Season | 2018 |
---|---|
Dates | 23 February 2018 – 1 December 2018 |
Champions | Kawasaki Frontale (2nd title) |
Relegated | Kashiwa Reysol V-Varen Nagasaki |
AFC Champions League | Kawasaki Frontale Sanfrecce Hiroshima Kashima Antlers Urawa Red Diamonds |
Matches played | 306 |
Goals scored | 813 (2.66 per match) |
Top goalscorer | Jô (Nagoya Grampus) (24 goals) |
Biggest home win | Kawasaki v Consadole 7–0 (15 September) |
Biggest away win | Vegalta v Marinos 2–8 (16 July) |
Highest scoring | Vegalta v Marinos 2–8 (16 July) |
Longest winning run | 9 – Gamba Osaka (Matchday 25–33) |
Longest unbeaten run | 12 – Consadole Sapporo (Matchday 25–34) |
Longest winless run | 15 – Nagoya Grampus (Matchday 3–17) |
Longest losing run | 8 – Nagoya Grampus (Matchday 4–11) |
Highest attendance | 55,689 – Urawa v Vissel (23 September, Matchday 27) |
Lowest attendance | 6,189 – Shimizu v V-Varen (11 April, Matchday 7) |
Total attendance | 5,833,538 |
Average attendance | 19,064 |
← 2017 2019 → |
The 2018 J1 League, also known as the 2018 Meiji Yasuda J1 League (2018 明治安田生命J1リーグ, 2018 Meiji Yasuda Seimei J1 Rīgu) for sponsorship reasons, was the 26th season of J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. This was fourth season of J1 League as renamed from J. League Division 1.
Kawasaki Frontale were the defending champions.
A total of 18 clubs contested the league. The 2017 J2 League champion Shonan Bellmare and the winner of the promotion play-offs Nagoya Grampus returned to the top flight a year after being relegated from J1 in the 2016 season. V-Varen Nagasaki, J2 runner-up in 2017, played in the J1 League for the first time.
Team | Outgoing manager | Date of vacancy | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
---|---|---|---|---|
Yokohama F. Marinos | Erick Mombaerts | 1 January 2018[16] | Ange Postecoglou | 19 December 2017[17] |
Urawa Red Diamonds | Takafumi Hori | 2 April 2018[18] | Oswaldo de Oliveira | 19 April 2018[19] |
Kashiwa Reysol | Takahiro Shimotaira | 13 May 2018 | Nozomu Kato | 13 May 2018[20] |
Gamba Osaka | Levir Culpi | 23 July 2018[21] | Tsuneyasu Miyamoto | 23 July 2018 |
Vissel Kobe | Takayuki Yoshida | 17 Sep 2018[22] | Juan Manuel Lillo | 4 Oct 2018[23] |
Sagan Tosu | Massimo Ficcadenti | 17 Oct 2018 | Kim Myung-hwi | 17 Oct 2018 |
The total number of foreign players is restricted to five per club. Clubs can register up to four foreign players for a single match-day squad, of which a maximum of three are allowed from nations outside the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran and Qatar) are exempt from these restrictions.
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kawasaki Frontale (C) | 34 | 21 | 6 | 7 | 57 | 27 | +30 | 69 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
2 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 34 | 17 | 6 | 11 | 47 | 35 | +12 | 57 | Qualification for the Champions League play-off round |
3 | Kashima Antlers | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 50 | 39 | +11 | 56 | |
4 | Consadole Sapporo | 34 | 15 | 10 | 9 | 48 | 48 | 0 | 55 | |
5 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 34 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 51 | 39 | +12 | 51 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage[a] |
6 | FC Tokyo | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 39 | 34 | +5 | 50 | |
7 | Cerezo Osaka | 34 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 39 | 38 | +1 | 50 | |
8 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 34 | 14 | 7 | 13 | 56 | 48 | +8 | 49 | |
9 | Gamba Osaka | 34 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 41 | 46 | −5 | 48 | |
10 | Vissel Kobe | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 45 | 52 | −7 | 45 | |
11 | Vegalta Sendai | 34 | 13 | 6 | 15 | 44 | 54 | −10 | 45 | |
12 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 56 | 56 | 0 | 41 | |
13 | Shonan Bellmare | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 38 | 43 | −5 | 41 | |
14 | Sagan Tosu | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 29 | 34 | −5 | 41 | |
15 | Nagoya Grampus | 34 | 12 | 5 | 17 | 52 | 59 | −7 | 41 | |
16 | Júbilo Iwata (O) | 34 | 10 | 11 | 13 | 35 | 48 | −13 | 41 | Qualification for the Relegation play-off |
17 | Kashiwa Reysol (R) | 34 | 12 | 3 | 19 | 47 | 54 | −7 | 39 | Relegation to J2 League |
18 | V-Varen Nagasaki (R) | 34 | 8 | 6 | 20 | 39 | 59 | −20 | 30 |
Leader and qualification to AFC Champions League Group stage | |
Qualification to AFC Champions League qualifying play-off | |
Qualification to Relegation play-off | |
Relegation to J2 League |
2018 J.League J1/J2 Play-Offs (2018 J1参入プレーオフ)
Júbilo Iwata | 2–0 | Tokyo Verdy |
---|---|---|
K. Ogawa 41' (pen.) Taguchi 80' |
Report |
Júbilo Iwata remains in J1 League.
