The was the eighth season of the Japan Football League, the third tier of the Japanese football league system.
Overview
It was contested by 18 teams, and Honda FC won the championship.
Before the season two corporate clubs changed their names and were re-established as independent organizations. Denso SC became FC Kariya and FC Horikoshi became Arte Takasaki.
FC Ryukyu, JEF Reserves and Rosso Kumamoto were promoted from Regional leagues by the virtue of their placing in the Regional League promotion series, thus expanding the league to 18 teams.
At the J. League meeting in August, Rosso Kumamoto were approved as first J. League associate members, becoming eligible to J2 promotion. No such promotion took place because they failed to achieve at least 4th spot in the final standings.
Table
Results
Top scorers RankScorerClubGoals 1 Tetsuya OkuboSagawa Express Tokyo 26 2 Yosuke KobayashiYokogawa Musashino 23 Junya NittaHonda FC 23 4 Yoshio KitagawaALO's Hokuriku 22 5 Sho GokyuSagawa Express Osaka 21 6 Hiroki KishidaYKK AP 20 7 Kodai SuzukiHonda FC 18 8 Hideki UchiyamaSC Tottori 17 9 Yutaka TakahashiRosso Kumamoto 15 10 Kento HoriSagawa Express Tokyo 14
Attendance
Promotion and relegation Due to the merger of Sagawa Express teams into one club, the Regional League promotion series winners TDK SC were promoted automatically. FC Gifu were set to play Honda Lock in the promotion and relegation series.
F.C. Gifu won the series at 8–1 aggregate score and earned promotion to JFL. Honda Lock were relegated to Kyushu regional league.
References