The 2020 J2 League, also known as the for sponsorship reasons, was the 28th season of J2 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1993. The league started on 21 February 2020. For this season, the league was planned to have a season break to avoid a clash with 2020 Summer Olympics due to be starting from June to August, as the Olympics were postponed by a year.
Effects of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic On 25 February, all J.League matches until March 15 were postponed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. After that, it was announced that it would be postponed until 29 March. On 19 March, the J.League announced no relegation would take place for the 2020 season, with the J1 League expanding to 20 clubs for the 2021 season. On 25 March, a further announcement declared that the league would be suspended from 3 April to 6 May.
On 3 April, a decision to start over the official game schedule, which aimed to gradually resume J3 from 25 April, J2 from 2 May, and J1 from 9 May. Note that, considering a new schedule in the future, but it would resume it at least one month later and later in the month.
On 29 May, the J.League announced a resumption of matches on 27 June. On 9 June, the league issued a further announcement about the schedule of the 2020 season. On 15 June, a new announcement about the New dates was published. The first 2 rounds of matches in each league (J2 2nd-3rd series) were held without spectators. After 10 July, as a rule, the maximum number of people was 5,000 (stadiums with lower capacity were those with less than 50% of the capacity of people, and forbade away supporters). After August, the maximum stadium capacity was 50%, and it would be a “high alert spectator match”.
After the 11th J.League extraordinary executive committee on 20 July, it was announced that the "super strict alert audience game" would be extended to 10 August in view of the spread of coronavirus infection.
Clubs
After spending only one season in J2, Kashiwa Reysol were crowned champions and were promoted to 2020 J1 League along with the runners-up Yokohama FC. The 2019 J3 League champions Giravanz Kitakyushu and runners-up Thespakusatsu Gunma entered the league as the promoted teams, replacing Kagoshima United and FC Gifu who were relegated to 2020 J3 League. Those teams that qualified for promotion playoffs in 2019 were unable to defeat their opponent and thus remained in the 2020 season.
Giravanz Kitakyushu returned to J2 after spending three seasons in J3, while Thespakusatsu Gunma return after spending two seasons.
Meanwhile, Matsumoto Yamaga and Júbilo Iwata joined the 2020 J2 League as relegated teams from 2019 J1 League having placed 17th and 18th respectively.
Club NameHome TownStadiumCapacityLast seasonlicence Albirex Niigata Niigata & Seiro, Niigata Denka Big Swan Stadium 42,300 J2 (10th) J1 Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Level5 Stadium 22,563 J2 (16th) J1Ehime FC All cities/towns in Ehime Ningineer Stadium 20,000 J2 (19th) J1Fagiano OkayamaAll cities/towns in Okayama City Light Stadium 20,000 J2 (9th) J1Giravanz KitakyushuKitakyushu, FukuokaMikuni World Stadium Kitakyushu15,066 Promoted from J3 (champions) J1JEF United ChibaChiba & Ichihara, Chiba Fukuda Denshi Arena 18,500 J2 (17th) J1 Júbilo Iwata Iwata, Shizuoka Yamaha Stadium 15,165 Relegated from J1 (18th) J1Cities/towns in Kyoto Sanga Stadium by Kyocera 21,600 J2 (8th) J1Machida ZelviaMachida, Tokyo Machida Athletic Stadium 10,600 J2 (18th) J1 Matsumoto Yamaga Cities/towns in Nagano Sunpro Alwin 20,396 Relegated from J1 (17th) J1Cities/towns in Ibaraki K's denki Stadium Mito 12,000 J2 (7th) J2 All cities/towns in Yamagata ND Soft Stadium 20,315 J2 (6th) J1 Omiya Ardija Saitama, Saitama NACK5 Stadium Omiya 15,500 J2 (3rd) J1 Renofa Yamaguchi All cities/towns in Yamaguchi Yamaguchi Ishin Park Stadium 20,000 J2 (15th) J1FC RyukyuAll cities/towns in Okinawa Tapic Kenso Hiyagon Stadium 25,000 J2 (14th) J1Tochigi SCUtsunomiya, Tochigi Tochigi Green Stadium 18,025 J2 (20th) J1Thespakusatsu GunmaAll cities/towns in GunmaShoda Shoyu Stadium Gunma15,253 Promoted from J3 (2nd） J1 All cities/towns in Tokushima Pocarisweat Stadium 20,441 J2 (4th) J1 V-Varen Nagasaki All cities/towns in Nagasaki Prefecture Nagasaki Athletic Stadium 20,246 J2 (12th) J1 Ventforet Kofu All cities/towns in Yamanashi Prefecture Yamanashi Chuo Bank Stadium 17,000 J2 (5th) J1All cities/towns in Tokyo Ajinomoto Stadium 49,970 J2 (13th) J1Zweigen KanazawaAll cities/towns in Ishikawa Ishikawa Kanazawa Stadium 20,000 J2 (11th) J1
