2008 J.League Division 1

The 2008 J.League Division 1 season was the 44th season of the top-flight club football in Japan and the 16th season since the establishment of J.League Division 1. The season began on March 8 and ended on December 6.

J.League Division 1

Season	2008
Champions	Kashima Antlers 6th J.League title 6th Japanese title
Relegated	Tokyo Verdy Consadole Sapporo
Champions League	Kashima Antlers Kawasaki Frontale Nagoya Grampus Gamba Osaka (all to the group stage)
Matches played	306
Goals scored	783 (2.56 per match)
Top goalscorer	Marquinhos (21 goals)
Highest attendance	61,246 (Round 1, Marinos vs. Reds)
Lowest attendance	6,125 (Round 23, Ardija vs. Marinos)
Average attendance	19,202
← 2007 2009 →

A total of eighteen clubs participated in double round-robin format. Starting this season, top three clubs received automatic qualification to the following years' AFC Champions League. The bottom two clubs were relegated to J.League Division 2 by default, while 16th-placed club had to defend their spot in the top-flight in the pro/rele series.

Clubs

Consadole Sapporo

Albirex Niigata

Kashima Antlers

Omiya Ardija|Omiya Ardija

Urawa Red
Diamonds

FC Tokyo

Tokyo Verdy

Kawasaki Frontale

Kashiwa Reysol

JEF United
Chiba

Yokohama F. Marinos

Shimizu S-Pulse

Júbilo Iwata

Nagoya Grampus

Kyoto Purple Sanga

Gamba Osaka

Vissel Kobe

Oita Trinita

Location of the clubs in Japan

The following 18 clubs participated in J.League Division 1 during 2008 season. Of these clubs, Consadole Sapporo, Tokyo Verdy, and Kyoto Purple Sanga are newly promoted clubs.

Club name	Home town(s)	Note(s)
Albirex Niigata	Niigata & Seirō, Niigata
Consadole Sapporo	Sapporo, Hokkaido	Promoted from J2 League in 2007
FC Tokyo	Tokyo
Gamba Osaka	Suita, Osaka	2008 ACL participant
JEF United Chiba	Chiba & Ichihara, Chiba
Júbilo Iwata	Iwata, Shizuoka
Kashima Antlers	Southwestern cities/towns of Ibaraki	2008 ACL participant Defending champions
Kashiwa Reysol	Kashiwa, Chiba
Kawasaki Frontale	Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Kyoto Purple Sanga	Southwestern cities/town in Kyoto	Promoted from J2 League in 2007
Nagoya Grampus	Nagoya, Aichi	Renamed from Nagoya Grampus Eight
Oita Trinita	All cities/towns in Ōita
Omiya Ardija	Saitama
Shimizu S-Pulse	Shizuoka
Tokyo Verdy	Tokyo	Promoted from J2 League in 2007 Renamed from Tokyo Verdy 1969
Urawa Red Diamonds	Saitama	2008 ACL Participant
Vissel Kobe	Kobe, Hyōgo
Yokohama F. Marinos	Yokohama & Yokosuka

Personnel

Club	Head coach
Albirex Niigata	Jun Suzuki
Consadole Sapporo	Toshiya Miura
FC Tokyo	Hiroshi Jofuku
Gamba Osaka	Akira Nishino
JEF United Chiba	Alex Miller
Júbilo Iwata	Hans Ooft
Kashima Antlers	Oswaldo de Oliveira
Kashiwa Reysol	Nobuhiro Ishizaki
Kawasaki Frontale	Tsutomu Takahata
Kyoto Purple Sanga	Hisashi Kato
Nagoya Grampus	Dragan Stojković
Oita Trinita	Péricles Chamusca
Omiya Ardija	Yasuhiro Higuchi
Shimizu S-Pulse	Kenta Hasegawa
Tokyo Verdy	Tetsuji Hashiratani
Urawa Red Diamonds	Gert Engels
Vissel Kobe	Hiroshi Matsuda
Yokohama F. Marinos	Kokichi Kimura

