The 2021 J1 League, also known as the for sponsorship reasons, was the 29th season of the J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. This was seventh season of J1 League as renamed from J. League Division 1. The league began on 26 February and ended on 4 December 2021.
Kawasaki Frontale were the reigning champions, having won their third title in 2020 with four rounds to play. They successfully retained the title, again with four rounds to play.
On 20 November 2021, Oita Trinita, Vegalta Sendai, and Yokohama FC were relegated to J2 League with two games to play. On the final matchday, Tokushima Vortis was relegated back to J2 League after just one season.
Changes from the previous season There were no teams relegated the previous season due to impacts related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, four relegation places were applied for the current season to reduce the total number of teams from 20 back to 18.
Two teams were promoted from the 2020 J2 League: Tokushima Vortis won the title and clinched a second promotion to J1 (the first came in 2013), while Avispa Fukuoka came second, returning to J1 after five seasons.
Clubs
+Club Location Stadium Capacity Previous season rankHokkaido Consadole Sapporo Hokkaido Sapporo DomeSapporo Atsubetsu Stadium 41,48420,861 J1 (12th)Vegalta Sendai Miyagi Prefecture Yurtec Stadium Sendai 19,694 J1 (17th)Kashima Antlers Ibaraki Prefecture Kashima Soccer Stadium 40,728 J1 (5th)Urawa Red Diamonds Saitama Prefecture Saitama Stadium 2002 63,700 J1 (10th)Kashiwa Reysol Chiba Prefecture Hitachi Kashiwa Stadium 15,900 J1 (7th)FC Tokyo Tokyo Ajinomoto Stadium 49,970 J1 (6th)Yokohama FC Kanagawa Prefecture Mitsuzawa Stadium 15,046 J1 (15th)Yokohama F. Marinos Nissan Stadium 72,327 J1 (9th)Kawasaki Frontale Todoroki Stadium 26,232 J1 (1st)Shonan Bellmare Lemon Gas Stadium Hiratsuka 18,500 J1 (18th)Shimizu S-Pulse Shizuoka Prefecture IAI Stadium Nihondaira 20,339 J1 (16th)Nagoya Grampus Aichi Prefecture Toyota Stadium 45,000 J1 (3rd)Gamba Osaka Osaka Prefecture Panasonic Stadium Suita 39,694 J1 (2nd)Cerezo Osaka Yanmar Stadium 47,853 J1 (4th)Vissel Kobe Hyōgo Prefecture Noevir Stadium Kobe 30,132 J1 (14th)Sanfrecce Hiroshima Hiroshima Prefecture Edion Stadium 36,894 J1 (8th)Tokushima Vortis Tokushima Prefecture Pocarisweat Stadium 20,441 J2 (1st)Avispa Fukuoka Fukuoka Prefecture Best Denki Stadium 21,562 J2 (2nd)Sagan Tosu Saga Prefecture Ekimae Real Estate Stadium 24,130 J1 (13th)Oita Trinita Ōita Prefecture Showa Denko Dome Oita 40,000 J1 (11th)
Personnel and kits Club Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Front shirt sponsor Avispa Fukuoka Shigetoshi Hasebe Hiroyuki Mae Yonex Shin Nihon Seiyaku Cerezo Osaka Akio Kogiku Hiroshi Kiyotake Puma Yanmar FC Tokyo Shinichi Morishita (interim) Keigo Higashi New Balance XFLAG Gamba Osaka Masanobu Matsunami (interim) Genta Miura Umbro Panasonic Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo Mihailo Petrović Hiroki Miyazawa Mizuno Ishiya Kashima Antlers Naoki Soma Kento Misao Nike Lixil Kashiwa Reysol Nelsinho Baptista Hidekazu Otani Yonex Hitachi Kawasaki Frontale Toru Oniki Shogo Taniguchi Puma Fujitsu Nagoya Grampus Massimo Ficcadenti Yuichi Maruyama Mizuno Toyota Oita Trinita Tomohiro Katanosaka Shun Takagi Puma Daihatsu Kyushu Sagan Tosu Kim Myung-hwi Eduardo New Balance