caretaker)	12 June 2022	12 June 2022	[5]
	Takeo Harada	End of caretaker spell	12 June 2022	1 July 2022	TBD	Fábio Carille	12 June 2022	2 July 2022
FC Ryukyu	Kazuki Kuranuki	End of caretaker spell	13 June 2022	13 June 2022	22nd	Nacho Fernández	13 June 2022	14 June 2022	[6]
Tokyo Verdy	Takafumi Hori	Sacked	13 June 2022	13 June 2022	14th	Hiroshi Jofuku	13 June 2022	14 June 2022	[7][8]
Vegalta Sendai	Masato Harasaki	Sacked	6 September 2022	6 September 2022	4th	Akira Ito	6 September 2022	6 September 2022	[9][10]

Foreign players

As of 2022 season, there are no more restrictions on a number of signed foreign players, but clubs can only register up to five foreign players for a single match-day squad.^[11] Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia and Qatar) are exempt from these restrictions.

• Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the midseason 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 school in the country.^[12]

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6	Player 7	Player 8	Left midseason
Albirex Niigata	Thomas Deng	Kazuyoshi Shimabuku	Alexandre Guedes	Ippei Shinozuka
Blaublitz Akita
Fagiano Okayama	Tiago Alves	Han Eui-kwon	Mitchell Duke	Stefan Mauk	Jordy Buijs				Yu Yong-hyeon
Iwate Grulla Morioka	Brenner	Cristiano	Lucas Morelatto	Kim Jong-min	Jang Hyun-soo	Paul Tabinas	Han Yong-thae	Kenneth Otabor
JEF United Chiba	Daniel	Ricardo Lopes	Tiago Leonço	Jang Min-gyu					Saldanha
Machida Zelvia	Dudu	Vinícius Araújo	Jong Tae-se
Mito HollyHock	Leonard Brodersen	Jefferson Tabinas
Montedio Yamagata	Dellatorre	Tiago Alves
Oita Trinita	Eduardo Neto	Matheus Pereira	Samuel
Omiya Ardija
Renofa Yamaguchi	Renan
Roasso Kumamoto	Leo Kenta	Thales
FC Ryukyu	Kelvin	Álex Barrera	Danny Carvajal	Ri Yong-jik	Sittichok Paso	Phạm Văn Luân	Vũ Hồng Quân	Sadam Sulley	Vinícius Faria
Thespakusatsu Gunma
Tochigi SC	Juninho	Carlos Gutiérrez							Ömer Tokaç
Tokushima Vortis	Cacá	Elsinho	Rio Hyon	Oriola Sunday	Mushaga Bakenga	José Aurelio Suárez
Tokyo Verdy	Matheus Vidotto	Pratama Arhan	Byron Vásquez
V-Varen Nagasaki	Caio César	Cristiano	Edigar Junio	Kaique	Clayson	Víctor Ibarbo
Vegalta Sendai	Felippe Cardoso	Foguinho	Kim Tae-hyeon	Ryang Yong-gi	Leandro Desábato	Nedeljko Stojišić
Ventforet Kofu	Renato	Willian Lira	Eduardo Mancha	Foguete	Getúlio	Igor Sartori			Bruno Paraíba
Yokohama FC	Gabriel	Kléber	Rhayner	Saulo Mineiro	Marcelo Ryan	Mateus Moraes	Svend Brodersen		Felipe Vizeu
Zweigen Kanazawa	Taiga Son

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Albirex Niigata (C, P)	42	25	9	8	73	35	+38	84	Promotion to the J1 League
2	Yokohama FC (P)	42	23	11	8	66	49	+17	80
3	Fagiano Okayama	42	20	12	10	61	42	+19	72	Qualification for the promotion play-offs
4	Roasso Kumamoto	42	18	13	11	58	48	+10	67
5	Oita Trinita	42	17	15	10	62	52	+10	66
6	Montedio Yamagata	42	17	13	12	62	40	+22	64
7	Vegalta Sendai	42	18	9	15	67	59	+8	63
8	Tokushima Vortis	42	13	23	6	48	35	+13	62
9	Tokyo Verdy	42	16	13	13	62	55	+7	61
10	JEF United Chiba	42	17	10	15	44	42	+2	61
11	V-Varen Nagasaki	42	15	11	16	50	54	−4	56
12	Blaublitz Akita	42	15	11	16	39	46	−7	56
13	Mito HollyHock	42	14	12	16	47	46	+1	54
14	Zweigen Kanazawa	42	13	13	16	56	69	−13	52
15	Machida Zelvia	42	14	9	19	51	50	+1	51
16	Renofa Yamaguchi	42	13	11	18	51	54	−3	50
17	Tochigi SC	42	11	16	15	32	40	−8	49
18	Ventforet Kofu (X)	42	11	15	16	47	54	−7	48	Qualification for the AFC Champions League group stage[a]
19	Omiya Ardija	42	10	13	19	48	64	−16	43
20	Thespakusatsu Gunma	42	11	9	22	36	57	−21	42
21	FC Ryukyu (R)	42	8	13	21	41	65	−24	37	Relegation to J3 League
22	Iwate Grulla Morioka (R)	42	9	7	26	35	80	−45	34

