2022 Japan Football League

Japan Football League
Season	2022
Dates	13 March – 20 November
Champions	Nara Club
Promoted	Nara Club; FC Osaka
Relegated	FC Kagura Shimane (withdrawn)
Matches played	240
Goals scored	597 (2.49 per match)
Top goalscorer	Hayato Asakawa; (15 goals)
Biggest home win	Honda Lock 6–0 MIO Biwako Shiga; (11 May)
Biggest away win	Verspah Oita 0–7 Veertien Mie; (19 October)
Highest scoring	Kochi United 3–5 Maruyasu Okazaki; (3 July)
Highest attendance	16,218 ; (Criacao Shinjuku vs Suzuka Point Getters; 9 October)
Lowest attendance	39 ; (Honda Lock vs MIO Biwako Shiga; 11 May)
Average attendance	1,126
	← 2021 2023 → All statistics correct as of 20 November 2022.

The 2022 Japan Football League (Japanese: 第24回日本フットボールリーグ[第24回 JFL 2022], Hepburn: Dai Nijūsankai Nihon Futtobōru Rīgu [Dai Nijūsankai JFL 2022]) was the ninth season having a fourth-tier status in Japanese football, and the 24th season since the establishment of Japan Football League. The slogan for this season was "Enchant with a different play!"^[1] The matches were mostly broadcast/streamed live at Japan Football League's channel.^[2] The league's awards, not held since 2020 due to special measures regarding COVID-19, was held on 6 December 2022.^[3]

League structure and organisation

Iwaki FC won the league for the first time in their history, after joining the league only two seasons ago. So, they were promoted and joined J3 for the 2022 season. Then, sixteen clubs featured in this season of Japan Football League. FC Kariya were relegated after losing the playoff against Criacao Shinjuku, who were duly promoted to the JFL after qualifying in the top two spots of the 45th Regional Play-off Series.^[4] Honda Lock kept their stay at JFL, as despite having finished 16th last season, they won their playoff match against FC Ise-Shima to avoid relegation to the Regional Leagues.

As of November 2022, there were six teams eligible for promotion to the J3 League, as the only way teams from JFL can be promoted to the J3, is by having a license (the same applies for teams being promoted from J3 to J2, and from J2 to J1). Up from none to 2 teams could be promoted from the Japan Football League, or relegated to the Regional Leagues, depending on the circumstances.

The league is played under a round-robin format, with the 16 teams playing home-and-away matches against each other, playing in total 30 matches across the competition, starting from 13 March and ending on 20 November. ^[5] It features the usual point-earning format, with 3 points for winning, 1 for drawing, and no points for losing.

Regarding the breaks during the match, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the JFL continued to follow FIFA's recommendation of a maximum of 5 available substitutions, and 3 substitution windows per team in each match (excluding the half-time).^[6] The teams are allowed a water break at each half of the matches regardless of the WBGT on the matchday. The decision to have or not to have a water break is up to whose teams are playing the match.^[7]

Participating clubs

The teams which possess promotion-enabler licenses are highlighted in green in the following table.

Club Name	Home town	Stadium	Capacity	Position	Notes
Criacao Shinjuku	Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo	AGF Field	2,800	Winners of KSL and 45th RPS	100 Year Plan status. ^[8] J3 license application was declined by J.League. ^[9]
Honda FC	Hamamatsu, Shizuoka	Honda Miyakoda Soccer Stadium	2,506	JFL (2nd)
Honda Lock	Miyazaki, Miyazaki	Hinata Athletic Stadium	20,000	JFL (16th)
Kochi United	Kōchi, Kōchi	Kōchi Haruno Athletic Stadium	25,000	JFL (13th)	100 Year Plan status and J3 license holders. ^[9]
Maruyasu Okazaki	Okazaki, Aichi	Okazaki Ryūhoku Stadium	5,000	JFL (14th)
Kagura Shimane	Matsue, Shimane	Matsue Municipal Athletic Stadium	24,000	JFL (5th)	Renamed from "Matsue City FC"
MIO Biwako Shiga	Kusatsu, Shiga	Higashiōmi Nunobiki Green Stadium	5,060	JFL (12th)	100 Year Plan status applicants
Nara Club	All cities/towns in Nara^[a]	Rohto Field Nara	30,600	JFL (10th)	100 Year Plan status and J3 license holders ^[9]
FC Osaka	Higashiōsaka, Osaka	Hanazono Rugby Stadium 2nd Ground	1,722	JFL (7th)	100 Year Plan status and J3 license holders;^[9] renamed from "F.C. Osaka"
ReinMeer Aomori	Aomori, Aomori	Kakuhiro Group Athletic Stadium	20,809	JFL (9th)	100 Year Plan status and J3 license holders ^[9]
Sony Sendai	Tagajō, Miyagi	Miyagi Seikyō Megumino Soccer Stadium	10,000	JFL (6th)
Suzuka Point Getters	Suzuka, Mie	AGF Suzuka Athletic Stadium	1,450	JFL (4th)	Former J3 license holders ^{[Note 1]}
FC Tiamo Hirakata	Hirakata, Osaka	Hirakata Municipal Athletic Stadium	2,500	JFL (8th)
Tokyo Musashino United	Musashino, Tokyo	Musashino Municipal Athletic Stadium	5,188	JFL (15th)
Veertien Mie	All cities/towns in Mie^[b]	Asahi Gas Energy Tōin Stadium	5,142	JFL (11th)	100 Year Plan status and J3 license holders ^[9]
Verspah Oita	Yufu, Beppu & Ōita,^[10] Ōita	Shōwa Denkō Soccer/Rugby Field	4,700	JFL (3rd)	100 Year Plan status and J3 license holders.^[11]^[9]

