J2 League

J2 League
Founded	1999
Country	Japan
Level on pyramid	2

J. League Division 2 (Jリーグ・ディビジョン2, J Rīgu Dibijon 2) or J2 League (J2リーグ, J2 Rīgu) is part of the Japanese football club system.

J2 League is the second grouping of Japan Professional Football League (日本プロサッカーリーグ, Nippon Puro Sakkā Rīgu).

Champions and promotion history[change | change source]

The top two clubs receive promotion. From the 2004 season to the 2008 season, the third place club played against the 16th-place club in J1. From the 2009 to the 2011 season, the third place club was promoted without playing the number 16 team. From 2012 to 2017 and 2023 onwards, the third promotion place is selected by a playoff between the 3rd to 6th place teams. For 2018, 2019 and 2022, the playoff winners played against the third-from-bottom place in J1.

Year	Champions	Runners-up	Third place	Playoff winners
1999	Kawasaki Frontale	FC Tokyo	Oita Trinita	N/A
2000	Consadole Sapporo	Urawa Red Diamonds	Oita Trinita
2001	Kyoto Purple Sanga	Vegalta Sendai	Montedio Yamagata
2002	Oita Trinita	Cerezo Osaka	Albirex Niigata
2003	Albirex Niigata	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Kawasaki Frontale
2004	Kawasaki Frontale	Omiya Ardija	Avispa Fukuoka †
2005	Kyoto Purple Sanga	Avispa Fukuoka	Ventforet Kofu ‡
2006	Yokohama FC	Kashiwa Reysol	Vissel Kobe ‡
2007	Consadole Sapporo	Tokyo Verdy 1969	Kyoto Sanga ‡
2008	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Montedio Yamagata	Vegalta Sendai†
2009	Vegalta Sendai	Cerezo Osaka	Shonan Bellmare
2010	Kashiwa Reysol	Ventforet Kofu	Avispa Fukuoka
2011	FC Tokyo	Sagan Tosu	Consadole Sapporo
2012	Ventforet Kofu	Shonan Bellmare	Kyoto Sanga	Oita Trinita (6th)
2013	Gamba Osaka	Vissel Kobe	Kyoto Sanga	Tokushima Vortis (4th)
2014	Shonan Bellmare	Matsumoto Yamaga	JEF United Chiba	Montedio Yamagata (6th)
2015	Omiya Ardija	Júbilo Iwata	Avispa Fukuoka (3rd)^‡
2016	Consadole Sapporo	Shimizu S-Pulse	Matsumoto Yamaga	Cerezo Osaka (4th)^‡
2017	Shonan Bellmare	V-Varen Nagasaki	Nagoya Grampus (3rd)^‡
2018	Matsumoto Yamaga	Oita Trinita	Yokohama FC †	Júbilo Iwata (J1)
2019	Kashiwa Reysol	Yokohama FC	Omiya Ardija †	Shonan Bellmare (J1)
2020	Tokushima Vortis	Avispa Fukuoka	V-Varen Nagasaki	N/A
2021	Júbilo Iwata	Kyoto Sanga FC	Ventforet Kofu	N/A
2022	Albirex Niigata	Yokohama FC	Fagiano Okayama †	Kyoto Sanga FC (J1)
2023

* Bold designates the promoted club
† Lost the Promotion/Relegation Series or entry playoff
‡ Won the Promotion/Relegation Series or entry playoff and got promoted

Most successful clubs[change | change source]

Clubs in bold compete in J2 as of the 2023 season.

