2014 J.League Division 2

The 2014 J.League Division 2 season was the 43rd season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 16th season since the establishment of J2 League. The season commenced on 2 March and ended on 23 November. Post-season promotion and relegation playoffs will be played until 7 December.

J.League Division 2

Season	2014
Champions	Shonan Bellmare 1st J2 title 3rd D2 title
Promoted	Shonan Bellmare Matsumoto Yamaga Montedio Yamagata
Relegated	Kataller Toyama
Matches played	462
Goals scored	1,124 (2.43 per match)
Top goalscorer	Masashi Oguro (26 goals)
Highest attendance	20,636 Trinita vs Roasso
Lowest attendance	1,450 Kamatamare vs Tochigi SC
Average attendance	6,589
← 2013 2015 →

Clubs

Gamba Osaka and Vissel Kobe have stayed in the second division for just a year, winning a promotion as champions and runners-up respectively. Fourth-placed Tokushima Vortis won the promotion playoffs and become the very first Shikoku club to play in the top flight since the establishment of Japan Soccer League, the first amateur nationwide football league in Japan. Shonan Bellmare and Oita Trinita were relegated from the first division immediately after promotion, and Júbilo Iwata have suffered their debut relegation after 20 years in the first division.

On the other end of the table, Kamatamare Sanuki have been promoted from 2013 Japan Football League, replacing Gainare Tottori whom they defeated in the J2–JFL playoffs.

On 29 September the J.League licensing board issued J1 licenses to all J2 clubs except Mito HollyHock, FC Gifu, and Giravanz Kitakyushu.^[1] This means these three clubs are not eligible to play in J1 for 2015 season and therefore cannot be promoted directly or via playoffs.

 

 

Fukuoka

 

Sapporo

 

Ehime

 

Okayama

 

Gifu

 

Iwata

 

Kitakyushu

 

Sanuki

 

Toyama

 

Kyoto

 

Matsumoto

 

Mito

 

Yamagata

 

Oita

 

Kumamoto

 

Gunma

 

Tochigi

 

Nagasaki

 

Greater Tokyo Area
Chiba, Shonan, Tokyo, Yokohama

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Locations of the 2014 J.League 2 teams

The participating clubs are listed in the following table:

Club Name	Home Town(s)	Note(s)
Avispa Fukuoka	Fukuoka
Shonan Bellmare	Hiratsuka, Kanagawa	Relegated from J1 League in 2013
Consadole Sapporo	Sapporo, Hokkaidō
Ehime FC	All cities/towns in Ehime
Fagiano Okayama	All cities/towns in Okayama
FC Gifu	All cities/towns in Gifu	Not eligible for J1 promotion
Giravanz Kitakyushu	Kitakyushu, Fukuoka	Not eligible for J1 promotion
Mito HollyHock	Mito, Ibaraki	Not eligible for J1 promotion
JEF United Chiba	Chiba & Ichihara, Chiba
Júbilo Iwata	Iwata, Shizuoka	Relegated from J1 League in 2013
Kamatamare Sanuki	Takamatsu, Kagawa	Promoted from JFL in 2013
Kataller Toyama	All cities/towns in Toyama
Montedio Yamagata	All cities/towns in Yamagata
Roasso Kumamoto	Kumamoto
Kyoto Sanga	Southwestern cities/towns in Kyoto
Thespakusatsu Gunma	All cities/towns in Gunma
Tochigi SC	Utsunomiya, Tochigi
Oita Trinita	Ōita	Relegated from J1 League in 2013
Tokyo Verdy	All cities/towns in Tokyo
V-Varen Nagasaki	All cities/towns in Nagasaki
Matsumoto Yamaga	Matsumoto, Nagano
Yokohama FC	Yokohama, Kanagawa

