The 2024 J1 League, also known as the for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd season of J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. This was the tenth season of the league since its rebrand from J.League Division 1.
Vissel Kobe were the defending champions, having won their first ever league title with one match to spare in the previous season. They retained their league title on the last matchday.
Overview For the first time since 2021, the number of the clubs in the league increased from 18 to 20. At the end of season, three clubs were relegated to the J2 League for the 2025 season, without relegation play-offs between J1 and J2 clubs.
Changes from the previous season Only one club was relegated to the 2024 J2 League. Due to the re-introduction of 20 clubs league format, Yokohama FC became the sole team going down to the second division, after just one season in the J1 League. They were replaced by three teams promoted from the 2023 J2 League. The first club promoted was Tokyo-based Machida Zelvia, debuting in the J1 as the J2 champions following a seven-year run in the Japanese second tier. Another automatic promotion spot was obtained by Júbilo Iwata, who made a swift comeback after just a single season absence by finishing second, thus marking the return of a team from Shizuoka in the Japanese first division since 2022. The last promotion spot was earned by Tokyo Verdy, returning to the top flight for the first time since 2008 by finishing third in the J2 League and later won the promotion play-offs. This brings back the Tokyo derby between Verdy and FC Tokyo in the J1 for the first time since that season as well as the first season in which three clubs from the capital city are competing at the highest tier of Japanese football system.
Schedule The league and match format was announced on 19 December 2023. The league began on 23 February and ended on 8 December; it was played in a double round-robin format with 38 fixtures in total.
Participating clubs
+Club Location Stadium CapacityHokkaido Consadole Sapporo Hokkaido Sapporo Dome38,794Kashima Antlers Ibaraki Prefecture Kashima Soccer Stadium 39,095Urawa Red Diamonds Saitama Prefecture Saitama Stadium 2002 62,040Kashiwa Reysol Chiba Prefecture Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium 15,109FC Tokyo Tokyo Ajinomoto Stadium 47,851Tokyo VerdyMachida Zelvia Machida GION Stadium 15,489Kawasaki Frontale Kanagawa Prefecture Uvance Todoroki Stadium by Fujitsu 26,827Yokohama F. Marinos Nissan Stadium 71,624Shonan BellmareLemon Gas Stadium Hiratsuka15,380Albirex NiigataNiigata PrefectureDenka Big Swan Stadium41,684Júbilo IwataShizuoka PrefectureYamaha Stadium15,156Nagoya Grampus Aichi Prefecture Toyota Stadium 42,753Kyoto PrefectureSanga Stadium by Kyocera21,623Gamba OsakaOsaka PrefecturePanasonic Stadium Suita39,694Cerezo OsakaYodoko Sakura Stadium24,481Vissel Kobe Hyōgo Prefecture Noevir Stadium Kobe 29,643Sanfrecce Hiroshima Hiroshima Prefecture Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima 28,347Avispa Fukuoka Fukuoka Prefecture Best Denki Stadium 21,562Sagan Tosu Saga Prefecture Ekimae Real Estate Stadium 20,805
