The 2023 J2 League, also known as the for sponsorship reasons, will be the 25th season of the

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yas ...

, the second-tier Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1999.

Overview

This is the last season to be played with 22 participating clubs, as the number of clubs will be reduced to 20 from the 2024 season. FC Ryukyu and

Iwate Grulla Morioka is a Japanese association football club based in Morioka, Iwate. It played in the inaugural season of J3 League in 2014 after winning the Tohoku Soccer League, one of the Japanese Regional Leagues, in 2013. Iwate played in the J3 until 2021, wh ...

were relegated to the

2023 J3 League The 2023 J3 League, referred to as the for sponsorship reasons, will be the 10th season of the J3 League under its current name. Changes from the previous season Iwaki FC and Fujieda MYFC were promoted to the J2 League after being champions ...

, finishing the previous

season as 21st and 22nd-placed team, respectively. Relegated from J1, both

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 ...

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 ...

were the only Shizuoka-based J1 teams last season. Now, they return to J2 after spending six and one season, respectively, at the top flight. J3 winners

Iwaki FC is a football (soccer) club based in Iwaki, a city in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. The club will play in J2 League from 2023 season, which is the 2nd level in the Japanese football pyramid. History Founder Club Iwaki FC was founded in 20 ...

and runners-up

Fujieda MYFC are a Japanese J2 League football club based in Fujieda, Shizuoka. It is funded by online subscribers and is the first of its kind in Japan. The club spent two seasons in the Japan Football League before having their application accepted in 20 ...

were both promoted from the

J3 League or simply J3 is the third division of . It was established in 2013 as the third-tier professional association football league in Japan. The third-tier nationwide league is a relatively recent development in Japanese football with a first attempt ...

. Both teams will make their debut in

, with Iwaki being promoted to the J2 just a season after being promoted to J3. For the first time ever the since 2004 season, three teams from the same prefecture will participate in the J2 League, as Shimizu S-Pulse, Júbilo Iwata and Fujieda MYFC are all based on

Shizuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūbu region of Honshu. Shizuoka Prefecture has a population of 3,637,998 and has a geographic area of . Shizuoka Prefecture borders Kanagawa Prefecture to the east, Yamanashi Prefecture to the northea ...

Participating clubs

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Transfers

The winter transfer window will go from 6 January to 31 March, while the summer transfer window will go from 21 July to 18 August.

Foreign players

As of the 2023 season, there are no more restrictions on a number of signed foreign players, 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, Indonesia and Qatar) are exempt from these restrictions. *Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the January/February transfer window. *Player's name in ''italics'' indicates the player has Japanese nationality in addition to their FIFA nationality, or is exempt from being treated as a foreign player due to having been born in Japan and being enrolled in, or having graduated from school in the country.

League table

Promotion–relegation playoffs

The usual format will be applied on the 2023 season. Promotion play-offs will be held from the semi-final stage, where the match-ups are previously semi-determined. Based on the J2 placements at the end of the regular season: The 3rd-placed team plays against the 6th-placed, while the 4th-placed team plays against the 5th-placed. The winners of the semi-finals will play the Promotion Play-offs Final, with who ever wins being promoting to the J1. Should a match be tied at any of the play-off matches, the team with the best placement will qualify for the next stage. The placement order currently is: J2 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th place. For the 2023 season, three teams will be promoted to the 2024 J1 League. There will not be relegation playoffs between J1 and J2.

Season statistics

''Will be updated as the season starts''

References

External links

Official website
on jleague.co {{Japanese Club Football, group=second J2 League 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 ...