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Asian Player	Non-Visa Foreign	Type-C Contract
Avispa Fukuoka	Lee Kwang-seon	Oh Chang-hyun		Park Kun		Tam Sheang Tsung
Shonan Bellmare	Wellington
Consadole Sapporo	Paulão	Renan	Jeong Shung-hoon	Lee Ho-seung	Stefano Lilipaly
Ehime FC	Ricardo Lobo	Kim Min-je	Moon Dong-ju	Han Hee-hoon
Fagiano Okayama	Hugo					Piakai Henkel
FC Gifu	Henik	Kleiton Domingues	Cristian Nazarit		Tiago Pereira
Giravanz Kitakyushu
Mito HollyHock	Osmar			Yun Yeong-seung	Kim Song-gi
JEF United Chiba	Jair	Kempes	Kim Hyun-hun	Nam Seung-woo
Júbilo Iwata	Ferdinando	Popó	Tinga	Baek Sung-dong
Kamatamare Sanuki	Allan	Evson	Andrea Blede	Song Han-Ki
Kataller Toyama	Park Tae-Hong			Kim Young-keun		Gao Zhunyi
Montedio Yamagata	Diego Souza	Kim Byeom-yong		Lee Joo-young	Romero Frank
Roasso Kumamoto	Anderson	Fábio	Kim Byeong-yeon	Kim Jeong-seok	Pablo
Kyoto Sanga	Douglas	Jairo	Miloš Bajalica	Oh Seung-hoon	Hwang Te-song
Thespakusatsu Gunma	Daniel Lovinho	Eder	Kweon Han-jin	Hwang Song-su	Hwang Tae-jun	Kaique
Tochigi SC	Lee Min-soo			Cha Young-hwan
Oita Trinita	Daniel	Dzenan Radoncic	Gang Yoon-goo	Kim Jeong-hyun		Jonathan
Tokyo Verdy	Abuda	Nildo		Kim Jong-pil
V-Varen Nagasaki	Stipe	Knez	Lee Yong-Jae	Lee Dae-heon		Jung Hoon-sung
Matsumoto Yamaga	Sabia	Lee Jun-Hyeob		Yoon Sung-yeul
Yokohama FC	Douglas	Ronaldo	Park Sung-ho	Na Sung-soo	An Yong-hak	Felipe

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Shonan Bellmare (C, P)	42	31	8	3	86	25	+61	101	Qualification for 2015 J1 League
2	Matsumoto Yamaga (P)	42	24	11	7	65	35	+30	83
3	JEF United Chiba	42	18	14	10	55	44	+11	68	Qualification for Promotion Playoffs^[a]
4	Júbilo Iwata	42	18	13	11	67	55	+12	67
5	Giravanz Kitakyushu	42	18	11	13	50	50	0	65	Ineligible for promotion
6	Montedio Yamagata (P)	42	18	10	14	57	44	+13	64	Qualification for Promotion Playoffs^[a]
7	Oita Trinita	42	17	12	13	52	55	−3	63
8	Fagiano Okayama	42	15	16	11	52	48	+4	61
9	Kyoto Sanga	42	14	18	10	57	52	+5	60
10	Consadole Sapporo	42	15	14	13	48	44	+4	59
11	Yokohama FC	42	14	13	15	49	47	+2	55
12	Tochigi SC	42	15	10	17	52	58	−6	55
13	Roasso Kumamoto	42	13	15	14	45	53	−8	54
14	V-Varen Nagasaki	42	12	16	14	45	42	+3	52
15	Mito HollyHock	42	12	14	16	46	46	0	50	Ineligible for promotion
16	Avispa Fukuoka	42	13	11	18	52	60	−8	50
17	FC Gifu	42	13	10	19	54	61	−7	49	Ineligible for promotion
18	Thespakusatsu Gunma	42	14	7	21	45	54	−9	49
19	Ehime FC	42	12	12	18	54	58	−4	48
20	Tokyo Verdy	42	9	15	18	31	48	−17	42
21	Kamatamare Sanuki	42	7	12	23	34	71	−37	33	Qualification for Relegation Playoffs^[b]
22	Kataller Toyama (R)	42	5	8	29	28	74	−46	23	Relegation to 2015 J3 League^[b]

Updated to match(es) played on 23 November 2014. Source: J.League data
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Only teams that meet J1 license criteria can participate in promotion playoffs. If one or more teams fail to meet the criteria, only eligible teams that finished 3rd to 6th will participate and no replacement teams will be added.
2. The playoffs and direct exchange between J2 and J3 are subject to eligibility of J2-licensed teams in top 2 of 2014 J3 League