Personnel and kits Club Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Main shirt sponsor Albirex Niigata Rikizo Matsuhashi Yuto Horigome Adidas Kameda Seika Avispa Fukuoka Shigetoshi Hasebe Tatsuki Nara Yonex Shin Nihon Seiyaku Cerezo Osaka Akio Kogiku Tatsuya Yamashita Puma Yanmar FC Tokyo Peter Cklamovski Masato Morishige New Balance Tokyo Gas Gamba Osaka Dani Poyatos Takashi Usami Hummel Panasonic Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo Mihailo Petrović Takuma Arano Mizuno Ishiya Júbilo Iwata Akinobu Yokouchi Hiroki Yamada Admiral Yamaha Kashima Antlers Masaki Chugo Gaku Shibasaki Nike LIXIL Kashiwa Reysol Masami Ihara Taiyo Koga Yonex Hitachi Kawasaki Frontale Toru Oniki Yasuto Wakizaka Puma Fujitsu Kyoto Sanga Cho Kwi-jae Temma Matsuda Puma Kyocera Machida Zelvia Go Kuroda Gen Shoji Adidas CyberAgent Nagoya Grampus Kenta Hasegawa Sho Inagaki Mizuno Toyota Sagan Tosu Kosuke Kitani Naoyuki Fujita New Balance Kimura Information Technology Sanfrecce Hiroshima Michael Skibbe Sho Sasaki Nike EDION Shonan Bellmare Satoshi Yamaguchi Kim Min-tae Penalty Meldia Tokyo Verdy Hiroshi Jofuku Koki Morita Athleta Nicigas Urawa Red Diamonds Maciej Skorża Shusaku Nishikawa Nike PolusMitsubishi Heavy Industries Vissel Kobe Takayuki Yoshida Hotaru Yamaguchi Asics Rakuten Mobile Yokohama F. Marinos John Hutchinson (interim) Takuya Kida Adidas Nissan
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in the tableIncoming managerDate ofappointmentKashima Antlers Daiki IwamasaEnd of contract4 December 2023Pre-season Ranko Popović21 December 2023Yokohama F. Marinos Kevin MuscatResigned6 December 2023 Harry Kewell31 December 2023Urawa Red Diamonds Maciej Skorża23 December 2023 Per-Mathias Høgmo23 December 2023Yokohama F. Marinos Harry KewellSacked16 July 202412th John Hutchinson (interim)16 July 2024Sagan Tosu Kenta Kawai9 August 202419th Kosuke Kitani9 August 2024Urawa Red Diamonds Per-Mathias Høgmo26 August 202413th Nobuyasu Ikeda (interim)27 August 2024 Nobuyasu Ikeda (interim)End of interim spell1 September 202412th Maciej Skorża1 September 2024Kashima Antlers Ranko PopovićSacked6 October 20244th Masaki Chugo9 October 2024
Foreign players From the 2021 season, there are no limitations on signing foreign players, but clubs can only register up to five of them for a single matchday squad. Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Morocco, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia) 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, holds the nationality of a J.League partner nation, 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 6Player 7Player 8Former player (s)Albirex Niigata Thomas Deng Danilo Gomes Michael Fitzgerald Avispa Fukuoka Douglas Grolli Wellington Shahab Zahedi Nassim Ben Khalifa Cerezo Osaka Capixaba Léo Ceará Lucas Fernandes Vitor Bueno Kim Jin-hyeon Yang Han-been Jordy Croux Justin HubnerFC Tokyo Diego Oliveira Everton Galdino Henrique Trevisan Jajá Silva Gamba Osaka Dawhan Juan Alano Welton Zhang Aolin Neta Lavi Issam Jebali Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo Francis Cann Kinglord Safo Amadou Bakayoko Kim Gun-hee Park Min-gyu Jordi Sánchez Supachok SarachatJúbilo Iwata Jordy Croux Bruno José Léo Gomes Matheus Peixoto Ricardo Graça Weverton Hassan Hilu Park Se-giKashima Antlers Guilherme Parede Talles Aleksandar Čavrić Radomir Milosavljević Park Eui-jeongKashiwa Reysol Diego Matheus Sávio Jay-Roy GrotKawasaki Frontale Erison Jesiel Marcinho Patrick Verhon Zé Ricardo César Haydar Jung Sung-ryong Bafétimbi Gomis Kyoto Sanga Lucas Oliveira Marco Túlio Murilo Costa Rafael Elias Gu Sung-yun Yoon Sung-jun Warner HahnMachida Zelvia Mitch Duke Erik Byron Vásquez Ibrahim Drešević Jang Min-gyu Na Sang-ho Oh Se-hun Anton BurnsNagoya Grampus Mitchell Langerak Patric Kasper Junker José Carabalí Ha Chang-rae Yves Avelete ThalesSagan Tosu Jajá Silva Marcelo Ryan Vinícius Araújo Vykintas Slivka Kim Tae-hyeon Lee Yoon-sung Park Il-gyu Arnau RieraSanfrecce Hiroshima Douglas Vieira Ezequiel Marcos Júnior Pieros Sotiriou Tolgay Arslan Gonçalo Paciência Shonan Bellmare Luiz Phellype Lukian Kim Min-tae Song Bum-keun Tokyo Verdy Matheus Vidotto Tiago Alves Urawa Red Diamonds Thiago Santana Bryan Linssen Marius Høibråten Samuel Gustafson Ekanit Panya Alexander Scholz Ola SolbakkenVissel Kobe Jean Patric Matheus Thuler Yokohama F. Marinos Anderson Lopes Eduardo Élber Yan Matheus Kodjo Aziangbe Nam Tae-hee
