The 1997 season was the fifth season of the J-League. The league began in March and ended in November. For this year, the division was contested by 17 teams.

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 ...

won the 1st stage and

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 ...

won the 2nd stage. Júbilo won the J.League title after winning both matches in the

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 ...

First stage

Second stage

;Key * PLD = Games Played * W = Games Won - 3 points for a win * OTW = Games won in overtime - 2 points for overtime win * PKW = Games won by penalty kicks after overtime played - 1 point for a win * OTL = Games lost in overtime - zero points for overtime loss * PKL = Games lost by penalty kicks after overtime played - zero points for a penalty loss * GF = Goals scored for * GA = Goals conceded * GD = Goal difference - GF - GA = GD

Championship

Suntory Championship

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Golden Boots Ranking

Awards

Individual awards

Best Eleven

References

{{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 ...