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Non-visa foreign	Type-C contract	Former players
Albirex Niigata	Alessandro	Davi	Márcio Richardes		Michael Fitzgerald	Luís Augusto
Consadole Sapporo	Anderson	Claiton	Davi	Chong Yong-de		Alceu Edson Nonato
FC Tokyo	Bruno Quadros	Caboré	Emerson Paulista
Gamba Osaka	Lucas Severino	Mineiro	Rôni			Baré
JEF United Chiba	Eddy Bosnar	Michael	Reinaldo	Kim Dong-soo		Mirko Hrgović Park Jong-jin
Júbilo Iwata	Ferrugem	Gilsinho
Kashima Antlers	Danilo	Marcinho	Marquinhos
Kashiwa Reysol	Alex	França	Popó
Kawasaki Frontale	Juninho	Renatinho	Vitor Júnior	Jong Tae-se		Hulk
Kyoto Purple Sanga	Ataliba	Fernandinho	Sidiclei		William Pinheiro	Paulinho
Nagoya Grampus	Magnum	Frode Johnsen	Miloš Bajalica
Oita Trinita	Edmilson Alves	Roberto	Ueslei
Omiya Ardija	Dênis Marques	Leandro Euzébio	Klemen Lavrič			Pedro Júnior
Shimizu S-Pulse	Marcos Aurélio	Marcos Paulo			Kim Dong-sub	Fernandinho
Tokyo Verdy	Diego Souza	Leandro		Osama Elsamni		Francismar Hulk
Urawa Red Diamonds	Edmílson	Robson Ponte
Vissel Kobe	Leandro	Raphael Botti	Kim Nam-il	Park Kang-jo
Yokohama F. Marinos	Lopes Tigrão	Kim Kun-hoan				Rôni

Format

Eighteen clubs will play in double round-robin (home and away) format, a total of 34 games each. A club receives 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. The clubs are ranked by points, and tie breakers are, in the following order:

• Goal differential
• Goals scored
• Head-to-head results
• Disciplinary points

A draw would be conducted, if necessary. However, if two clubs are tied at the first place, both clubs will be declared as the champions. The bottom two clubs will be relegated to J2, while the 16th placed club plays a two-legged promotion/relegation Series. The champions of this season qualifies to the AFC Champions League and one to three more clubs may also qualify.

Changes from Previous Year

• Introduction of Disciplinary points for tie breaker (2008–)
• Top three clubs will qualify to AFC Champions League
• The J.League will not qualify to the abolished A3 Champions Cup.

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Kashima Antlers (C)	34	18	9	7	56	30	+26	63	Qualification for 2009 AFC Champions League Group stage
2	Kawasaki Frontale	34	18	6	10	65	42	+23	60
3	Nagoya Grampus	34	17	8	9	48	35	+13	59
4	Oita Trinita	34	16	8	10	33	24	+9	56	Qualification for Pan-Pacific Championship 2009[a]
5	Shimizu S-Pulse	34	16	7	11	50	42	+8	55
6	FC Tokyo	34	16	7	11	50	46	+4	55
7	Urawa Red Diamonds	34	15	8	11	50	42	+8	53
8	Gamba Osaka	34	14	8	12	46	49	−3	50	Qualification for 2009 AFC Champions League Group stage[b]
9	Yokohama F. Marinos	34	13	9	12	43	32	+11	48
10	Vissel Kobe	34	12	11	11	39	38	+1	47
11	Kashiwa Reysol	34	13	7	14	48	45	+3	46
12	Omiya Ardija	34	12	7	15	36	45	−9	43
13	Albirex Niigata	34	11	9	14	32	46	−14	42
14	Kyoto Sanga	34	11	8	15	37	46	−9	41
15	JEF United Chiba	34	10	8	16	36	53	−17	38
16	Júbilo Iwata (O)	34	10	7	17	40	48	−8	37	2008 promotion/relegation series
17	Tokyo Verdy (R)	34	10	7	17	38	50	−12	37	Relegation to 2009 J.League Division 2
18	Consadole Sapporo (R)	34	4	6	24	36	70	−34	18

Updated to match(es) played on December 6, 2008. Source: J. League Division 1
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Qualified as the winner of 2008 J.League Cup.
2. Qualified as the winner of 2008 Emperor's Cup.

