2023 J2 League

The 2023 J2 League, also known as the 2023 Meiji Yasuda J2 League (Japanese: 2023 明治安田生命J2リーグ, Hepburn: 2023 Meiji Yasuda Seimei J2 Rīgu) for sponsorship reasons, was the 25th season of the J2 League, the second-tier Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1999.

J2 League

Season	2023
Dates	18 February – 12 November
Champions	Machida Zelvia
Promoted	Machida Zelvia Júbilo Iwata Tokyo Verdy
Relegated	Omiya Ardija Zweigen Kanazawa
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,179 (2.55 per match)
Top goalscorer	Juanma (26 goals)
Biggest home win	Shimizu S-Pulse 9–1 Iwaki FC (7 May)
Biggest away win	Renofa Yamaguchi 0–6 Shimizu S-Pulse (16 April) V-Varen Nagasaki 0–6 Machida Zelvia (23 September) Iwaki FC 1–7 Shimizu S-Pulse (21 October)
Highest scoring	Shimizu S-Pulse 9–1 Iwaki FC (7 May)
Longest winning run	JEF United Chiba (7 matches)
Longest unbeaten run	Shimizu S-Pulse (13 matches)
Longest winless run	Omiya Ardija (15 matches)
Longest losing run	Montedio Yamagata (8 matches)
Highest attendance	47,628 Shimizu S-Pulse 2–2 JEF United Chiba (16 July)
Lowest attendance	1,493 Thespakusatsu Gunma 1–1 Roasso Kumamoto (5 July)
Total attendance	3,189,482[1]
Average attendance	6,904
← 2022 2024 →

Overview

This was the last season to be played with 22 participating clubs, as the number of clubs was reduced to 20 from the 2024 season.^[2]

FC Ryukyu and Iwate Grulla Morioka were relegated to the 2023 J3 League, finishing the previous J2 League season as 21st and 22nd-placed team, respectively.

Relegated from J1, both Shimizu S-Pulse and Júbilo Iwata were the only Shizuoka-based J1 teams last season. Now, they return to J2 after spending six and one season, respectively, at the top flight.

J3 winners Iwaki FC and runners-up Fujieda MYFC were both promoted from the J3 League. Both teams make their debut in J2 League, with Iwaki being promoted to the J2 just a season after being promoted to J3.

For the first time ever since the 2004 season, three teams from the same prefecture participate in the J2 League, as Shimizu S-Pulse, Júbilo Iwata and Fujieda MYFC are all based on Shizuoka Prefecture.