Source: Meiji Yasuda J2 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; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated; (X) Qualified for the AFC Champions League.
Notes:

1. Qualified as the 2022 Emperor's Cup winners.

Promotion–relegation playoffs

Main article: 2022 J1 League § Promotion–relegation playoffs

First round 30 October

Second round 6 November

Final 13 November

J2 (3)

Fagiano Okayama

0

J1 (16)

Kyoto Sanga

1

J2 (6)

Montedio Yamagata

3

J2 (6)

Montedio Yamagata

2

J2 (4)

Roasso Kumamoto

1

J2 (4)

Roasso Kumamoto

2

J2 (4)

Roasso Kumamoto

2

J2 (5)

Oita Trinita

2

Results table

Season statistics

As of 31 October 2022

Goal contributions

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[13]
1	Koki Ogawa	Yokohama FC	26
2	Tiago Alves	Fagiano Okayama	16
3	Masato Nakayama	Vegalta Sendai	14
	Toshiki Takahashi	Roasso Kumamoto
5	Masamichi Hayashi	Zweigen Kanazawa	13
	Ryoga Sato	Tokyo Verdy

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets[14]
1	Ryosuke Kojima	Albirex Niigata	18
2	Masaaki Goto	Montedio Yamagata	17
3	Shota Arai	JEF United Chiba	14
4	José Aurelio Suárez	Tokushima Vortis	13
	Shuhei Kawata	Tochigi SC
	Yudai Tanaka	Blaublitz Akita

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 9^[15]
  • Kota Fukatsu (Machida Zelvia)

• Most red cards: 2 ^[16]
  • Carlos Gutiérrez (Tochigi SC)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 67 ^[17] (Iwate Grulla Morioka)
• Most red cards: 4^[18] (Mito HollyHock)

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Monthly MVP		Goal of the Month		References
	Manager	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club
February/March	Shuhei Yomoda	Yokohama FC	Koki Ogawa	Yokohama FC	Tiago Alves	Fagiano Okayama	[19][20][21]
April	Masato Harasaki	Vegalta Sendai	Ryoma Kida	Vegalta Sendai	Kota Yamada	Montedio Yamagata	[22][23][24]
May	Rikizo Matsuhashi	Albirex Niigata	Shunsuke Mito	Albirex Niigata	Kazuma Yamaguchi	Machida Zelvia	[25][26][27]
June	Takashi Kiyama	Fagiano Okayama	Koki Ogawa	Yokohama FC	Hiroki Noda	Montedio Yamagata	[28][29][30]
July	Takeshi Oki	Roasso Kumamoto	Edigar Junio	V-Varen Nagasaki	Naohiro Sugiyama	Roasso Kumamoto	[31][32][33]
August	Takashi Kiyama	Fagiano Okayama	Jordy Buijs	Fagiano Okayama	Wataru Tanaka	Renofa Yamaguchi	[34][35][36]
September	Takeshi Oki	Roasso Kumamoto	Hiroya Matsumoto	Zweigen Kanazawa	Kazuma Takai	Renofa Yamaguchi	[37]
October/November	Hiroshi Jofuku	Tokyo Verdy	Koki Ogawa	Yokohama FC	Ryotaro Ito	Albirex Niigata	[38]

See also

• Japan Football Association (JFA)
• 2022 Nadeshiko League
• 2022 Blaublitz Akita season
• 2022 Mito HollyHock season
• 2022 Vegalta Sendai season