2024 J1 League

	Current This article contains information about a current League, Cup or Match. It may contain tentative information; the content may change as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

J1 League 2024
Season information
Dates	23 February–8 December
Season statistics
Matches played	166
Goals scored	417
Top goalscorer	Léo Ceará (13 goals)
← 2023	2025 →

The 2024 J1 League, also known as the 2024 Meiji Yasuda J1 League for sponsorship reasons, is the 32nd season of J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. This is the tenth season of the league since its rebrand from J.League Division 1.

Vissel Kobe are the defending champions, having won their first ever league title with one match to spare in the previous season.

Overview

For the first time since 2021, the number of the clubs in the league increased from 18 to 20. At the end of season, three clubs will be relegated to the J2 League for the 2025 season, without relegation play-offs between J1 and J2 clubs.

Changes from the previous season

Only one club was relegated to the 2024 J2 League. Due to the re-introduction of 20 clubs league format, Yokohama FC, being the sole team going down to the second division, after just one season in the J1 League, have been replaced by three teams promoted from the 2023 J2 League. The first club promoted was Tokyo-based Machida Zelvia, debuting in the J1 as the J2 champions following a seven-year run in the Japanese second tier. Another automatic promotion spot was obtained by Júbilo Iwata, who made a swift comeback after just a single season absence by finishing second, thus marking the return of a team from Shizuoka in the Japanese first division since 2022. The last promotion spot was earned by Tokyo Verdy, returning to the top flight for the first time since 2008 by finishing third in the J2 League and later won the promotion play-offs. This brings back the Tokyo derby between Verdy and FC Tokyo in the J1 for the first time since that season as well as the first season in which three clubs from the capital city are competing at the highest tier of Japanese football system.

Schedule

The league and match format was announced on 19 December 2023. The league began on 23 February and is scheduled to end on 8 December; it is played in a double round-robin format with 38 fixtures in total.

Participating clubs

Club	Location	Stadium	Capacity
Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	Hokkaido	Sapporo Dome	38,794
Kashima Antlers	Ibaraki Prefecture	Kashima Soccer Stadium	39,170
Urawa Red Diamonds	Saitama Prefecture	Saitama Stadium 2002	62,010
Kashiwa Reysol	Chiba Prefecture	Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium	15,109
FC Tokyo	Tokyo	Ajinomoto Stadium	49,970
Tokyo Verdy
Machida Zelvia		Machida GION Stadium	15,489
Kawasaki Frontale	Kanagawa Prefecture	Uvance Todoroki Stadium by Fujitsu	26,827
Yokohama F. Marinos		Nissan Stadium	71,822
Shonan Bellmare		Lemon Gas Stadium Hiratsuka	15,380
Albirex Niigata	Niigata Prefecture	Denka Big Swan Stadium	41,684
Júbilo Iwata	Shizuoka Prefecture	Yamaha Stadium	15,156
Nagoya Grampus	Aichi Prefecture	Toyota Stadium	43,739
Sanga !Kyoto Sanga	Kyoto Prefecture	Sanga Stadium by Kyocera	21,623
Gamba Osaka	Osaka Prefecture	Panasonic Stadium Suita	39,694
Cerezo Osaka		Yodoko Sakura Stadium	24,481
Vissel Kobe	Hyōgo Prefecture	Noevir Stadium Kobe	28,996
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshima Prefecture	Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima	28,520
Avispa Fukuoka	Fukuoka Prefecture	Best Denki Stadium	21,562
Sagan Tosu	Saga Prefecture	Ekimae Real Estate Stadium	24,130

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Main shirt sponsor
Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	Mihailo Petrović	Takuma Arano	Mizuno	Ishiya
Kashima Antlers	Ranko Popović	Gaku Shibasaki	Nike	LIXIL
Urawa Red Diamonds	Per-Mathias Høgmo	Hiroki Sakai	Nike	PolusMitsubishi Heavy Industries
Kashiwa Reysol	Masami Ihara	Taiyo Koga	Yonex	Hitachi
FC Tokyo	Peter Cklamovski	Masato Morishige	New Balance	Tokyo Gas
Tokyo Verdy	Hiroshi Jofuku	Koki Morita	Athleta	Nicigas
Machida Zelvia	Go Kuroda	Gen Shoji	Adidas	CyberAgent
Kawasaki Frontale	Toru Oniki	Yasuto Wakizaka	Puma	Fujitsu
Yokohama F. Marinos	Harry Kewell	Takuya Kida	Adidas	Nissan
Shonan Bellmare	Satoshi Yamaguchi	Kim Min-tae	Penalty	Meldia
Albirex Niigata	Rikizo Matsuhashi	Yuto Horigome	Adidas	Kameda Seika
Júbilo Iwata	Akinobu Yokouchi	Hiroki Yamada	Admiral	Yamaha
Nagoya Grampus	Kenta Hasegawa	Sho Inagaki	Mizuno	Toyota GR Yaris
Kyoto Sanga	Cho Kwi-jae	Temma Matsuda	Puma	Kyocera
Gamba Osaka	Dani Poyatos	Takashi Usami	Hummel	Panasonic
Cerezo Osaka	Akio Kogiku	Tatsuya Yamashita	Puma	Yanmar
Vissel Kobe	Takayuki Yoshida	Hotaru Yamaguchi	Asics	Rakuten Mobile
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Michael Skibbe	Sho Sasaki	Nike	Edion
Avispa Fukuoka	Shigetoshi Hasebe	Tatsuki Nara	Yonex	Shin Nihon Seiyaku
Sagan Tosu	Kenta Kawai	Naoyuki Fujita	New Balance	Kimura Information Technology

