The 2015 Meiji Yasuda J2 League (2015 明治安田生命J2リーグ) season was the 44th season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 17th season since the establishment of J2 League. The season began on 8 March 2015 and ended on 23 November 2015. This was first season of J2 League as renamed from J. League Division 2.
Clubs Shonan Bellmare have stayed in the second division for just a year, winning promotion as the champions. Matsumoto Yamaga have spent only 3 seasons in J2 after promoted from Japan Football League in 2012, becoming the first club based in Nagano Prefecture which have promoted to the top flight. Sixth-placed Montedio Yamagata won the promotion playoffs and will return in the first division after playing in the J2 for 3 years. Tokushima Vortis were relegated from the J1 immediately after their inaugural promotion, while Cerezo Osaka and Omiya Ardija have suffered relegation respectively after five and ten years from their last presence in J2.
On the other end of the table, Zweigen Kanazawa have been promoted from 2014 J3 League as the champions of the inaugural season of the J3 League, replacing relegated Kataller Toyama.
The participating clubs are listed in the following table: Club nameHome town(s)Note(s) Omiya, Saitama Relegated from J1 League in 2014Avispa FukuokaFukuoka Cerezo Osaka Osaka Relegated from J1 League in 2014 Consadole Sapporo Sapporo, HokkaidōEhime FCAll cities/towns in EhimeFagiano OkayamaAll cities/towns in OkayamaAll cities/towns in GifuGiravanz KitakyushuKitakyushu, Fukuoka Not eligible for J1 promotionMito, Ibaraki Not eligible for J1 promotionJEF United ChibaChiba & Ichihara, Chiba2014 J2 League play-off finalist Júbilo Iwata Iwata, Shizuoka 2014 J2 League play-off contestantKamatamare Sanuki Takamatsu, Kagawa Kagawa Not eligible for J1 promotionRoasso KumamotoKumamotoSouthwestern cities/towns in KyotoThespakusatsu GunmaAll cities/towns in Gunma Not eligible for J1 promotionTochigi SCUtsunomiya, Tochigi Oita Trinita ŌitaV-Varen NagasakiAll cities/towns in NagasakiAll cities/towns in Tokyo All cities/towns in Tokushima Relegated from J1 League in 2014Yokohama FCYokohama, KanagawaZweigen KanazawaKanazawaPromoted from J3 League in 2014
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerDate of separationManner of departureIncoming managerDate of announcement Oita Trinita Kazuaki Tasaka 1 June Sacked Nobuaki Yanagida 2 July Mito HollyHock Tetsuji Hashiratani 7 June Sacked Takayuki Nishigaya 27 June Kyoto Sanga Masahiro Wada 10 July Sacked Kiyotaka Ishimaru 10 July Tochigi SC Yuji Sakakura 20 July Resigned Yasuharu Kurata 21 July Consadole Sapporo Ivica Barbarić 24 July Resigned Shuhei Yomoda 24 July Yokohama FC Miloš Rus 15 September Resigned Hitoshi Nakata 15 September Cerezo Osaka Paulo Autuori 17 November Sacked Kiyoshi Okuma 17 November
Foreign players Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Asian player Non-visa foreign Type-C contract Carlinhos Paraiba Mateus Dragan Mrđa Avispa Fukuoka Moisés Wellington Lee Kwang-seon Edmílson Magno Cruz Pablo Felipe Kim Jin-hyeon Consadole Sapporo Nildo Paulão Cristian Nazarit Gu Sung-yun Irfan Bachdim Ehime FC Park Chan-yong Gang Yoon-goo Park Seong-su Fagiano Okayama Hwang Jin-sung Gilsinho Henik Leo Mineiro Yun Chang-su Giravanz Kitakyushu Song Ju-hun Park Kwang-il Kim Song-gi JEF United Chiba Paulinho Nejc Pecnik Kim Hyun-hun An Byong-jun Júbilo Iwata Adaílton Jay Bothroyd Krzysztof Kaminski Kamatamare Sanuki Allan Evson Andrea Han Chang-joo Roasso Kumamoto Anderson Kweon Han-jin Kim Byeong-yeon Daniel Lovinho Ferro Miloš Bajalica Kim Nam-il Hwang Te-song Thespakusatsu Gunma Acleisson Hugo Tanque Yoon Young-seung Hwang Song-su Kaique Tochigi SC Jhonatan Han Hee-hoon Lee Joo-young Park Hyung-jin Oita Trinita Daniel Evandro Paulinho Kim Jeong-hyun Alan Pinheiro Bruno Coutinho Weslley Ko Kyung-joon V-Varen Nagasaki Cho Min-woo Lee Yong-jae Ri Yong-jik Tokushima Vortis Alex Estiven Kim Kyung-jung Kim Jong-min Son Se-hwan Yokohama FC Rok Štraus Bae Hu-min Park Tae-hong Na Sung-soo An Yong-hak Zweigen Kanazawa Jean Moser Mendes Cha Young-hwan
League table
Results
Play-offs
J1 Promotion Playoffs 2015 J.League Road To J1 Play-Offs (2015 J1昇格プレーオフ)
Semifinals
Final
Avispa Fukuoka was promoted to J1 League.
J3 Relegation Playoffs 2015 J2/J3 Play-Offs (2015 J2・J3入れ替え戦)
Oita Trinita was relegated to J3 League.Machida Zelvia was promoted to J2 League.
Top scorers RankScorerClubGoals1 Jay BothroydJúbilo Iwata 202 Dragan MrdjaOmiya Ardija 193 Rui KomatsuGiravanz Kitakyushu 184 AdailtonJúbilo Iwata 175 Masashi OguroKyoto Sanga 156 Nejc PečnikJEF United Chiba 147 Ken TokuraConsadole Sapporo 13 Ataru EsakaThespa Kusatsu Shohei KiyoharaZweigen Kanazawa Kazuki HaraGiravanz Kitakyushu11 Hiroaki NambaFC Gifu 12 Kazuki SaitoRoasso Kumamoto13 Akihiro IenagaOmiya Ardija 11 Kazuhisa KawaharaEhime FC15 Keiya NakamiTochigi SC 10 Shuto MinamiTokyo Verdy Diego ForlánCerezo Osaka Keiji TamadaCerezo Osaka
Updated to games played on 23 November 2015Source: Meiji Yasuda J2 League Stats & Data - Ranking:Goals
Attendances
References