The 2011 J.League Division 1 season was the 46th season of professional football in Japan, and the 19th since the establishment of the J.League. The season began on March 5 and concluded on December 3. The season was put on hold from March 12 to April 23 due to the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, therefore canceling a planned five-week summer break between June 27–July 29 in order to allow preparation of the Japan national team for the 2011 Copa América.
The 2011 J.League Division 1 champion also qualified to the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup as the host team, entering the qualifying play-off round.
Kashiwa Reysol won a second league title, their first in 39 years and first in the professional J.League era. They also became the first champions to win the title the season after being promoted as second division champions.
Clubs FC Tokyo, Kyoto Sanga and Shonan Bellmare were relegated at the end of the 2010 season after finishing in the bottom three places of the table. Shonan had only played one season in Division 1 while Kyoto had enjoyed a three-year stay. FC Tokyo had been in the top flight for eleven seasons.
The three relegated teams were replaced by 2010 J.League Division 2 champions Kashiwa Reysol, runners-up Ventforet Kofu and third-placed team Avispa Fukuoka. Kashiwa had made an immediate return to the top division, while Kofu and Fukuoka ended three- and four-year absences respectively.
Club name Home town(s) NotesAlbirex Niigata Niigata & Seirō, Niigata Avispa Fukuoka Fukuoka Promoted from J2 League in 2010Cerezo Osaka Osaka 2011 ACL participantGamba Osaka Suita, Osaka 2011 ACL participantJúbilo Iwata Iwata, Shizuoka Kashima Antlers Southwestern cities/towns of Ibaraki 2011 ACL participantKashiwa Reysol Kashiwa, Chiba Promoted from J2 League in 2010Kawasaki Frontale Kawasaki, Kanagawa Montedio Yamagata All cities/towns in Yamagata Nagoya Grampus Nagoya, Aichi 2011 ACL participant2010 Defending championsOmiya Ardija Omiya, Saitama Sanfrecce Hiroshima Hiroshima Shimizu S-Pulse Shizuoka Urawa Red Diamonds Urawa, Saitama Vegalta Sendai Sendai, Miyagi Ventforet Kofu All cities/towns in Yamanashi Promoted from J2 League in 2010Vissel Kobe Kobe, Hyōgo Yokohama F. Marinos Yokohama & Yokosuka
Personnel and kits Club Head coach1 Captain1 Kit manufacturer1 Shirt sponsor1Albirex Niigata Hisashi Kurosaki Isao Homma Adidas Kameda SeikaAvispa Fukuoka Tetsuya Asano Kosuke Nakamachi svolme EVERLIFECerezo Osaka Levir Culpi Teruyuki Moniwa Mizuno YanmarGamba Osaka Akira Nishino Tomokazu Myojin Umbro PanasonicJúbilo Iwata Masaaki Yanagishita Daisuke Nasu Puma YamahaKashima Antlers Oswaldo de Oliveira Mitsuo Ogasawara Nike LIXILKashiwa Reysol Nelsinho Baptista Hidekazu Otani Yonex HitachiKawasaki Frontale Naoki Soma Yusuke Igawa Puma FujitsuMontedio Yamagata Shinji Kobayashi Katsuyuki Miyazawa Puma TsuyahimeNagoya Grampus Dragan Stojković Seigo Narazaki Le Coq Sportif ToyotaOmiya Ardija Jun Suzuki Chikara Fujimoto Under Armour NTT DocomoSanfrecce Hiroshima Mihailo Petrović Hisato Satō Nike DeodeoShimizu S-Pulse Afshin Ghotbi Shinji Ono Puma SuzuyoUrawa Red Diamonds Takafumi Hori Keita Suzuki Nike SavasVegalta Sendai Makoto Teguramori Atsushi Yanagisawa Asics IRIS OHYAMAVentforet Kofu Satoru Sakuma Hideomi Yamamoto Mizuno HakubakuVissel Kobe Masahiro Wada Takayuki Yoshida Asics RakutenYokohama F. Marinos Kazushi Kimura Shunsuke Nakamura Nike Nissan