Results

Home \ Away	AVI	BEL	CON	EHI	FAG	GIF	GIR	HOL	JEF	JÚB	KAM	KAT	MON	ROS	SAN	SPA	TOC	TRI	VVN	VER	YAM	YFC
Avispa Fukuoka		0–0	2–2	1–1	2–3	1–0	0–1	0–1	1–0	3–1	1–2	2–1	0–1	1–3	1–0	1–1	2–0	1–2	2–5	0–1	1–2	1–0
Shonan Bellmare	2–0		2–0	3–0	2–0	0–0	2–0	4–2	1–1	1–1	3–1	2–0	1–0	2–1	3–0	1–0	2–1	4–0	1–2	1–0	1–1	4–1
Consadole Sapporo	1–1	2–0		0–1	3–1	3–2	3–0	4–0	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	2–2	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–1	2–1	0–0	1–0	0–1
Ehime FC	0–0	1–0	2–3		2–3	0–0	2–1	0–2	2–2	0–1	2–0	4–0	4–0	4–0	0–0	0–2	0–1	1–2	0–3	2–1	1–4	2–1
Fagiano Okayama	1–1	0–0	2–0	1–1		2–1	0–3	1–1	1–0	1–1	2–2	0–0	1–4	1–1	2–3	1–2	3–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	0–0
FC Gifu	1–2	2–3	1–1	4–3	2–2		1–1	0–2	2–2	0–4	3–1	3–0	1–0	2–3	2–1	1–0	1–3	2–3	1–1	3–0	3–1	1–2
Giravanz Kitakyushu	3–5	0–4	2–0	0–3	2–1	2–0		1–0	1–0	3–2	2–1	2–2	0–1	1–1	1–3	2–1	0–1	1–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–1
Mito HollyHock	1–2	0–1	0–0	0–0	0–1	3–2	1–1		1–2	4–1	0–0	2–3	0–1	0–0	5–1	2–0	1–2	2–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	2–2
JEF United Chiba	3–0	0–6	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–0	1–3	1–0		2–2	1–1	2–1	2–0	3–0	3–0	3–2	0–2	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–0
Júbilo Iwata	3–3	1–2	0–1	2–0	1–1	3–1	3–1	1–0	2–0		4–2	3–2	0–2	3–1	2–2	2–0	2–3	1–1	1–0	1–2	1–1	2–2
Kamatamare Sanuki	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–2	2–1	1–2	1–1	0–0	0–1	1–4		2–1	0–3	1–1	2–2	1–0	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	0–5	0–1
Kataller Toyama	1–2	0–1	0–2	1–3	0–3	0–0	0–2	0–3	1–1	0–1	1–1		1–1	0–2	1–2	0–1	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–3	3–2	1–2
Montedio Yamagata	2–1	1–3	2–1	2–0	0–2	3–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	0–1	4–0	1–0		1–2	1–0	1–2	6–1	2–0	2–1	1–2	0–0	2–4
Roasso Kumamoto	2–1	1–3	0–2	3–1	0–0	0–3	0–1	2–1	0–0	0–0	4–1	2–0	1–3		1–4	0–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	0–0	0–1	2–2
Kyoto Sanga	3–1	2–2	1–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–1	3–3	2–3	4–1	1–1	2–2	0–0		0–3	0–0	2–2	2–0	1–0	0–0	2–1
Thespakusatsu Gunma	1–2	0–1	3–0	3–2	3–2	2–2	0–0	0–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–1	0–1		2–0	2–1	2–4	1–0	1–3	0–2
Tochigi SC	1–1	0–3	2–1	3–3	0–1	3–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–2	1–2	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–1	3–0		4–0	1–0	3–2	1–2	1–1
Oita Trinita	3–0	2–3	1–0	2–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	2–3	2–4	2–0	1–0	3–0	1–0	0–1	0–3	2–1	2–1		1–1	3–2	0–2	1–0
V-Varen Nagasaki	0–0	0–3	0–1	2–1	1–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–1	1–1	2–0	0–0	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–1	0–0		0–0	0–2	1–0
Tokyo Verdy	0–5	0–0	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	0–1	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–1	1–5		1–3	1–1
Matsumoto Yamaga	2–1	1–4	1–2	2–1	1–2	1–0	0–1	3–0	2–1	2–1	0–0	2–1	0–0	2–1	2–2	3–1	2–1	2–0	0–0	1–1		2–0
Yokohama FC	2–0	1–3	2–2	0–0	0–2	0–1	1–0	1–1	0–0	4–0	4–2	2–0	2–1	0–1	0–2	1–0	3–0	1–1	1–2	0–0	0–2

Updated to match(es) played on 23 November 2014. Source: J. League data
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Play-offs

Promotion Playoffs to Division 1

2014 J.League Road To J1 Play-Offs (2014 J1昇格プレーオフ)
Because Giravanz Kitakyushu did not obtain J1 license for 2015 season, they were ineligible to participate in the playoffs. Thus, JEF United Chiba who finished third in the season received a bye into the final.

