The 1996 J.League season was the fourth season since the establishment of the

J.League The , officially is Japan's professional football league including the first division J1 League, second division J2 League and third division J3 League of the Japanese association football league system. J1 League is one of the most successfu ...

. The season began on March 16, 1996, and ended on November 9, 1996.

Clubs

The following sixteen clubs participated in J.League during the 1996 season. Of these clubs, Kyoto Purple Sanga, and Avispa Fukuoka were newly promoted from

Japan Football League (former) The also known as simply the JFL is the 4th tier of the Japanese association football league system, positioned beneath the three divisions of the J.League. The league features fully professional teams that hold J.League associate membership am ...

. *

Kashima Antlers are a football club in Kashima, Ibaraki, currently playing in the J1 League, top tier of Japanese professional football leagues. The name ''Antlers'' is derived from the city name, Kashima, which literally means "deer island". The club has fi ...

* Urawa Red Diamonds * JEF United Ichihara * Kashiwa Reysol * Verdy Kawasaki * Yokohama Marinos * Yokohama Flügels * Bellmare Hiratsuka *

Shimizu S-Pulse is a professional Japanese football club. Located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture, S-Pulse currently competes in the J2 League (J2). The club was formed in 1991 as a founding member of the J.League (''"Original Ten"''), which began ...

Júbilo Iwata is a professional Japanese association football team that currently play in the J2 League. The team name ''Júbilo'' means 'joy' in Spanish and Portuguese. The team's hometown is Iwata, Shizuoka prefecture and they play at Yamaha Stadium. For ...

Nagoya Grampus Eight (formerly known as ) is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture and founded as the company team of the Toyota Motor Corp. in 1939, the c ...

* Kyoto Purple Sanga * Gamba Osaka *

Cerezo Osaka is a Japanese professional football club based in Osaka. The club currently plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. The club's name ''Cerezo'' (Spanish for cherry blossom) is also the flower of the city of Osaka. ...

* Sanfrecce Hiroshima * Avispa Fukuoka

Format

In the 1996 season, the league abolished the split-season format and followed a single-season format; sixteen clubs played in double round-robin format, a total of 30 games per club. The games went to golden-goal extra time and penalties if needed after regulation. A club received 3 points for any win, 1 point for PK loss, and 0 pts for regulation or extra time loss. The clubs were ranked by points, and tie breakers are in the following order: * Goal differential * Goals scored * Head-to-head results * Extra match or a coin toss The club that finished at the top of the table was declared season champion. ;Changes in competition format * Number of competing clubs increased from 14 to 16 * Followed single-season format instead of split-season format * Suntory Final Series was held this year, instead of

Suntory Championship The J.League Championship is a two-legged championship series which determined the season champion for the first 12 J.League seasons (1993–2004) excluding the 1996 season. In the early years, the J.League seasons were divided into two halve ...

* Number of games per club reduced to 30 from 52 games per season

Final standings

Golden Boots ranking

Awards

Individual awards

Best Eleven

External links

J. League 1996 (RSSSF)
{{J1 League champions J1 League seasons 1

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...