Kimura Information Technology Sanfrecce Hiroshima Kentaro Sawada (interim) Sho Sasaki Nike EDION Shimizu S-Pulse Hiroaki Hiraoka Ryo Takeuchi Puma Suzuyo Shonan Bellmare Satoshi Yamaguchi Takuya Okamoto Penalty Meldia Tokushima Vortis Dani Poyatos Ken Iwao Mizuno Pocari Sweat Urawa Red Diamonds Ricardo Rodriguez Shusaku Nishikawa Nike Polus Vegalta Sendai Makoto Teguramori Simão Mate Junior Adidas Iris Ohyama Vissel Kobe Atsuhiro Miura Andrés Iniesta Asics Rakuten Yokohama FC Tomonobu Hayakawa Yuta Minami Soccer Junky Onodera Group Yokohama F. Marinos Kevin Muscat Takuya Kida Adidas Nissan
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyIncoming managerDate of appointment Yokohama FC Takahiro ShimotairaSacked 7 April 2021 Tomonobu Hayakawa 8 April 2021 Kashima Antlers Antônio Carlos Zago 14 April 2021 Naoki Soma 14 April 2021 Gamba Osaka Tsuneyasu Miyamoto 13 May 2021 Masanobu Matsunami (interim) 14 May 2021 Yokohama F. Marinos Ange Postecoglou Signed by Celtic 10 June 2021 Hideki Matsunaga (caretaker) 10 June 2021 Yokohama F. Marinos Hideki Matsunaga End of caretaker spell 18 July 2021 Kevin Muscat 18 July 2021 Cerezo Osaka Levir Culpi Sacked 26 August 2021 Akio Kogiku 26 August 2021 Shonan Bellmare Bin UkishimaResigned 31 August 2021 Satoshi Yamaguchi 1 September 2021 Sanfrecce Hiroshima Hiroshi Jofuku 26 October 2021 Kentaro Sawada (interim)26 October 2021 Shimizu S-Pulse Miguel Ángel Lotina Sacked 4 November 2021 Hiroaki Hiraoka 4 November 2021 FC Tokyo Kenta Hasegawa Resigned 7 November 2021 Shinichi Morishita (interim)10 November 2021
Foreign players As of 2019 season, there are no more restrictions on a number of signed foreign players, but clubs could 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) were exempted from these restrictions.
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window. Player's name in italics indicates the player has Japanese nationality in addition to their FIFA nationality, or is exempt from being treated as a foreign player due to having been born in Japan and being enrolled in, or having graduated from an approved type of school in the country.
ClubPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Player 5Player 6 Player 7Player 8Former players Avispa Fukuoka Jordy Croux Bruno Mendes Cauê Douglas Grolli John Mary Carlos Gutiérrez Juanma Emil Salomonsson Cerezo Osaka Adam Taggart Tiago Pagnussat Kim Jin-hyeon Đặng Văn Lâm Dankler FC Tokyo Adaílton Bruno Uvini Diego Oliveira Leandro Joan Oumari Gamba Osaka Leandro Pereira Patric Tiago Alves Wellington Silva Ju Se-jong Kim Young-gwon Shin Won-ho Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo Douglas Oliveira Lucas Fernandes Jay Bothroyd Milan Tučić Chanathip Songkrasin Anderson Lopes Gabriel Okechukwu Kim Min-tae Kashima Antlers Arthur Caíke Bueno Diego Pituca Everaldo Juan Alano Léo Silva Kwoun Sun-tae Kashiwa Reysol Cristiano Dodi Emerson Santos Matheus Sávio Richardson Rodrigo Angelotti Ippey Shinozuka Kim Seung-gyu Pedro Raúl Kawasaki Frontale Jesiel João Schmidt Leandro Damião Marcinho Jung Sung-ryong Lee Kyung-tae Nagoya Grampus Mitchell Langerak Gabriel Xavier Mateus Jakub Świerczok Kim Min-tae Oita Trinita Henrique Trevisan Matheus Pereira Sagan Tosu Eduardo Ismael Dunga Chikeluba Ofoedu Ryang Yong-gi Hwang Seok-ho Park Il-gyu Ueom Ye-hoon Sanfrecce Hiroshima Douglas Vieira