The former was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

league that existed from 1992 to 1998. Also known as the JFL, it was the 2nd tier of the Japanese football hierarchy following J.League.

History

When the

Japan Football Association The Japan Football Association (JFA, ) is the Sport governing body, governing body responsible for the administration of Association football, football, futsal, beach soccer and Esports, efootball in Japan. It is responsible for the Japan national ...

decided to found a professional football league, the

Japan Soccer League ; JSL) was the top flight association football league in Japan between 1965 and 1992, and was the precursor to the current professional league, the J.League. JSL Cup, JSL was the second national league of a team sport in Japan after the professi ...

(JSL), the top-flight league until the 1991/92 season, was reorganised into two newly formed leagues. One was the Japan Professional Football League as known as J. League, the first-ever professional football league in Japan. The other was the former Japan Football League. Out of twenty eight clubs who were the members of the JSL division 1 and 2, nine along with independent

Shimizu S-Pulse is a Japanese professional association football, football club located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture. S-Pulse is going to compete in the J1 League for the 2025 Season, after winning promotio ...

formed J.League, one (Yomiuri Junior) was merged with their parent club, and the other eighteen chose not to be professional, at least at that time. They played the inaugural 1992 season of the former JFL together with Osaka Gas and Seino Transportation, the top two places in the Regional League promotion series. The initial configuration was two divisions of 10 clubs each, but from 1994, the format was changed to a single division of 16 clubs. The former JFL ceased to exist at the end of the 1998 season when J.League Division 2 was formed. Out of 16 teams who played the last season of the former JFL, 9 decided and were accepted to play in J2 and the other 7 teams joined the new JFL.

Participating clubs

Division 1

*''"Seasons in D2", "Last spell in D2", and "Last D2 title" include participation in

History

Participating clubs

Division 1

Division 2

Championship, promotion and relegation history

Most successful clubs

References

See also