The 2003 J. League Division 2 season was the 32nd season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 5th season since the establishment of J.League Division 2.
In this season, twelve clubs competed in the quadruple round-robin format. The top two received promotion to the J. League Division 1. There were no relegation to the third-tier Japan Football League.
Clubs
The following twelve clubs participated in J. League Division 2 during 2003 season. Of these clubs, Consadole Sapporo and Sanfrecce Hiroshima were relegated from Division 1 last year.
Albirex Niigata Avispa Fukuoka Consadole Sapporo Kawasaki Frontale Mito HollyHock Montedio Yamagata Omiya Ardija Sagan Tosu Sanfrecce Hiroshima Shonan Bellmare Ventforet Kofu Yokohama FC
Personnel Club Head coachAlbirex Niigata Yasuharu SorimachiAvispa Fukuoka Hiroshi MatsudaConsadole Sapporo Chang Woe-ryongKawasaki Frontale Nobuhiro IshizakiMito HollyHock Hideki MaedaMontedio Yamagata Koichi HashirataniOmiya Ardija Eijun KiyokumoSagan Tosu Yoshinori SembikiSanfrecce Hiroshima Takeshi OnoShonan Bellmare Matsuichi YamadaVentforet Kofu Hideki MatsunagaYokohama FC Pierre Littbarski
Foreign players Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Non-visa foreign Type-C contract Former players Albirex Niigata Anderson Batatais Fabinho Santos Marcus Vinícius Issey Nakajima-Farran An Yong-hak Geílson Avispa Fukuoka Bentinho Serjão Alex Consadole Sapporo Andradina Reginaldo Tarik Oulida Beto Robert Will Kawasaki Frontale Augusto César Juninho Robert Diogo Tilico Jorge Dely Valdés Mito HollyHock Francisco Fernández Frank Lobos Marcus Tulio Tanaka Hwang Hak-sun Montedio Yamagata Nivaldo Alexandre Omiya Ardija Baré Edson Araújo Toninho Alexandre Finazzi Sagan Tosu Jefferson Juninho Pericles Satoshi Ōtomo Bruno Cabrerizo Junior Coimbra Sanfrecce Hiroshima César Sampaio Marcelo Ramos Ricardo Ri Han-jae Tomislav Erceg Shonan Bellmare Ever Palacios Kim Geun-chol Santos Hámilton Ricard Ventforet Kofu Jorginho Alair Juninho Yokohama FC Rudi Vata Dirk Lehmann Mathieu Boots Fernando Moner Dirk van der Ven
League format Twelve clubs played in quadruple round-robin format, a total of 44 games each. A club receives 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. The clubs are ranked by points, and tie breakers are, in the following order: Goal differential Goals scored Head-to-head results A draw would be conducted, if necessary. However, if two clubs are tied at the first place, both clubs would be declared as the champions. The top two clubs are promoted to J1.
League table
Final results
Top scorers RankScorerClubGoals1 Marcus ViníciusAlbirex Niigata2 JuninhoKawasaki Frontale3 BaréOmiya Ardija4 BentinhoAvispa Fukuoka5 Augusto CésarKawasaki Frontale6 Marcelo RamosSanfrecce Hiroshima7 Kazuki GanahaKawasaki Frontale 13 Yusaku UenoAlbirex Niigata9 Shoji JoYokohama FC 10 Hiroyuki HayashiAvispa Fukuoka 11 Kosei NakamuraMontedio Yamagata
Attendance figures
References