The 2024 J3 League, also known as the for sponsorship reasons, was the 11th season of the J3 League, the third-tier Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2013.
Overview The league continued with 20 teams for the 2024 season.
The top two teams in the league will be automatically promoted to the J2 League, provided they have the necessary license. The 2024 season introduces a promotion play-offs, where one of the teams ranked 3rd to 6th will also be promoted. As of September 2024, all clubs in the league now hold a valid J2 license, following FC Osaka being the final club to be granted one.
There is the possibility that as many as two clubs will be relegated to the Japan Football League. Promotion from the JFL is conditional on holding a valid J3 license. If the JFL champions hold a license, the club will be automatically promoted and the J3's 20th-placed team will be automatically relegated. If the JFL runners-up hold a license, the club will need to play promotion/relegation play-offs against J3's 19th or 20th-placed team for the season, depending on whether the JFL champions hold the J3 license. The club(s) who do not hold a license cannot be promoted and no teams will be relegated from the J3 League.
Schedule The league and match format was announced on 19 December 2023. The league began on 23 February and ended on 10 November in a round-robin format of 38 matches.
The J3 promotion play-offs were held in a similar manner to the J2 playoffs, with the semi-finals on 1 December with the final taking place on 7 December.
Changes from the previous season Zweigen Kanazawa and Omiya Ardija were relegated to the J3 League, finishing the previous J2 League season as 21st and 22nd-placed teams, respectively. Zweigen Kanazawa are returning to the J3 League after nine seasons in the second-tier. Omiya Ardija will be competing in the third-tier for the first time as a J.League member.
No teams were relegated from the 2023 J3 League. This is only the second time in J3 history that there will be no new clubs promoted from the JFL.
J3 winners Ehime FC and runners-up Kagoshima United were both promoted from the 2023 season.
Clubs
Club nameHome townStadiumCapacityLast seasonLicenceAzul Claro NumazuNumazuAshitaka Stadium5,104J3 (13th)J2Fukushima UnitedFukushimaToho Stadium5,710J3 (15th)J1Gainare TottoriAll cities/towns in TottoriAxis Bird Stadium11,999J3 (6th)J2All cities/towns in GifuGifu Nagaragawa Stadium16,310J3 (8th)J1Giravanz KitakyushuKitakyushu, FukuokaMikuni World Stadium Kitakyushu15,066J3 (20th)J1FC ImabariImabariASICS Satoyama Stadium5,316J3 (4th)J2Iwate Grulla MoriokaAll cities/towns in IwateIwagin Stadium & Kitakami Stadium5,046J3 (10th)J1Kamatamare SanukiAll cities/towns in KagawaPikara Stadium22,338J3 (16th)J1Kataller ToyamaAll cities/towns in ToyamaToyama Athletic Stadium18,588J3 (3rd)J1Matsumoto YamagaCities/towns in NaganoSunpro Alwin20,336J3 (9th)J1Nagano ParceiroNaganoNagano U Stadium15,491J3 (14th)J2Nara ClubAll cities/towns on NaraRohto Field Nara5,369J3 (5th)J2Omiya ArdijaSaitama, SaitamaNACK5 Stadium Omiya15,491 J2 (21st; Relegated)J1FC OsakaHigashiōsaka, OsakaHanazono Rugby Stadium26,443J3 (11th)J3FC RyukyuAll cities/towns in OkinawaTapic Kenso Hiyagon Stadium10,189J3 (17th)J1SC SagamiharaSagamiharaGion Stadium11,808J3 (18th)J2Tegevajaro MiyazakiMiyazaki & Shintomi, MiyazakiUnilever Stadium Shintomi5,357J3 (19th)J2Vanraure HachinohePrifoods Stadium5,124J3 (7th)J2YSCC YokohamaYokohamaNippatsu Mitsuzawa Stadium15,442J3 (12th)J2Zweigen KanazawaAll cities/towns in IshikawaIshikawa Kanazawa Stadium10,728 J2 (22nd; Relegated)J1