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Promotions	Winning seasons	Runners-up seasons	Promotion seasons
Consadole Sapporo	3	0	4	2000, 2007, 2016		2000, 2007, 2011, 2016
Shonan Bellmare	2	1	4	2014, 2017	2012	2009, 2012, 2014, 2017
Kyoto Sanga	2	0	4	2001, 2005	2021	2001, 2005, 2007, 2021
Kashiwa Reysol	2	1	3	2010, 2019	2006	2006, 2010, 2019
Kawasaki Frontale	2	0	2	1999, 2004		1999, 2004
Ventforet Kofu	1	1	3	2012	2010	2005, 2010, 2012
Oita Trinita	1	0	3	2002		2002, 2012, 2018
Yokohama FC	1	1	2	2006	2019	2006, 2019
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	1	1	2	2008	2003	2003, 2008
Vegalta Sendai	1	1	2	2009	2001	2001, 2009
FC Tokyo	1	1	2	2011	1999	1999, 2011
Omiya Ardija	1	1	2	2015	2004	2004, 2015
Júbilo Iwata	1	1	2	2021	2015	2015, 2021
Tokushima Vortis	1	0	2	2020		2013, 2020
Matsumoto Yamaga	1	1	1	2018	2014	2014
Albirex Niigata	1	0	1	2003		2003
Gamba Osaka	1	0	1	2013		2013
Avispa Fukuoka	0	2	4		2005, 2020	2005, 2010, 2015, 2020
Cerezo Osaka	0	2	3		2002, 2009	2002, 2009, 2016
Vissel Kobe	0	1	2		2013	2006, 2013
Montedio Yamagata	0	1	2		2008	2008, 2014
Urawa Red Diamonds	0	1	1		2000	2000
Tokyo Verdy	0	1	1		2007	2007
Sagan Tosu	0	1	1		2011	2011
Shimizu S-Pulse	0	1	1		2016	2016
V-Varen Nagasaki	0	1	1		2017	2017
Nagoya Grampus	0	0	1			2017

Promotion playoff results[change | change source]

Season	First semi-final (3rd vs 6th)	Second semi-final (4th vs 5th)	Final
2012	Kyoto Sanga 0–4 Oita Trinita	Yokohama FC 0–4 JEF United Chiba	Oita Trinita 1–0 JEF United Chiba
2013	Kyoto Sanga 0–0 V-Varen Nagasaki	Tokushima Vortis 1–1 JEF United Chiba	Kyoto Sanga 0–2 Tokushima Vortis
2014	Not held	Júbilo Iwata 1–2 Montedio Yamagata (6th)	JEF United Chiba 0–1 Montedio Yamagata
2015	Avispa Fukuoka 1–0 V-Varen Nagasaki	Cerezo Osaka 0–0 Ehime FC	Avispa Fukuoka 1–1 Cerezo Osaka
2016	Matsumoto Yamaga 1–2 Fagiano Okayama	Cerezo Osaka 1–1 Kyoto Sanga	Cerezo Osaka 1–0 Fagiano Okayama
2017	Nagoya Grampus 4–2 JEF United Chiba	Avispa Fukuoka 1–0 Tokyo Verdy	Nagoya Grampus 0–0 Avispa Fukuoka
2018	Tokyo Verdy (6th) 1–0 Omiya Ardija (5th)	Tokyo Verdy (6th) 1–0 Yokohama FC (3rd)	Júbilo Iwata 2–0 Tokyo Verdy

Season	First round	Second round	Final
2019	Montedio Yamagata (3rd) 2–0 Omiya Ardija (6th) Tokushima Vortis (4th) 1–1 Ventforet Kofu (5th)	Tokushima Vortis 1–0 Montedio Yamagata	Shonan Bellmare 1–1 Tokushima Vortis
2022	Fagiano Okayama (3rd) 0–3 Montedio Yamagata (6th) Roasso Kumamoto (4th) 2–2 Oita Trinita (5th)	Roasso Kumamoto 2–2 Montedio Yamagata	Kyoto Sanga 1–1 Roasso Kumamoto
2023

Results

Club	Participated	Winners	Runners-up	Seasons participated	Winning seasons	Runner-up seasons
Cerezo Osaka	2	1	1	2015, 2016	2016	2015
Avispa Fukuoka	2	1	1	2015, 2017	2015	2017
Montedio Yamagata	2	1	0	2014, 2016	2014
Tokushima Vortis	1	1	1	2013	2013	2019
Oita Trinita	1	1	0	2012	2012
Nagoya Grampus	1	1	0	2017	2017
JEF United Chiba	4	0	2	2012, 2013, 2014, 2017		2012, 2014
Kyoto Sanga	3	0	1	2012, 2013, 2016		2013
Tokyo Verdy	1	0	1	2017		2018
Yokohama FC	1	0	0	2012
V-Varen Nagasaki	1	0	0	2013
Júbilo Iwata	1	0	0	2014
Ehime FC	1	0	0	2015
Fagiano Okayama	1	0	0	2016