Participating clubs

Blaublitz Akita

Fagiano Okayama

Iwaki FC

Yamagata

Oita Trinita

Renofa

Roasso Kumamoto

Tokushima Vortis

Vegalta Sendai

Ventforet Kofu

V-Varen

Zweigen Kanazawa

Greater Tokyo Area

Shizuoka Prefecture

§ Shizuoka teams
Fujieda MYFC
Júbilo Iwata
Shimizu S-Pulse

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

Locations of the 2023 J2 League teams

Mito HollyHock

JEF United Chiba

Omiya Ardija

Machida Zelvia

Tokyo Verdy

Tochigi SC

Th. Gunma

Greater Tokyo Area J2 League teams

Fujieda MYFC

Júbilo Iwata

Shimizu S-Pulse

Shizuoka Prefecture J2 League teams

Club name	Hometown	Stadium	Capacity	Previous season rank	License
Blaublitz Akita	Akita	Soyu Stadium	20,125	J2 (12th)	J1
Fagiano Okayama	All cities/towns in Okayama[a]	City Light Stadium	20,000	J2 (3rd)	J1
Fujieda MYFC	Cities/towns in Shizuoka Prefecture	Fujieda Soccer Stadium	13,000	J3 (2nd)	J1
Iwaki FC	Iwaki and Futaba District, Fukushima	Iwaki Green Field	5,600	J3 (1st)	J1
JEF United Chiba	Chiba & Ichihara, Chiba	Fukuda Denshi Arena	18,500	J2 (10th)	J1
Júbilo Iwata	Iwata, Shizuoka	Yamaha Stadium	15,156	J1 (18th)	J1
Machida Zelvia	Machida, Tokyo	Machida Athletic Stadium	10,600	J2 (15th)	J1
Mito HollyHock	All cities/towns in central and northern Ibaraki[b]	K's denki Stadium Mito	12,000	J2 (13th)	J1
Montedio Yamagata	All cities/towns in Yamagata[c]	ND Soft Stadium	20,315	J2 (6th)	J1
Oita Trinita	Ōita Prefecture	Showa Denko Dome Oita	40,000	J2 (5th)	J1
Omiya Ardija	Saitama, Saitama	NACK5 Stadium Omiya	15,500	J2 (19th)	J1
Renofa Yamaguchi	All cities/towns in Yamaguchi	Yamaguchi Ishin Park Stadium	20,000	J2 (16th)	J1
Roasso Kumamoto	Kumamoto, Kumamoto	Egao Kenko Stadium	32,000	J2 (4th)	J1
Shimizu S-Pulse	Shizuoka	IAI Stadium Nihondaira	20,339	J1 (17th)	J1
Thespakusatsu Gunma	All cities/towns in Gunma[d]	Shoda Shoyu Stadium Gunma	15,253	J2 (20th)	J1
Tochigi SC	Utsunomiya, Tochigi	Kanseki Stadium Tochigi	25,244	J2 (17th)	J1
Tokushima Vortis	Tokushima Prefecture	Pocarisweat Stadium	20,441	J2 (8th)	J1
Tokyo Verdy	All cities/towns in Tokyo	Ajinomoto Stadium	49,970	J2 (9th)	J1
V-Varen Nagasaki	All cities/towns in Nagasaki Prefecture[e]	Nagasaki Athletic Stadium	20,246	J2 (11th)	J1
Vegalta Sendai	Miyagi Prefecture	Yurtec Stadium Sendai	19,694	J2 (7th)	J1
Ventforet Kofu	All cities/towns in Yamanashi Prefecture[f]	Yamanashi Chuo Bank Stadium	17,000	J2 (18th)	J1
Zweigen Kanazawa	All cities/towns in Ishikawa[g]	Ishikawa Kanazawa Stadium	20,000	J2 (14th)	J1

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

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Main shirt sponsor
Blaublitz Akita	Ken Yoshida	Ryutaro Iio	Athleta	TDK
Fagiano Okayama	Takashi Kiyama	Yasutaka Takagi	Penalty	GROP
Fujieda MYFC	Daisuke Sudo	Masahiko Sugita	Gol.	Seikan Kensa Center
Iwaki FC	Yuzo Tamura	Yuto Yamashita	Under Armour	BHC
JEF United Chiba	Yoshiyuki Kobayashi	Daisuke Suzuki	Hummel	Fuji Electric
Júbilo Iwata	Akinobu Yokouchi	Yuto Suzuki	Admiral	Yamaha
Machida Zelvia	Go Kuroda	Masayuki Okuyama	Adidas	CyberAgent
Mito HollyHock	Yoshimi Hamasaki	Takumi Kusumoto	soccer junky	K's Holdings
Montedio Yamagata	Susumu Watanabe	Shuto Minami	Penalty	ABeam
Oita Trinita	Takahiro Shimotaira	Tsukasa Umesaki	Puma	Daihatsu Kyushu
Omiya Ardija	Masato Harasaki	Yutaro Hakamata	Under Armour	NTT Docomo
Renofa Yamaguchi	Juan Esnáider	Kensuke Sato	Finta	upr
Roasso Kumamoto	Takeshi Oki	Rei Hirakawa	Puma	Hirata
Shimizu S-Pulse	Tadahiro Akiba	Yoshinori Suzuki	Puma	Suzuyo
Thespakusatsu Gunma	Tsuyoshi Otsuki	Hajime Hosogai	Kelme	Cainz
Tochigi SC	Yu Tokisaki	Sho Sato	Athleta	TKC
Tokushima Vortis	Tatsuma Yoshida	Yoichiro Kakitani	Mizuno	Otsuka Pharmaceutical (Pocari Sweat)
Tokyo Verdy	Hiroshi Jofuku	Koki Morita	Athleta	Nicigas
V-Varen Nagasaki	Fábio Carille	Shunya Yoneda	Umbro	Japanet
Vegalta Sendai	Takafumi Hori	Yuta Koide	Adidas	Iris Ohyama
Ventforet Kofu	Yoshiyuki Shinoda	Hidehiro Sugai	Mizuno	Hakubaku
Zweigen Kanazawa	Masaaki Yanagishita	Yuto Shirai	Hummel	Hokkoku Shimbun