Tokyo Verdy remains in J2 League.
Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Jô | Nagoya Grampus | 24
|
2 | Patric | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 20
|
3 | Hwang Ui-jo | Gamba Osaka | 16
|
4 | Yū Kobayashi | Kawasaki Frontale | 15
|
Shinzo Koroki | Urawa Red Diamonds | 15
| |
6 | Diego Oliveira | FC Tokyo | 13
|
Hugo Vieira | Yokohama F. Marinos | 13
| |
Koya Kitagawa | Shimizu S-Pulse | 13
| |
9 | Ken Tokura | Consadole Sapporo | 12
|
10 | Takuma Nishimura | Vegalta Sendai | 11
|
Yuma Suzuki | Kashima Antlers | 11
| |
Kengo Kawamata | Júbilo Iwata | 11
| |
Douglas | Shimizu S-Pulse | 11
| |
Musashi Suzuki | V-Varen Nagasaki | 11
|
Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Yōsuke Kashiwagi | Urawa Reds | 12
|
2 | Junya Ito | Kashiwa Reysol | 11
|
3 | Kosei Shibasaki | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 9
|
Yuma Suzuki | Kashima Antlers | 9
| |
4 | Gabriel Xavier | Nagoya Grampus | 8
|
Hideki Ishige | Shimizu S-Pulse | 8
| |
Koya Kitagawa | Shimizu S-Pulse | 8
| |
Yuki Muto | Urawa Reds | 8
|
Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
Diego Oliveira | FC Tokyo | V-Varen Nagasaki | 2–5 (A) | 8 April 2018 |
Hugo Vieira | Yokohama F. Marinos | Shonan Bellmare | 4–4 (H) | 21 April 2018 |
Sho Ito | Yokohama F. Marinos | Vegalta Sendai | 2–8 (A) | 18 July 2018 |
Jô | Nagoya Grampus | Gamba Osaka | 4–1 (H) | 5 August 2018 |
Fabrício | Urawa Red Diamonds | Júbilo Iwata | 4–0 (H) | 15 August 2018 |
Jô | Nagoya Grampus | Urawa Red Diamonds | 4–1 (H) | 26 August 2018 |
Musashi Suzuki | V-Varen Nagasaki | Nagoya Grampus | 4–3 (A) | 15 September 2018 |
(H) – Home ; (A) – Away
Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 603,534 | 55,689 | 21,250 | 35,502 | +5.8% |
2 | FC Tokyo | 449,388 | 44,801 | 13,425 | 26,432 | −0.2% |
3 | Nagoya Grampus | 419,218 | 43,579 | 9,297 | 24,660 | +60.5%† |
4 | Gamba Osaka | 399,242 | 35,242 | 11,824 | 23,485 | −3.3% |
5 | Kawasaki Frontale | 394,709 | 24,677 | 17,113 | 23,218 | +5.0% |
6 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 370,401 | 41,686 | 8,688 | 21,788 | −9.9% |
7 | Vissel Kobe | 367,716 | 26,603 | 9,015 | 21,630 | +18.4% |
8 | Kashima Antlers | 330,376 | 33,647 | 7,672 | 19,434 | −5.0% |
9 | Cerezo Osaka | 319,782 | 34,303 | 8,165 | 18,811 | −10.3% |
10 | Consadole Sapporo | 309,798 | 34,250 | 6,729 | 18,223 | −1.1% |
11 | Júbilo Iwata | 263,060 | 31,375 | 8,047 | 15,474 | −5.2% |
12 | Vegalta Sendai | 261,943 | 19,152 | 13,158 | 15,408 | +4.5% |
13 | Sagan Tosu | 255,004 | 22,669 | 7,138 | 15,000 | +5.7% |
14 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 254,844 | 20,109 | 6,193 | 14,991 | −0.8% |
15 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 243,874 | 21,997 | 7,344 | 14,346 | +2.2% |
16 | Shonan Bellmare | 206,039 | 15,351 | 8,002 | 12,120 | +43.4%† |
17 | Kashiwa Reysol | 193,833 | 14,208 | 9,255 | 11,402 | +6.3% |
18 | V-Varen Nagasaki | 190,827 | 15,975 | 6,579 | 11,225 | +88.9%† |
League total | 5,833,538 | 55,689 | 6,193 | 19,064 | +1.0% |
Updated to games played on 1 December 2018
Source: J. League Data
Notes:
† Promoted from J2.
2018 J.League Best XI |
Award | Winner | Club |
---|---|---|
J.League Manager of the Year | Mihailo Petrović | Consadole Sapporo |
J.League Most Valuable Player | Akihiro Ienaga | Kawasaki Frontale |
J.League Rookie of the Year | Hiroki Abe | Kashima Antlers |