	Semifinal					Final
						3	JEF United Chiba	0
						6	Montedio Yamagata	1
	4	Júbilo Iwata	1
	6	Montedio Yamagata	2

Semifinal

---

30 November 2014 (2014-11-30)

13:00

Júbilo Iwata	1–2	Montedio Yamagata
Yamazaki   45+3'	Report	Diego   26' Yamagishi   90+2'

Yamaha Stadium, Iwata, Shizuoka

Attendance: 11,239

Referee: Jumpei Iida

Final

---

7 December 2014 (2014-12-07)

15:30

JEF United Chiba	0–1	Montedio Yamagata
		Yamazaki   37'

Ajinomoto Stadium, Chōfu, Tokyo

Attendance: 35,504

Referee: Hajime Matsuo

Montedio Yamagata was promoted to J1 League.

J3 Relegation Playoffs

2014 J2/J3 Play-Offs (2014 J2・J3入れ替え戦)

Team 1	Agg.	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Kamatamare Sanuki	1–0	Nagano Parceiro	0–0	1-0

---

30 November 2014 (2014-11-30)

12:30

Nagano Parceiro	0–0	Kamatamare Sanuki
	Report

Nagano Athletic Stadium, Nagano

Attendance: 8,944

Referee: Itaru Hirose

---

7 December 2014 (2014-12-07)

12:30

Kamatamare Sanuki	1–0	Nagano Parceiro
Kijima   71'

Kagawa Marugame Stadium, Marugame, Kagawa

Attendance: 6,170

Kamatamare Sanuki remains in J2 League.
Nagano Parceiro remains in J3 League.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Masashi Oguro	Kyoto Sanga	26
2	Wellington	Shonan Bellmare	20
3	Takayuki Funayama	Matsumoto Yamaga	19
4	Ryoichi Maeda	Júbilo Iwata	17
	Cristian Nazarit	FC Gifu	17
6	Tomoki Ikemoto	Giravanz Kitakyushu	15
7	Diego	Montedio Yamagata	14
	Daniel Lovinho	Thespakusatsu Gunma	14
	Shohei Okada	Shonan Bellmare	14
	Ken Tokura	Consadole Sapporo	14

Updated to games played on 23 November 2014
Source: J. League data

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Matsumoto Yamaga	267,402	18,496	8,608	12,733	+15.3%^†
2	Consadole Sapporo	232,255	20,633	6,646	11,060	+9.8%^†
3	JEF United Chiba	195,999	14,575	5,957	9,333	−6.7%^†
4	Júbilo Iwata	184,261	13,177	6,108	8,774	−19.5%^†
5	Shonan Bellmare	178,041	14,155	5,963	8,478	−14.5%^†
6	Oita Trinita	176,859	20,636	5,028	8,422	−29.3%^†
7	Fagiano Okayama	176,477	12,359	6,117	8,404	−2.0%^†
8	FC Gifu	159,259	15,138	3,162	7,584	+67.6%^†
9	Kyoto Sanga	157,911	12,452	3,680	7,520	−4.7%^†
10	Roasso Kumamoto	147,046	12,661	3,580	7,002	+12.4%^†
11	Montedio Yamagata	133,316	13,344	4,270	6,348	−9.6%^†
12	Tokyo Verdy	114,023	12,658	2,434	5,430	−14.4%^†
13	Tochigi SC	111,178	9,131	3,155	5,294	+7.6%^†
14	Yokohama FC	108,064	8,702	2,577	5,146	−15.1%^†
15	Avispa Fukuoka	106,303	7,875	3,444	5,062	−11.6%^†
16	V-Varen Nagasaki	101,611	12,638	3,017	4,839	−21.5%^†
17	Mito HollyHock	99,422	7,033	3,359	4,734	+2.2%^†
18	Kataller Toyama	89,596	8,018	2,622	4,266	−4.6%^†
19	Ehime FC	80,228	8,295	2,057	3,820	−3.3%^†
20	Thespakusatsu Gunma	78,961	6,407	1,509	3,760	+5.3%^†
21	Giravanz Kitakyushu	76,072	6,516	1,462	3,622	+14.1%^†
22	Kamatamare Sanuki	69,664	10,421	1,450	3,317	+6.1%^‡
	League total	3,043,948	20,636	1,450	6,589	−1.1%^†

Updated to games played on 23 November 2014
Source: J. League data
Notes:
^† Team played previous season in J1.
^‡ Team played previous season in JFL.

References

1. [J.League licensing for 2015 season.] (in Japanese). J.League. 29 September 2014. Archived from the original on 2014-10-06. Retrieved 9 October 2014.