The was the seventh season of the nationwide fourth tier of Japanese football, and the 22nd season since the establishment of Japan Football League.
Postponement of the beginning of the season On February 27, the opening game and match day 2 were postponed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
On March 16, it was announced match day 3 would be postponed. On March 25, it was announced Match day 4, Match day 5 would be postponed.
On April 7, it was announced Match day 6 would also be postponed.
On April 15 it was finally decided that only the second half of the season would be played beginning on the scheduled date, July 18. No relegations happened and the winners and runners-up of the Japanese Regional Series were automatically promoted, meaning that the 2021 season would be held with 17 clubs.
On June 24, the JFL announced new dates. The league match for this season started on July 18. Match days 16 and 17, and each home game opening game were held as a without spectator match.
Clubs
Sixteen clubs featured in this season of Japan Football League. There were some changes: FC Imabari got promoted to J3, after finishing third in 2019, while Ryutsu Keizai Dragons was relegated after playing for five seasons at this level. Matsue City FC, who finished second-last place, were fated to go back to Japanese Regional Leagues as well, but avoided the drop thanks to FC Imabari going up to J3 League.
There are two new clubs in the JFL, debuting at this level after finishing in the top two in the 2019 Japanese Regional Series: Iwaki FC dominated the final stage, while Kochi United SC overcame the other two teams – Ococias Kyoto AC and Fukui United FC – to get the final spot for this seasons JFL.
Club name Home town Position Notes Honda FC Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 1st 2019 Champions Miyazaki, Miyazaki 6th Iwaki FC Iwaki, Fukushima RPS 1st Winners of TSL and 43rd RPS, 100 Year Plan-status and J3 license holders Kochi United SC Kōchi, Kōchi RPS 2nd Winners of SSL and runners-up of 43rd RPS Maruyasu Okazaki Okazaki, Aichi 11th Matsue City FC Matsue, Shimane 15th MIO Biwako Shiga Kusatsu, Shiga 9th Applied for 100 Year Plan-status Nara Club All cities/towns in Nara 14th 100 Year Plan-status and J3 license holders Higashiōsaka, Osaka 8th 100 Year Plan-status and J3 license holders Aomori, Aomori 13th 100 Year Plan-status and J3 license holders Sony Sendai Tagajō, Miyagi 2nd Suzuka Point Getters Suzuka, Mie 12th Applied for 100 Year Plan-status Tegevajaro Miyazaki Miyazaki & Shintomi, Miyazaki 5th 100 Year Plan-status and J3 license holders Tokyo Musashino City Musashino, Tokyo 4th No more 100 Year Plan-status, withdrew J3 license Veertien Mie All cities/towns in Mie 10th 100 Year Plan-status and J3 license holders Verspah Oita Yufu & Ōita, Ōita 7th
Personnel and kits Club Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Honda FC Hiroyasu Ibata Yuya Suzuki Umbro Shinya Shirakawa Naoya Oyama Kappa Iwaki FC Yuzo Tamura Masaru Hidaka Under Armour Kochi United SC Akihiro Nishimura Tsubasa Yokotake bonera Maruyasu Okazaki Ryuji Kitamura Teruyuki Moniwa ATHLETA Matsue City FC Noriaki Sanenobu Yuzuru Tabira GAViC MIO Biwako Shiga Hiroshi Otsuki Ryo Nishiguchi JOGARBOLA Nara Club Maiki Hayashi Shinichi Mukai SQUADRA Shinya Tsukahara Tomoyuki Iwamoto bonera Tatsuya Mochizuki Kanta Takahashi Umbro Sony Sendai FC Gen Nakamura Kenta Ogihara Umbro Suzuka Point Getters Milagros Martínez Domínguez Kohei Fujita ATHLETA Tegevajaro Miyazaki Keiji Kuraishi Kenta Ishii Penalty Tokyo Musashino City Hisayuki Ikegami Koji Ishihara Yonex Veertien Mie Nobuhiro Ueno Hitoshi Nishimura Puma Verspah Oita Shigemitsu Sudo Kosei Uryu YASUDA
League table
Top scorers . Rank Player Club Goals Tatsuma SakaiMatsue City FC Kazuki SakamotoMIO Biwako Shiga Motoki FujiwaraSony Sendai FC Jin ShioyaVeertien Mie Shoma MizunagaTegevajaro Miyazaki Kaima AkahoshiKochi United SC8 players
Promotion and relegation Despite the JFL announcing that there would be no promotion or relegation of clubs, the J. League agreed to admit Tegevajaro Miyazaki to the J3 League on November 24, 2020, after Miyazaki finished in the top four positions. Miyazaki ultimately finished runners-up.
FC Tiamo Hirakata and FC Kariya were promoted from the Regional Leagues as Regional Promotion Series champions and runners-up respectively. Kariya returned to the JFL after being relegated back in 2009.
Attendances
23 games played with no spectators due to COVID-19 worldwide pandemic
See also Japan Football Association (JFA) J.League 2020 J1 League (I) 2020 J2 League (II) 2020 J3 League (III) 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