The season is the 48th season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 21st season since the establishment of J2 League.
Clubs
After eight seasons of good success,
Kashiwa Reysol
is a Japanese professional football club based in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. Their home stadium is Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadiu ...
had to say goodbye to the first division. The same happened to
V-Varen Nagasaki
is a Japanese J2 League football club based in Nagasaki. The club was established in 1985 as Ariake SC till they merged with Kunimi FC in 2004 and adopted the present name in 2005.
The club gained promotion into the J. League Division 2 in 20 ...
, which came back to J2 after their debut season in the first tier. In their place,
Matsumoto Yamaga and
Oita Trinita
is a Japanese football club currently playing in J2 League, having been relegated after the 2021 season after a three-year stint in J1 League. The club's home town is Ōita, Ōita, Ōita city, but the club draws support from Beppu, Ōita, Beppu, ...
left J2 after getting promoted, while
Tokyo Verdy
is a Japanese professional football club based in Inagi, Tokyo. The club plays in the J2 League, the second tier of football in the country.
Founded as Yomiuri F.C. in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the most decorated clubs in the J.League, with ...
lost the promotion/relegation play-off against
Jubilo Iwata
''Jubilo'' is a 1919 American comedy film directed by Clarence G. Badger and written by Robert F. Hill. The film stars Will Rogers, Josie Sedgwick, Charles K. French, Willard Louis, and James Mason. The film was released on December 7, 1919, by ...
. Also another four teams changed category:
Roasso Kumamoto
is a Japanese football club based in Kumamoto, the capital city of Kumamoto Prefecture. The club currently plays in the J2 League, which is the second tier of football in the country. ''Roasso'' is a portmanteau of the Italian words ''rosso'' an ...
and
Kamatamare Sanuki
Kamatamare Sanuki (カマタマーレ讃岐、Kamatamare Sanuki) is a football club based in Takamatsu, Kagawa, Takamatsu, the capital city of Kagawa Prefecture of Japan. They currently play in the J3 League. They entered the J League in 2014 aft ...
left J2, while their places will be taken by newly-arrived
FC Ryukyu
are an Association football club from the Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. In 2022, after spending four years in the J2 League, the club was relegated. They will play on J3 League from the 2023 season.
The team derive their name from Ryukyu, the hist ...
and
Kagoshima United FC
is a Japanese professional football club based in Kagoshima, Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan that was formed from the merger of ''Volca Kagoshima'' and ''FC Kagoshima''. Both clubs played in the Kyushu Soccer League before the merger. Their top team ...
will play their first J2-season ever in their history.
The participating clubs are listed in the following table:
Personnel and kits
Managerial changes
Foreign players
The total number of foreign players is limitless, but clubs can only register up to five foreign players for a single match-day squad. Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Iran and Qatar) are exempt from these restrictions.
Players in bold are players who join midway through the competition.
League table
Positions by round
Promotion–Relegation Playoffs
In the first two rounds of the 2019 J.League J1/J2 Play-Offs (2019 J1参入プレーオフ), if the score is tied after 90 minutes, no extra time is played and the winner is the team with the best J2 League ranking. In the final match against the J1 team, if the score is tied after 90 minutes, no extra time is played and the J1 team wins.
1st round
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2nd round
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Final
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Shonan Bellmare remains in J1 League.
Tokushima Vortis remains in J2 League.
Top scorers
.
Attendances
Notes
References
{{Japanese Club Football, group=second
J2 League seasons
2
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 ...