Ezequiel Júnior Santos Rhayner Shimizu S-Pulse Carlinhos Júnior Elsinho Renato Augusto Ronaldo Thiago Santana Valdo Benjamin Kololli Erick Noriega William Matheus Shonan Bellmare Welinton Júnior Wellington Tarik Elyounoussi Riuler Tokushima Vortis Cacá Diego Mushaga Bakenga Dušan Cvetinović Cristian Battocchio Urawa Red Diamonds Thomas Deng Alexander Scholz Kasper Junker Vegalta Sendai Felippe Cardoso Foguinho Emmanuel Oti Jakub Słowik Nedeljko Stojišić Quenten Martinus Simão Mate Junior Isaac Cuenca Vissel Kobe Thomas Vermaelen Douglas Lincoln Andrés Iniesta Bojan Krkić Sergi Samper Ayub Masika Yokohama FC Arthur Silva Felipe Vizeu Gabriel Kléber Maguinho Saulo Mineiro Svend Brodersen Han Ho-gang Calvin Jong-a-Pin Yokohama F. Marinos Élber Léo Ceará Marcos Júnior Thiago Martins Theerathon Bunmathan
League table
Results table
Season statistics Scoring Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Leandro DamiãoKawasaki Frontale23 Daizen MaedaYokohama F. Marinos3 Kyogo FuruhashiVissel Kobe154 Ayase UedaKashima Antlers145 Diego OliveiraFC Tokyo13 PatricGamba Osaka Thiago SantanaShimizu S-Pulse8 Anderson LopesHokkaido Consadole Sapporo12 Ado OnaiwuYokohama F. Marinos10 Léo CearáYokohama F. Marinos10 Ryotaro ArakiKashima Antlers Yu KobayashiKawasaki Frontale
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Hokkaido Consadole SapporoVissel Kobe3–4 (H)20 March 2021 Yokohama F. MarinosFC Tokyo3–0 (A)1 May 2021 Kashima AntlersYokohama F. Marinos5–3 (H)15 May 2021 Vissel KobeYokohama FC5–0 (H)23 June 2021 Yokohama F. MarinosOita Trinita5–1 (H)15 August 2021 Yokohama F. MarinosVegalta Sendai5–0 (H)21 August 2021 Sanfrecce HiroshimaKashiwa Reysol3–0 (A)18 September 2021 Yokohama F. MarinosFC Tokyo8–0 (H)6 November 2021 Gamba OsakaOita Trinita3–2 (A)7 November 2021
Top assists RankPlayerClubAssists1 Miki YamaneKawasaki Frontale122 Kota MizunumaYokohama F. Marinos93 Leandro DamiãoKawasaki Frontale8 Yuki SomaNagoya Grampus5 Ryotaro ArakiKashima Antlers7 Tatsuki SekoYokohama FC Yoshinori MutoVissel Kobe8 ÉlberYokohama F. Marinos6 Hokuto ShimodaYokohama F. Marinos Ryo HatsuseVissel Kobe Teruhito NakagawaYokohama F. Marinos Yusuke MaruhashiCerezo Osaka Yuta HiguchiSagan Tosu Emil SalomonssonAvispa Fukuoka Chanathip SongkrasinHokkaido Consadole Sapporo
Discipline Player Most yellow cards: 9 Douglas Grolli (Avispa Fukuoka) Most red cards: 2 Takumi Kamijima (Kashiwa Reysol) Kim Min-tae (Nagoya Grampus) Takaaki Shichi (Avispa Fukuoka)
Club Most yellow cards: 49 Avispa Fukuoka Kashima Antlers Most red cards: 3 FC Tokyo Kashima Antlers Sagan Tosu Yokohama F. Marinos Awards Award Winner Club Manager of the Year Ricardo Rodríguez Urawa Red Diamonds Most Valuable Player Leandro Damião Kawasaki Frontale Rookie of the Year Ryotaro Araki Kashima Antlers Top Scorer Leandro Damião Daizen Maeda Kawasaki FrontaleYokohama F. Marinos
+ J.League Best XI Goalkeeper Mitchell Langerak(Nagoya Grampus) Defence Jesiel(Kawasaki Frontale) Shogo Taniguchi(Kawasaki Frontale) Miki Yamane(Kawasaki Frontale) Midfield Akihiro Ienaga(Kawasaki Frontale) Andrés Iniesta(Vissel Kobe) Sho Inagaki(Nagoya Grampus) Yasuto Wakizaka(Kawasaki Frontale) Attack Leandro Damião(Kawasaki Frontale) Daizen Maeda(Yokohama F. Marinos) Reo Hatate(Kawasaki Frontale)
See also J.League MVP of the month
References
External links Official website, JLeague.co