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing	Manner	Exit date		Position in table	Incoming	Incoming date		Ref.
			Announced on	Departed on			Announced on	Arrived on
Shimizu S-Pulse	Zé Ricardo	Sacked	3 April 2023		19th	Tadahiro Akiba	4 April 2023		[3]
Montedio Yamagata	Peter Cklamovski		4 April 2023		18th	Susumu Watanabe	5 April 2023		[4]
Renofa Yamaguchi	Yoshihiro Natsuka	Resigned	9 May 2023		18th	Genki Nakayama (interim)	10 May 2023		[5]
Omiya Ardija	Naoki Soma		19 May 2023		22nd	Masato Harasaki	20 May 2023		[6]
Renofa Yamaguchi	Genki Nakayama	End of interim spell	29 May 2023	7 June 2023	19th	Juan Esnáider	29 May 2023	8 June 2023	[7]
Iwaki FC	Hiromasa Suguri	Sacked	14 June 2023		21st	Yuzo Tamura	15 June 2023		[8]
Vegalta Sendai	Akira Ito	Sacked	12 July 2023		13th	Takafumi Hori	13 July 2023		[9]
Tokushima Vortis	Beñat Labaien	Sacked	22 August 2023		19th	Tatsuma Yoshida	23 August 2023		[10]

Foreign players

As of the 2023 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 mid-season
Blaublitz Akita
Fagiano Okayama	Lucão	Tiago Alves	Han Eui-kwon	Stefan Mauk	Jordy Buijs
Fujieda MYFC	Kauan	Pedro Henrique	Anderson Chaves	Naldinho
Iwaki FC	Nélson Machado
JEF United Chiba	Mendes	Dudu
Júbilo Iwata	Ricardo Graça	Dudu Pacheco	Fabián González	Ri Kyong-su
Machida Zelvia	Erik	Ademilson	Mitchell Duke	Jang Min-gyu	Nedeljko Stojišić	Byron Vásquez
Mito HollyHock	Jefferson Tabinas
Montedio Yamagata	Dellatorre	Tiago Alves
Oita Trinita	Matheus Pereira	Matheus Teixeira	Derlan	Samuel
Omiya Ardija	Rodrigo Angelotti	Kaique	Jakub Świerczok
Renofa Yamaguchi	Renan	Sílvio	Choi Hyun-chan	Kim Byeom-yong
Roasso Kumamoto
Shimizu S-Pulse	Carlinhos Júnior	Thiago Santana	Renato Augusto	Ronaldo	Benjamin Kololli	Oh Se-hun
Thespakusatsu Gunma
Tochigi SC	Juninho	Rafael Costa	Leandro Pereira	Origbaajo Ismaila
Tokushima Vortis	Elsinho	José Aurelio Suárez	Luismi Quezada	Hyon Rio					Cacá Oriola Sunday
Tokyo Verdy	Matheus Vidotto	Pratama Arhan							Byron Vásquez Mario Engels
V-Varen Nagasaki	Caio César	Edigar Junio	Valdo	Marcos Guilherme	Matheus Jesus	Juanma	Carlos Gutiérrez	Luka Radotić	Clayson Kaique Cristiano
Vegalta Sendai	Foguinho	Ewerton	Kim Tae-hyeon	Heo Yong-joon	Ryang Yong-gi
Ventforet Kofu	Eduardo Mancha	Cristiano	Lucas Macedo	Peter Utaka	Michael Woud				Getúlio
Zweigen Kanazawa	Léo Bahia	Jefferson Baiano	Park Jun-seo	Taiga Son