Personnel and kits Club Manager Captain Kit manufacturerMain shirt sponsorAzul Claro Numazu Masashi Nakayama Takuya Sugai PenaltyUsuiFukushima United Shuhei Terada Kaito Yamamoto HummelToho BankGainare Tottori Kentaro Hayashi Hiroto Sese Soccer JunkySan-in Godo BankFC Gifu Kenichi Amano Yoshihiro Shoji RazzoliHot StaffGiravanz Kitakyushu Kohei Masumoto Haruki Izawa UmbroTOTOFC Imabari Toshihiro Hattori Keishi Kusumi AsicsUnicharmIwate Grulla Morioka Kei Hoshikawa Atsutaka Nakamura KelmeNovaKamatamare Sanuki Atsushi Yoneyama AnguaRexxamKataller Toyama Michiharu Otagiri Kosei Wakimoto GoldwinYKK APMatsumoto Yamaga Masahiro Shimoda Akira Ando AdidasEpsonNagano Parceiro Riki Takagi Takuya Akiyama PenaltyHoktoNara Club Ichizo Nakata Yuki Kotani SquadraDaiwa HouseOmiya Ardija Tetsu Nagasawa Yutaro Hakamata Under ArmourNTT DocomoFC Osaka Naoto Otake Shusuke Sakamoto boneraTobu Top ToursFC Ryukyu Kim Jong-song Ryunosuke Noda sfidaGMO CoinSC Sagamihara Yuki Richard Stalph Akihiko Takeshige UmbroGionTegevajaro Miyazaki Yuji Okuma Hikaru Manabe YonexEnatsu Shoji HoldingsVanraure Hachinohe Nobuhiro Ishizaki Naoyuki Yamada HummelATMIXYSCC Yokohama Kazuki Kuranuki Kento Dodate BoneraSanshinZweigen Kanazawa Akira Ito Yuto Shirai Hummel12
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in the tableIncoming managerDate ofappointmentZweigen Kanazawa Masaaki YanagishitaEnd of contract5 November 2023Pre-season Akira Ito11 December 2023Giravanz Kitakyushu Shinji KobayashiResigned22 November 2023 Kohei Masumoto15 December 2023Gainare Tottori Kohei Matsumoto (interim)End of interim spell24 November 2023 Kentaro Hayashi8 December 2023Fukushima United Mitsumasa YodaResigned27 November 2023 Shuhei Terada13 December 2023FC Osaka Ryo ShigakiSigned by Renofa Yamaguchi5 December 2023 Naoto Otake18 December 2023Tegevajaro Miyazaki Mitsuo KatoResigned5 December 2023 Yuji Okuma19 December 2023Omiya Ardija Masato Harasaki9 November 2023 Tetsu Nagasawa11 December 2023FC Imabari Naoto Kudo10 December 2023 Toshihiro Hattori11 December 2023Iwate Grulla Morioka Tetsuji NakamikawaManagement restructure8 May 202420th Takuya Jinno8 May 2024SC Sagamihara Kazuyuki TodaContract terminated19 June 20249th Yuki Richard Stalph26 June 2024FC Gifu Yusaku UenoResigned27 June 202411th Kenichi Amano28 June 2024 (interim)30 September 2024 (full)Iwate Grulla Morioka Takuya JinnoContract terminated18 August 202420th Kei Hoshikawa18 August 2024Nara Club Julián MarínContract terminated4 September 202418th Ichizo Nakata4 September 2024
Foreign players From the 2021 season onwards, there is no limitations on signing foreign players, but clubs could only register up to five of them for a single matchday 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 summer 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 8Player 9Former players Azul Claro Numazu Gustavo Rissi Fukushima United Gainare Tottori FC Gifu Mun In-ju Lee Yong-jae Giravanz Kitakyushu Koh Seung-jin FC Imabari Tomás Moschión Marcus Índio Rodrigo Angelotti Wesley Tanque Jon Ander Serantes Ning Fangze Iwate Grulla Morioka Sillas Kenneth Otabor Ryu Se-gun Kim Jae-young Kim Sung-kon Lee Byung-chan Kamatamare Sanuki Au Yeung Yiu Chung Kataller Toyama Gabriel Nascimento Matheus Leiria Matsumoto Yamaga Víctor Ibáñez Nagano Parceiro Ryu Nugraha Kim Min-ho Lee Seung-won Park Soo-bin Nara Club Marc Vito Patrik Gustavsson Kiadtiphon Udom Omiya Ardija Arthur Silva Fabián González Oriola Sunday Jakub Świerczok FC Osaka Jonas Markovski Everton Kanela João Moura Muhammad Khalil Cho Young-kwang Choi Young-hoon Ji Seong-min Kang Seong-kook Woo Sang-ho Efrain Rintaro FC Ryukyu Cho Eun-su Jeon Ji-wan Noh Seung-ki Park Seong-su SC Sagamihara Bruno Santos Fabrício Baiano Ryan Tegevajaro Miyazaki Vanraure Hachinohe YSCC Yokohama Shawn van Eerden Jorn Pedersen Luqman Hakim Shamsudin Onye Ogochukwu Zweigen Kanazawa Jefferson Baiano Marlyson Baek In-hwan
League table
Play-offs Promotion play-offs The usual format will be applied in the 2024 season. Promotion play-offs, officially called the 2024 J.League Road To J2 Play-offs (), was held from the semi-finals, where the match-ups were previously semi-determined. Based on the J3 placements at the end of the regular season, the third-placed team played against the sixth-placed, while the fourth-placed team played against the fifth-placed. The winners of the semi-finals played the final, with the winners promoted to the J2.