1 Subject to change during the season.
Foreign players club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 AFC player Non-visa foreign Type-C contract Former player(s) Albirex Niigata Anderson Gonzaga Bruno Lopes Michael Cho Young-cheol Avispa Fukuoka Rafael Ramazotti Kim Min-je Cerezo Osaka Fábio Lopes Martinez Kim Jin-hyeon Kim Bo-kyung Rodrigo Pimpão Gamba Osaka Rafinha Kim Seung-yong Lee Keun-ho Kim Jung-ya Afonso Adriano Júbilo Iwata Gilsinho Rodrigo Souto Lee Woo-jin Park Joo-ho Kashima Antlers Alex Fellype Gabriel Tartá Igor Sartori Carlão Kashiwa Reysol Jorge Wagner Leandro Domingues Park Dong-hyuk An Yong-hak Kweon Han-jin Roger Kawasaki Frontale Juninho Montedio Yamagata Maicon Souza Hugo Alcântara Nagoya Grampus Danilson Córdoba Igor Burzanović Joshua Kennedy Omiya Ardija Rafael Marques Rodrigo Pimpão Kim Young-gwon Lee Chun-soo Sanfrecce Hiroshima Ante Tomić Mihael Mikić Davit Mujiri Shimizu S-Pulse Alex Brosque Calvin Jong-a-Pin Freddie Ljungberg Eddy Bosnar Urawa Red Diamonds Márcio Richardes Mazola Ranko Despotović Matthew Spiranovic Vegalta Sendai Diego Souza Max Carrasco Cho Byung-kuk Park Ju-sung Ryang Yong-gi Marquinhos Ventforet Kofu Daniel Tijolo Davi Paulinho Kim Jin-kyu Rudnei Vissel Kobe Popó Raphael Botti Rogerinho Bae Chun-suk Park Kang-jo Lee Jae-min Yokohama F. Marinos Kim Kun-hoan Pablo Bastianini
League table
Results
Top scorers RankScorerClubGoals 1 Joshua Kennedy Nagoya Grampus 19 2 Mike Havenaar Ventforet Kofu 17 3 Leandro Domingues Kashiwa Reysol 15 Tadanari Lee Sanfrecce Hiroshima Lee Keun-ho Gamba Osaka 6 Keiji Tamada Nagoya Grampus 14 Ryoichi Maeda Júbilo Iwata Shingo Akamine Vegalta Sendai 9 Bruno Lopes Albirex Niigata 13 Junya Tanaka Kashiwa Reysol 11 Hidetaka Kanazono Júbilo Iwata 12 Yu Kobayashi Kawasaki Frontale Yūzō Tashiro Kashima Antlers 14 Rafinha Gamba Osaka 11 15 Jorge Wagner Kashiwa Reysol 10 Paulinho Ventforet Kofu Rafael Marques Omiya Ardija Hisato Satō Sanfrecce Hiroshima Ryūji Bando Cerezo Osaka 20 Adriano Gamba Osaka 9 Genki Haraguchi Urawa Red Diamonds Hideaki Kitajima Kashiwa Reysol Jungo Fujimoto Nagoya Grampus Masashi Oguro Yokohama F. Marinos Takayuki Yoshida Vissel Kobe Yoshito Ōkubo Vissel Kobe 27 Juninho Kawasaki Frontale 8 Genki Omae Shimizu S-Pulse Hideya Okamoto Avispa Fukuoka Shu Kurata Cerezo Osaka
Awards
MVP Leandro Domingues
Top scorer Joshua Kennedy
Best XI PositionPlayerGK Seigo NarazakiDF Hiroki SakaiDF Marcus Tulio TanakaDF Naoya KondoMF Jorge WagnerMF Leandro DominguesMF Hiroshi KiyotakeMF Jungo FujimotoMF Yasuhito EndōFW Joshua KennedyFW Mike Havenaar
Attendance
Notes Note 1: Kashima Antlers played one game at the Japan National Stadium in Tokyo as the Kashima Soccer Stadium in Kashima was damaged in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
In popular culture This particular season was used as reference in the movie Detective Conan: The Eleventh Striker. Many players in real life actually provide cameo roles for the film, including Kazuyoshi Miura (Yokohama FC), Yasuhito Endō (Gamba Osaka), Yasuyuki Konno (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), and Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus). In the movie, a bomber threatens to bomb all the stadiums unless certain conditions are met. The main character, Conan Edogawa, must solve the case and find the culprit. In the movie, two additional fictional teams are added to the squad: Tokyo Spirits and Big Osaka, making the league with 20 teams.
References