Results

Home \ Away	ALB	ANT	ARD	CON	FRO	GAM	GRA	JEF	JÚB	REY	SAN	SSP	TOK	TRI	RED	VER	VIS	FMA
Albirex Niigata		0–2	2–2	2–1	2–1	3–2	2–1	2–2	1–0	2–1	1–0	3–0	2–3	0–1	0–1	0–0	3–2	0–0
Kashima Antlers	0–0		2–0	4–0	1–1	0–0	1–2	4–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–0	4–1	1–0	1–1	4–1	2–2	2–1
Omiya Ardija	2–0	1–1		1–2	2–1	2–0	1–2	2–1	1–2	0–4	1–1	0–0	0–3	2–0	0–1	2–0	0–2	1–0
Consadole Sapporo	0–1	0–1	1–2		0–2	3–3	1–3	2–3	2–1	0–2	1–2	2–2	1–2	0–0	1–2	1–3	1–1	1–2
Kawasaki Frontale	4–1	3–2	2–3	3–1		4–0	1–1	2–0	2–2	3–2	0–1	2–1	0–1	3–0	0–1	1–1	4–0	2–1
Gamba Osaka	2–2	0–0	2–3	4–2	2–1		0–1	0–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	1–3	0–1	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–2
Nagoya Grampus	2–0	0–4	4–0	3–1	1–2	1–2		3–2	0–0	1–0	1–1	3–2	0–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	2–0
JEF United Chiba	0–0	3–1	2–4	0–3	0–1	0–1	2–1		1–2	0–1	1–0	1–2	4–2	1–0	3–2	2–0	1–1	0–3
Júbilo Iwata	1–0	1–2	0–1	5–0	1–4	3–0	2–1	0–0		3–3	2–0	1–0	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	0–1	0–1
Kashiwa Reysol	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–2	2–5	1–0	2–1	1–1	2–0		2–2	0–2	0–1	0–2	2–1	5–1	3–0	1–3
Kyoto Sanga	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	1–2	1–2	2–3	0–1	2–0	0–1		1–3	1–1	1–1	0–4	0–0	2–1	1–0
Shimizu S-Pulse	3–0	1–0	0–0	3–1	2–0	3–1	0–2	3–2	1–1	3–2	2–1		1–0	1–2	1–2	1–0	0–1	1–1
FC Tokyo	1–0	3–2	3–1	1–0	4–2	1–1	0–1	1–1	5–1	0–1	3–3	1–5		1–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	1–1
Oita Trinita	3–1	0–1	1–0	3–2	0–0	1–2	0–0	0–0	2–1	2–0	1–0	2–2	1–0		2–0	2–0	1–0	1–0
Urawa Red Diamonds	3–0	2–0	0–0	4–2	1–3	2–3	0–2	3–0	3–1	2–2	2–2	1–2	2–0	0–0		3–2	0–1	1–6
Tokyo Verdy	4–0	0–2	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–3	2–0	3–0	1–2	2–1	0–1	4–1	1–2	0–2	1–1		0–2	3–2
Vissel Kobe	1–1	1–2	1–0	1–1	4–1	2–1	1–2	0–1	3–2	0–2	4–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–1	0–1		1–0
Yokohama F. Marinos	0–1	0–2	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–1	0–0	3–0	0–1	2–0	1–3	1–1	3–0	1–0	1–0	2–0	1–1

Updated to match(es) played on December 6, 2008. Source: J. League Division 1
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Player statistics