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in the table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Kashima Antlers	Daiki Iwamasa	End of contract	4 December 2023	Pre-season	Ranko Popović	21 December 2023
Yokohama F. Marinos	Kevin Muscat	Resigned	6 December 2023		Harry Kewell	31 December 2023
Urawa Red Diamonds	Maciej Skorża		23 December 2023		Per-Mathias Høgmo	23 December 2023

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Machida Zelvia	17	11	2	4	28	15	+13	35	Qualification for the AFC Champions League Elite league stage
2	Kashima Antlers	17	11	2	4	30	19	+11	35
3	Gamba Osaka	17	9	4	4	17	12	+5	31	Qualification for the AFC Champions League Two group stage
4	Vissel Kobe	17	9	3	5	25	13	+12	30
5	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	16	6	8	2	28	15	+13	26
6	FC Tokyo	17	7	5	5	27	25	+2	26
7	Nagoya Grampus	17	8	2	7	20	19	+1	26
8	Urawa Red Diamonds	17	7	4	6	27	23	+4	25
9	Cerezo Osaka	17	6	7	4	22	18	+4	25
10	Avispa Fukuoka	17	6	7	4	18	18	0	25
11	Tokyo Verdy	17	5	9	3	26	26	0	24
12	Kashiwa Reysol	17	5	7	5	17	23	−6	22
13	Yokohama F. Marinos	15	5	5	5	24	21	+3	20
14	Kawasaki Frontale	17	5	5	7	25	25	0	20
15	Albirex Niigata	17	5	4	8	22	26	−4	19
16	Júbilo Iwata	17	5	3	9	22	26	−4	18
17	Sagan Tosu	16	4	2	10	21	28	−7	14
18	Shonan Bellmare	17	3	5	9	23	32	−9	14	Relegation to the J2 League
19	Kyoto Sanga	17	2	5	10	13	31	−18	11
20	Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	17	2	5	10	16	36	−20	11

Updated to match(es) played on 2 June 2024. Source: J1 League, J.League Data Site
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head goals scored; 7) Fewer disciplinary points.

Results

Home \ Away	ANI	AFU	COS	GOS	HCS	JIW	KSA	KSR	KWF	KYS	MCZ	NGR	STO	SHI	SHB	TOK	TOV	URD	VKO	YFM
Albirex Niigata	—	1–2	0–1		1–1			1–1				1–0		1–1		1–3		2–4		3–1
Avispa Fukuoka		—	0–3	1–0	0–0	2–2	1–0		1–1					1–1	1–1	1–3
Cerezo Osaka			—	a	1–1				1–0					1–1	2–0	2–2	2–1		1–4	2–2
Gamba Osaka	1–0		1–0	—		2–1	1–2		3–1	0–0			2–1
Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo				1–0	—	1–0	0–3				1–2	1–2		1–1	3–3	1–2		0–1
Júbilo Iwata	2–0					—		0–1			2–0	0–1	0–3		3–2			1–1	0–2
Kashima Antlers			1–1			1–0	—		2–1	1–0					3–1		3–3		1–0	3–2
Kashiwa Reysol		0–2	1–1		2–1		1–2	—		1–1		0–2	1–1		2–1			1–0
Kawasaki Frontale					3–0	4–5		1–1	—	0–1	0–1	2–1				3–0	0–0	3–1
Kyoto Sanga	0–1	2–3	1–1			0–3				—	0–3			0–5	1–2					2–3
Machida Zelvia	1–3		2–1	1–1			1–0	2–0			—		3–1	1–2			5–0		1–2
Nagoya Grampus		0–0	2–1	0–1			0–3			1–1	0–1	—							0–2	2–1
Sagan Tosu	1–2		0–2		4–0		4–2		5–2			0–2	—			0–1	0–2		0–0
Sanfrecce Hiroshima				1–1		2–0	1–3		2–2			2–3	4–0	—	2–0			2–0
Shonan Bellmare	2–1			1–2					1–2		0–0		2–1		—		1–2	4–4	0–1
FC Tokyo				0–1			2–0	3–3		2–1	1–2			1–1		—	a	2–1	1–2	1–1
Tokyo Verdy	2–2	0–0		0–0	5–3	3–2		1–1		2–2						2–2	—			1–2
Urawa Red Diamonds		2–1		0–1						3–0	1–2	2–1	3–0				1–1	—	1–1	2–1
Vissel Kobe	3–2	1–0			6–1			0–1		0–1				0–0			0–1		—	1–2
Yokohama F. Marinos		0–1		2–0		1–1		4–0	0–0						2–2					—

Updated to match(es) played on 2 June 2024. Source: J1 League
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

External links

• Official website, JLeague.jp

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