^
Their license was previously suspended after multiple rule-breaking occurrences by the team's board, including a match-fixing scandal originating from the 2021 JFL season. In late June 2022, the J.League determined officially the revocation of their 100 Year Plan status, and then, resulting in Suzuka Point Getters being unable to be qualified for the J3 League.

^[12]

^[13]

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer
Criacao Shinjuku	Ichiro Naruyama	Yu Yonehara	gym master
Honda FC	Hiroyuki Abe	Yuki Kusumoto	Umbro
Honda Lock SC	Yosuke Miyaji	Daichi Takahara	Umbro
Kagura Shimane	Noriaki Sanenobu	Keishiro Sato	soccer junky
Kochi United SC	Takafumi Yoshimoto	Tsubasa Yokotake	ATHLETA
Maruyasu Okazaki	Hiroyasu Ibata	Eitaro Tsunoi	ATHLETA
MIO Biwako Shiga	Hiroshi Otsuki	Ippei Kokuryo	JOGARBOLA
Nara Club	Julián Marín Bazalo	Yuki Kotani	Squadra
FC Osaka	Shinya Tsukahara	Shusuke Sakamoto	bonera
ReinMeer Aomori	Kei Shibata	Nobuhisa Urata	Umbro
Sony Sendai FC	Jun Suzuki	Ren Yoshino	Umbro
Suzuka Point Getters	Yasutoshi Miura	Koji Hashimoto	ATHLETA
FC Tiamo Hirakata	Yoshizumi Ogawa	Shota Inoue	JOGARBOLA
Tokyo Musashino United FC	Hiroki Yoda	Daichi Kobayashi	Yonex
Veertien Mie	Yasuhiro Higuchi	Kenshiro Tanioku	Lwond
Verspah Oita	Takashi Yamahashi	Hirohito Shinohara	YASUDA

^ centering on Nara
^ centering on Kuwana & Yokkaichi

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5
Criacao Shinjuku	Hwang Song-su
Honda FC
Honda Lock
Kagura Shimane
Kochi United	Yoo Jong-min	Tando Velaphi
Maruyasu Okazaki
MIO Biwako Shiga	Cho Hyeong-in
Nara Club	Arnau Riera
FC Osaka	Efrain Rintaro	Gabriel Pires	Luiz Fernando	Kim Soo-han	Woo Sang-ho
ReinMeer Aomori	Halef Pitbull
Sony Sendai
Suzuka Point Getters	Vinícius Faria	Kim Tae-woo
TIAMO Hirakata	João Siqueira	Yuri Messias	Noah Fortune	Emeka Basil
Tokyo Musashino United	Ko Kyung-te	Ryang Hyon-ju
Veertien Mie	Kim Song-sun
Verspah Oita

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or qualification
1	Nara Club^[a] (C, P)	30	16	11	3	48	25	+23	59	Promotion to 2023 J3 League^[b]
2	FC Osaka^[a] (P)	30	17	8	5	47	34	+13	59	Promotion to 2023 J3 League^[b]
3	Honda FC	30	16	8	6	47	23	+24	56
4	ReinMeer Aomori^[a]	30	14	9	7	35	23	+12	51
5	Maruyasu Okazaki	30	14	7	9	48	34	+14	49
6	Tokyo Musashino United	30	14	6	10	49	33	+16	48
7	Veertien Mie^[a]	30	12	9	9	43	29	+14	45
8	Verspah Oita^[a]	30	12	7	11	40	44	−4	43
9	Suzuka Point Getters	30	12	5	13	31	40	−9	41
10	Honda Lock	30	10	6	14	33	33	0	36
11	Kochi United^[a]	30	9	7	14	30	39	−9	34
12	Kagura Shimane	30	9	7	14	32	42	−10	34	Folded^[c]
13	Tiamo Hirakata	30	9	5	16	40	50	−10	32
14	Sony Sendai	30	5	13	12	23	39	−16	28
15	Criacao Shinjuku^[a]	30	6	6	18	30	52	−22	24
16	MIO Biwako Shiga^[a]	30	5	6	19	21	57	−36	21

Source: JFL Official Website (in Japanese)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) goals scored; 4) Head-to-head Results (a. Points, b. Goal difference, c. Goals scored); 5) Number of wins; 6) Disciplinary points; 7) Play-off (if necessary)
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted
Notes:

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h J.League 100 Year Plan clubs
^ Promotion is conditional on holding a valid J3 license (marked in bold in the table), finishing the season in the top 4 of the JFL, and finishing in the top 2 out of the J.League 100 Year Plan clubs. Average home attendance of at least 2,000 is also required.
^ Withdrew after the end of the season.