Top scorers

Rank Scorer Club Goals[1] 1 Marquinhos Kashima Antlers 21 2 Davi Consadole Sapporo 16 3 Atsushi Yanagisawa Kyoto Sanga 14 Jong Tae-se Kawasaki Frontale 5 Alessandro Albirex Niigata 13 6 Juninho Kawasaki Frontale 12 Shingo Akamine FC Tokyo Frode Johnsen Nagoya Grampus

Top assists

Rank Player Club Assists 1 Yoshizumi Ogawa Nagoya Grampus 12 2 Kengo Nakamura Kawasaki Frontale 11 Kota Ueda Júbilo Iwata 4 Juninho Kawasaki Frontale 10 5 Claiton Consadole Sapporo 9 6 Danilo Kashima Antlers 8 Akihiro Hyodo Shimizu S-Pulse Yasuhito Endō Gamba Osaka 9 Lucas Severino Gamba Osaka 7 Yoshito Ōkubo Vissel Kobe

Awards

Individual awards

Award	Recipient	Club
Most Valuable Player	Marquinhos	Kashima Antlers
Rookie of the Year	Yoshizumi Ogawa	Nagoya Grampus
Manager of the Year	Oswaldo de Oliveira	Kashima Antlers
Top Scorer	Marquinhos	Kashima Antlers

Best Eleven

Pos	Footballer	Club	Nationality
GK	Seigo Narazaki	Nagoya Grampus	Japan
DF	Atsuto Uchida	Kashima Antlers	Japan
DF	Daiki Iwamasa	Kashima Antlers	Japan
DF	Marcus Tulio Tanaka	Nagoya Grampus	Japan
DF	Satoshi Yamaguchi	Gamba Osaka	Japan
DF	Yuji Nakazawa	Yokohama F. Marinos	Japan
MF	Kengo Nakamura	Kawasaki Frontale	Japan
MF	Yasuhito Endō	Gamba Osaka	Japan
MF	Yoshizumi Ogawa	Nagoya Grampus	Japan
FW	Marquinhos	Kashima Antlers	Brazil
FW	Atsushi Yanagisawa	Kyoto Sanga	Japan

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Urawa Red Diamonds	809,353	57,050	16,225	47,609	+2.0%†
2	Albirex Niigata	586,325	40,359	22,740	34,490	−9.9%†
3	FC Tokyo	437,176	37,154	17,122	25,716	+1.7%†
4	Yokohama F. Marinos	402,593	61,246	9,583	23,682	−1.5%†
5	Oita Trinita	345,481	31,744	9,376	20,322	+2.8%†
6	Kashima Antlers	335,140	36,412	6,725	19,714	+21.4%†
7	Kawasaki Frontale	298,597	21,952	10,884	17,565	+1.3%†
8	Shimizu S-Pulse	282,190	20,330	13,855	16,599	+4.1%†
9	Nagoya Grampus	281,442	34,436	7,353	16,555	+6.2%†
10	Gamba Osaka	274,169	20,773	10,039	16,128	−7.5%†
11	Júbilo Iwata	262,911	27,866	8,216	15,465	−5.5%†
12	Tokyo Verdy	252,231	30,517	8,060	14,837	+102.5%†
13	Consadole Sapporo	247,305	28,901	7,010	14,547	+20.1%†
14	JEF United Chiba	239,436	17,152	8,694	14,084	−0.5%†
15	Kyoto Sanga	232,671	19,680	8,192	13,687	+106.5%†
16	Vissel Kobe	220,672	23,088	7,839	12,981	+4.2%†
17	Kashiwa Reysol	209,229	36,785	7,474	12,308	−5.1%†
18	Omiya Ardija	158,944	12,505	6,125	9,350	−18.4%†
	League total	5,875,865	61,246	6,125	19,202	+0.7%†

Updated to games played on December 6, 2008
Source: J. League Division 1
Notes:
^† Team played previous season in J2.