League table
Results
Season statistics Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Anderson LopesYokohama F. Marinos242 Léo CearáCerezo Osaka213 Ryo GermainJúbilo Iwata19 Shin YamadaKawasaki Frontale5 Yuma SuzukiKashima Antlers156 Marcelo RyanSagan Tosu147 Yoshinori MutoVissel Kobe138 Thiago SantanaUrawa Red Diamonds12 Takashi UsamiGamba Osaka10 LukianShonan Bellmare11 Rafael EliasKyoto Sanga Taisei MiyashiroVissel Kobe Yuki OhashiSanfrecce Hiroshima Yuya OsakoVissel Kobe
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Ref. Ryo Germain4Júbilo IwataKawasaki Frontale5–4 (A)1 March 2024 Bafétimbi GomisKawasaki FrontaleHokkaido Consadole Sapporo3–0 (H)11 May 2024 Kasper JunkerNagoya GrampusFC Tokyo3–1 (H)15 May 2024 Naoto AraiSanfrecce HiroshimaKyoto Sanga5–0 (A)19 May 2024 Anderson LopesYokohama F. MarinosKashiwa Reysol4–0 (H)29 May 2024 LukianShonan BellmareJúbilo Iwata5–0 (H)14 July 2024 Rafael EliasKyoto SangaCerezo Osaka5–3 (A)17 August 2024 Tolgay ArslanSanfrecce HiroshimaFC Tokyo3–2 (H)31 August 2024 Anderson LopesYokohama F. MarinosJúbilo Iwata4–3 (H)16 November 2024 Hiroto TaniguchiTokyo VerdyKawasaki Frontale4–5 (H)30 November 2024 Shin YamadaKawasaki FrontaleTokyo Verdy5–4 (A) Notes 4 Player scored 4 goals (H) – Home team (A) – Away team
Awards Monthly awards MonthManager of the MonthMonthly MVPGoal of the MonthYoung Player of the MonthReferencesManagerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubFebruary/March Go KurodaMachida Zelvia Yu HirakawaMachida Zelvia Kaito TaniguchiAlbirex Niigata Akito SuzukiShonan BellmareApril Akio KogikuCerezo Osaka Ryo GermainJúbilo Iwata Thiago SantanaUrawa Red Diamonds Isa SakamotoGamba OsakaMay Ranko PopovićKashima Antlers Yuma SuzukiKashima Antlers Tomoya InukaiKashiwa Reysol Kota TawaratsumidaFC TokyoJune Shigetoshi HasebeAvispa Fukuoka Takashi UsamiGamba Osaka Yosuke FurukawaJúbilo Iwata Yosuke FurukawaJúbilo IwataJuly Satoshi YamaguchiShonan Bellmare LukianShonan Bellmare Sho InagakiNagoya Grampus Ayumu YokoyamaSagan TosuAugust Cho Kwi-jaeKyoto Sanga Rafael EliasKyoto Sanga Eiji MiyamotoAlbirex Niigata Kota TakaiKawasaki FrontaleSeptember Michael SkibbeSanfrecce Hiroshima Kensuke NagaiNagoya Grampus Homare TokudaKashima Antlers Akito SuzukiShonan BellmareOctober Satoshi YamaguchiShonan Bellmare Takashi UsamiGamba Osaka Takashi UsamiGamba Osaka Junnosuke SuzukiShonan BellmareNovember/December Kosuke KitaniSagan Tosu Yoshinori MutoVissel Kobe Yuma SuzukiKashima Antlers Isa SakamotoGamba Osaka
Annual awards AwardWinnerClubManager of the Year Michael SkibbeSanfrecce HiroshimaPlayer of the Year Yoshinori MutoVissel KobeBest Young Player Kota TakaiKawasaki FrontaleGoal of the Year Takashi UsamiGamba Osaka
Best XI Goalkeeper Keisuke Osako (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) Defenders Kimito Nono (Kashima Antlers) Shinnosuke Nakatani (Gamba Osaka) Matheus Thuler (Vissel Kobe) Sho Sasaki (Sanfrecce Hiroshima) Midfielders Matheus Sávio (Kashiwa Reysol) Kei Chinen (Kashima Antlers) Forwards Takashi Usami (Gamba Osaka) Anderson Lopes (Yokohama F. Marinos) Yuya Osako (Vissel Kobe) Yoshinori Muto (Vissel Kobe)
See also 2024 Japanese Super Cup 2024 Emperor's Cup 2024 J.League Cup 2024 J2 League 2024 J3 League 2024 Japan Football League 2024 Japanese Regional Leagues
References
External links Official website Official website J.League Data Site J.League Data Site