Personnel and kits Club Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Albirex Niigata Albert Puig Adidas Shigetoshi Hasebe YONEXEhime FC Kenta Kawai MizunoFagiano Okayama Kenji Arima PenaltyGiravanz Kitakyushu Shinji Kobayashi PenaltyJEF United Chiba Yoon Jong-hwan KappaJúbilo Iwata Fernando Jubero Puma Noritada Saneyoshi PumaMachida Zelvia Ranko Popović SVOLME Matsumoto Yamaga Keiichiro Nuno Adidas Tadahiro Akiba GAViC Kiyotaka Ishimaru Penalty Omiya Ardija Takuya Takagi Under Armour Renofa Yamaguchi Masahiro Shimoda FintaFC Ryukyu Yasuhiro Higuchi sfidaTochigi SC Kazuaki Tasaka ATHLETAThespakusatsu Gunma Ryosuke Okuno Kelme Ricardo Rodríguez Mizuno V-Varen Nagasaki Makoto Teguramori Umbro Ventforet Kofu Akira Ito Mizuno Hideki Nagai ATHLETAZweigen Kanazawa Masaaki Yanagishita Adidas
Managerial changes
TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyIncoming managerDate ofappointment Matsumoto Yamaga Keiichiro Nuno Dismissal 25 September 2020 Kei Shibata 25 September 2020 Júbilo Iwata Fernando Jubero Dismissal 1 October 2020 Masakazu Suzuki 2 October 2020
Foreign players As of 2020 season, there are no more restrictions on a number of signed foreign players, but clubs can only register up to five foreign players for a single match-day squad. Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia and Qatar) are exempt from these restrictions.
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
ClubPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Player 5Player 6 Player 7Former players Montedio Yamagata Vinícius Araújo Min Seong-jun Halef Pitbull Tochigi SC Woo Sang-ho Han Yong-thae Thespakusatsu Gunma Nermin Haskić Vitālijs Maksimenko Filip Kljajić Ippei Shinozuka Ibba Laajab JEF United Chiba Alan Pinheiro Kléber Jang Min-gyu Jason Geria Hebert Tokyo Verdy Leandro Klebinho Matheus Vidotto Machida Zelvia Alen Mašović Ri Han-jae Dorian Babunski Jeong Chung-geun Stefan Šćepović Erick Noriega Ventforet Kofu Dudu Rafael Marques Matsumoto Yamaga Augusto César Serginho Alvaro Jael Han Yong-thae Albirex Niigata Jong Tae-se Silvinho Gonzalo González Pedro Manzi Mauro dos Santos Fábio Zweigen Kanazawa Rodolfo Lucão Jubilo Iwata Lulinha Lukian Juan Forlín Fozil Musaev Kyoto Sanga Renan Mota Juninho Jordy Buijs Peter Utaka Fagiano Okayama Paulinho Léo Mineiro Lee Yong-jae Yu Yong-hyeon Lee Kyeong-tae Choi Jung-won Hadi Fayyadh Renofa Yamaguchi Renan Henik Iury Sandro Tokushima Vortis Diego Dušan Cvetinović Ehime FC Sisi Douglas Grolli Jon Ander Serantes Carlos Gutiérrez Juanma Emil Salomonsson Giravanz Kitakyushu V-Varen Nagasaki Caio César Freire Luan Víctor Ibarbo Edigar Junio FC Ryukyu Felipe Tavares Danny Carvajal Lee Ji-seong Ri Yong-jik Cao Văn Triền Trần Danh Trung
League table It was decided on 19 March to change the format regarding the rules for promotion/relegation for the end of the season for the J1, J2 and J3 leagues, such that there would be no relegation this season, that two clubs from the J2 League would be promoted to the 2021 J1 League, and that two clubs from the J3 League would be promoted to the 2021 J2 League (subject to licensing regulations). It was also announced that the J1/J2 play-offs would not be held.
Positions by round
Top scorers Source: Rank Player Club Goals Peter Utaka Kyoto Sanga Akira Silvano Disaro Giravanz Kitakyushu Yuki Kakita Tokushima Vortis Kazuma Yamaguchi Mito HollyHock Vinícius Araújo Montedio Yamagata Masato Nakayama Mito HollyHock Takuma Abe FC Ryukyu Mutsuki Kato Zweigen Kanazawa Kazuma Takai Renofa Yamaguchi Daiya Tono Avispa Fukuoka Dudu Ventforet Kofu Lukian Júbilo Iwata Lucão Zweigen Kanazawa Koya Kazama FC Ryukyu
Attendances
See also Japan Football Association (JFA) J.League 2020 J1 League (I) 2020 J2 League (II) 2020 J3 League (III) 2020 Japan Football League (IV) 2020 Japanese Regional Leagues (V/VI) 2020 Fuji Xerox Super Cup (Super Cup) 2020 Emperor's Cup (National Cup) 2020 J.League YBC Levain Cup (League Cup)
References
External links Official website, JLeague.jp