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Machida Zelvia (C, P)	42	26	9	7	79	35	+44	87	Promotion to the 2024 J1 League
2	Júbilo Iwata (P)	42	21	12	9	74	44	+30	75
3	Tokyo Verdy (O, P)	42	21	12	9	57	31	+26	75	Qualification for the promotion play-offs
4	Shimizu S-Pulse	42	20	14	8	78	34	+44	74
5	Montedio Yamagata	42	21	4	17	64	54	+10	67
6	JEF United Chiba	42	19	10	13	61	53	+8	67
7	V-Varen Nagasaki	42	18	11	13	70	56	+14	65
8	Ventforet Kofu	42	18	10	14	60	50	+10	64
9	Oita Trinita	42	17	11	14	54	56	−2	62
10	Fagiano Okayama	42	13	19	10	49	49	0	58
11	Thespakusatsu Gunma	42	14	15	13	44	44	0	57
12	Fujieda MYFC	42	14	10	18	61	72	−11	52
13	Blaublitz Akita	42	12	15	15	37	44	−7	51
14	Roasso Kumamoto	42	13	10	19	52	53	−1	49
15	Tokushima Vortis	42	10	19	13	43	53	−10	49
16	Vegalta Sendai	42	12	12	18	48	61	−13	48
17	Mito HollyHock	42	11	14	17	49	66	−17	47
18	Iwaki FC	42	12	11	19	45	69	−24	47
19	Tochigi SC	42	10	14	18	39	47	−8	44
20	Renofa Yamaguchi	42	10	14	18	37	67	−30	44
21	Omiya Ardija (R)	42	11	6	25	37	71	−34	39	Relegation to 2024 J3 League
22	Zweigen Kanazawa (R)	42	9	8	25	41	70	−29	35

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; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated

Play-offs

The usual format was applied in the 2023 season. Promotion play-offs, officially called the 2023 J.League Road To J1 Play-offs (Japanese: 2023 J1昇格プレーオフ), was held from the semi-finals, where the match-ups were previously semi-determined. Based on the J2 placements at the end of the regular season, the third-placed team played against the sixth-placed, while the fourth-placed team played against the fifth-placed. The winners of the semi-finals played the final, with the winners promoted to the J1.

If a match was tied in the play-offs, the team with the higher rank won. The rank order was: J2's third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-placed teams.^[13]

For the 2023 season, three teams were to be promoted to the 2024 J1 League with no relegation playoffs between the leagues.

	Semi-finals					Final
	3	Tokyo Verdy	2
	6	JEF United Chiba	1
						3	Tokyo Verdy	1
						4	Shimizu S-Pulse	1
	4	Shimizu S-Pulse	0
	5	Montedio Yamagata	0

Semi-finals

Shimizu S-Pulse	0–0	Montedio Yamagata
	Report

25 November 2023 (2023-11-25)

13:03

IAI Stadium Nihondaira, Shimizu

Attendance: 15,742

Referee: Takuto Okabe

---

Tokyo Verdy	2–1	JEF United Chiba
Nakahara 34' Morita 44'	Report	Komori 78'

26 November 2023 (2023-11-26)

15:03

Ajinomoto Stadium, Chōfu

Attendance: 25,150

Referee: Hajime Matsuo

Final

Tokyo Verdy	1–1	Shimizu S-Pulse
Someno 90+6' (pen.)	Report	Thiago Santana 63' (pen.)

2 December 2023 (2023-12-02)

14:05

Japan National Stadium, Tokyo^[14]

Attendance: 53,264

Referee: Akihiko Ikeuchi

Season statistics

Goal contributions

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[15]
1	Juanma Delgado	V-Varen Nagasaki	26
2	Erik	Machida Zelvia	18
3	Carlinhos Júnior	Shimizu S-Pulse	15
4	Hiiro Komori	JEF United Chiba	13
	Kaito Mori	Tokushima Vortis
	Tiago Alves	Montedio Yamagata
	Ryo Watanabe	Fujieda MYFC

Top assists

Rank	Player	Club	Assists[16]
1	Takashi Inui	Shimizu S-Pulse	10
	Yuto Suzuki	Júbilo Iwata
3	Rei Hirakawa	Roasso Kumamoto	9
	Ryo Sato	Thespakusatsu Gunma
	Hidetoshi Takeda	Mito HollyHock