If a match was tied in the play-offs, the team with the highest league position are declared the winner. The rank order was: J3's third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-placed teams.
Semi-finals
In case of a tie, the team with the higher league position (Kataller Toyama) goes through to the play-off final.
In case of a tie, the team with the higher league position (Matsumoto Yamaga) goes through to the play-off final.
Final
In case of a tie, the team with the higher league position (Kataller Toyama) got promoted to J2 League.
Relegation play-offs The relegation play-offs, officially called the 2024 J3/JFL Play-Offs (), take place on 1 and 7 December 2024. If two teams are equal on the scoreboard, the match will going to extra time and penalty shoot-out. Away goals rule will not applied.
Overview
Matches
Kochi United SC won the J3/JFL play-offs on aggregate 3-1 and got promoted to J3, while YSCC Yokohama lost the play-offs and got relegated to JFL.
Season statistics Top scorers . RankPlayerClubGoals1 Marcus Índio FC Imabari19 Kosuke Fujioka FC Gifu3 Ryo Shiohama Fukushima United164 Ryo Nagai Giravanz Kitakyushu145 Hayato Asakawa Matsumoto Yamaga13 Kensei Ukita Nagano Parceiro Yuki Okada Nara Club8 Keigo Hashimoto Tegevajaro Miyazaki12 Yu Tomidokoro FC Ryukyu Yuya Taguchi Zweigen Kanazawa
Awards Monthly awards MonthManager of the MonthMonthly MVPGoal of the MonthYoung Player of the MonthReferencesManagerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubFebruary/March Yusaku UenoFC Gifu Kosuke FujiokaFC Gifu Yumeki YokoyamaFC Imabari Rion IchiharaOmiya ArdijaApril Tetsu NagasawaOmiya Ardija Hagumi WadaAzul Claro Numazu Genta ItoFC Imabari Yuto OzekiFukushima UnitedMay Shuhei TeradaFukushima United Yu TomidokoroFC Ryukyu Yu TomidokoroFC Ryukyu Yuki KajiuraZweigen KanazawaJune Kohei MasumotoGiravanz Kitakyushu Arthur SilvaOmiya Ardija Keisuke ItoSC Sagamihara Kosei OkazawaFC RyukyuJuly Toshihiro HattoriFC Imabari Ryo NagaiGiravanz Kitakyushu Takuya SugaiAzul Claro Numazu Yumeki YokoyamaFC ImabariAugust Kim Jong-songFC Ryukyu Marcus ÍndioFC Imabari Daigo FurukawaFC Osaka Yumeki YokoyamaFC ImabariSeptember Yuji OkumaTegevajaro Miyazaki Masato KojimaOmiya Ardija Makoto FukoinGainare Tottori Mahiro AnoTegevajaro MiyazakiOctober Kentaro HayashiGainare Tottori Kosuke FujiokaFC Gifu Takafumi YamadaFC Imabari Ryo NishitaniFC GifuNovember/December Masahiro ShimodaMatsumoto Yamaga Marcus ÍndioFC Imabari Reo YasunagaMatsumoto Yamaga Rei UmekiFC Imabari
See also 2024 Japanese Super Cup 2024 Emperor's Cup 2024 J1 League 2024 J2 League 2024 J.League Cup 2024 Japan Football League
Footnotes
References
External links Official website on jleague.co