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets[17]
1	Matheus Vidotto	Tokyo Verdy	23
2	Shuichi Gonda	Shimizu S-Pulse	19
3	Masatoshi Kushibiki	Thespakusatsu Gunma	16
4	Kentaro Kakoi	Blaublitz Akita	14
5	Go Hatano	V-Varen Nagasaki	11
	William Popp	Machida Zelvia
	José Aurelio Suárez	Tokushima Vortis

Discipline

Player

• Most yellow cards: 11^[18]
  • Juanma Delgado (V-Varen Nagasaki)
• Most red cards: 2 ^[19]
  • Ryo Endo (Iwaki FC)
  • So Nakagawa (Fujieda MYFC)
  • Pereira (Oita Trinita)
  • Kotaro Yamahara (Fujieda MYFC)

Club

• Most yellow cards: 69 ^[20] (V-Varen Nagasaki)
• Most red cards: 7 ^[21] (Fujieda MYFC)

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Manager of the Month		Monthly MVP		Goal of the Month		Refs.
	Manager	Club	Player	Club	Player	Club
February/March	Go Kuroda	Machida Zelvia	Erik	Machida Zelvia	Akira Silvano Disaro	Shimizu S-Pulse	[22]
April	Fábio Carille	V-Varen Nagasaki	Juanma Delgado	V-Varen Nagasaki	Shunta Araki	Machida Zelvia	[23][24][25]
May	Go Kuroda	Machida Zelvia	Kaito Mori	Tokushima Vortis	Shunya Yoneda	V-Varen Nagasaki	[26]
June	Akinobu Yokouchi	Júbilo Iwata	Erik	Machida Zelvia	Kaito Umeda	Mito HollyHock	[27][28][29]
July	Yuzo Tamura	Iwaki FC	Hiroto Iwabuchi	Iwaki FC	Takashi Inui	Shimizu S-Pulse	[30][31][32]
August	Tadahiro Akiba	Shimizu S-Pulse	Yoshinori Suzuki	Shimizu S-Pulse	Keita Nakamura	V-Varen Nagasaki	[33][34][35]
September	Yoshiyuki Kobayashi	JEF United Chiba	Taishi Taguchi	JEF United Chiba	Junya Suzuki	Machida Zelvia	[36][37][38]
October	Hiroshi Jofuku	Tokyo Verdy	Zento Uno	Machida Zelvia	Kazaki Nakagawa	Fujieda MYFC	[39][40][41]
November	Akinobu Yokouchi	Júbilo Iwata	Masaya Matsumoto	Júbilo Iwata	Hikaru Nakahara	Tokyo Verdy	[42]

Attendances

#	Football club	Home games	Average attendance[43]
1	Shimizu S-Pulse	21	12,083
2	Vegalta Sendai	21	9,495
3	Júbilo Iwata	21	9,447
4	JEF United	21	8,675
5	Oita Trinita	21	8,083
6	Tokyo Verdy	21	8,070
7	Montedio Yamagata	21	7,490
8	Machida Zelvia	21	7,478
9	Fagiano Okayama	21	7,248
10	Ventforet Kofu	21	7,045
11	V-Varen Nagasaki	21	6,760
12	Omiya Ardija	21	6,675
13	Tochigi SC	21	6,282
14	Roasso Kumamoto	21	6,251
15	Tokushima Vortis	21	6,002
16	Mito HollyHock	21	5,262
17	Zweigen Kanazawa	21	5,235
18	Renofa Yamaguchi	21	5,214
19	Fujieda MYFC	21	5,062
20	Iwaki FC	21	4,878
21	Thespakusatsu Gunma	21	4,876
22	Blaublitz Akita	21	4,388

See also

National association

• Japan Football Association (JFA)

League

• Japanese association football league system
  • J.League
    • 2023 J1 League
    • 2023 J3 League
  • 2023 Japan Football League

Cup

• 2023 Emperor's Cup (national open cup)

• Asia portal
• Japan portal
• Sports portal
• Association football portal