Nara Club and FC Osaka have been promoted to J3 League, so there will be no relegation from the 2022 JFL.

Season statistics

Top scorers

As of 20 November 2022.^[14]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Hayato Asakawa	Nara Club	16
2	Hiroki Maeda	Verspah Oita	14
	Himan Morimoto	Tiamo Hirakata
	Tatsuma Sakai	Maruyasu Okazaki
5	Kaito Miyake	Suzuka Point Getters	13
5	Shota Tamura	Veertien Mie	13

Hat-tricks

As of 20 November 2022.^[15]


Name	For	Against	Result	Date
Tatsuma Sakai³	Maruyasu Okazaki	Suzuka Point Getters	4–2	20 March 2022
Tomoki Hino⁴	Honda Lock	Kagura Shimane	5–1	3 April 2022
Yuhi Hayashi³	Maruyasu Okazaki	Kochi United	5–3	3 July 2022
Daiki Kawato³	Tokyo Musashino United	Criacao Shinjuku	4–2	31 July 2022
Himan Morimoto³	Tiamo Hirakata	Honda Lock	3–0	20 November 2022

Awards

The awards were announced and presented on 6 December 2022.^[16]

Team awards

Award	Team
Fair Play Award	Honda Lock
Special Prize	Criacao Shinjuku

Individual awards

Award	Winner	Team
Best Player (MVP)	Hayato Asakawa	Nara Club
Top Scorer (16 goals)	Hayato Asakawa	Nara Club
Rookie of the Year	Ryusei Kusakari	Honda FC
Best Manager Award	Julián Marín Bazalo	Nara Club
Special Award	Kazuyoshi Miura	Suzuka Point Getters
Fighting Spirit Award	Takanori Kanamori	Tokyo Musashino United
Excellent Referee Award	Koki Yasukawa	–

Team of the Year

Goalkeeper (GK)	Defenders (DF)	Midfielders (MF)	Forwards (FW)
Arnau Riera (Nara Club)	Hayato Horiuchi (Honda FC) Shusuke Sakamoto (FC Osaka) Wataru Ise (Nara Club) Kazuya Mima (FC Osaka)	Yuya Suzuki (Honda FC) Rikuto Kubo (FC Osaka) Kazuki Matsumoto (Honda FC) Ryusei Kusakari (Honda FC)	Hayato Asakawa (Nara Club) Tatsuma Sakai (Maruyasu Okazaki)

References

^ "About the JFL 2022 slogan". Retrieved 22 June 2022.
^ "Informations about 2022 JFL broadcasting system". Retrieved 22 June 2022.
^ "第２４回日本フットボールリーグ表彰式をライブ配信！". JFL (in Japanese). 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
^ "JFL/Regional Leagues play-offs results". www.jfl.or.jp. 19 December 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
^ "About the competition's extension period". Retrieved 22 June 2022.
^ "Recommendation on permanent five-substitute option supported at IFAB Annual Business Meeting". FIFA. 25 November 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
^ "About the JFL". Retrieved 22 June 2022.
^ "J3クラブライセンス申請のお知らせ". Criacao Shinjuku. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g J3 Licenses - "２０２３シーズンＪ３クラブライセンス判定結果について（Ｊ３入会を希望するクラブ）". jleague.jp (in Japanese). Japan Professional Football League. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
^ "Addition of Oita City as Hometown". verspah.jp/. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
^ "J3クラブライセンス申請のお知らせ" (in Japanese). 4 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.
^ "【規律委員会】 2022年4月5日付公表". 5 April 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.
^ "鈴鹿ポイントゲッターズのＪリーグ百年構想クラブの資格について" [About Suzuka's 100-Year Plan Status]. J.League. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.
^ "第２４回日本フットボールリーグ(2022)".
^ "日本フットボールリーグオフィシャルWebサイト|2022年|試合日程・結果". www.jfl.or.jp. Retrieved 2022-10-27.
^ "Assists". Japan Football League. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.

External links

Official website (in Japanese)

[cnote_Note_1] 
Their license was previously suspended after multiple rule-breaking occurrences by the team's board, including a match-fixing scandal originating from the 2021 JFL season. In late June 2022, the J.League determined officially the revocation of their 100 Year Plan status, and then, resulting in Suzuka Point Getters being unable to be qualified for the J3 League.

[10] tering on Nara

[11] tering on Kuwana & Yokkaichi

[table_note_CRI0.095745111860216-16] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h J.League 100 Year Plan clubs

[table_note_res_P0.095745111860216-17] Promotion is conditional on holding a valid J3 license (marked in bold in the table), finishing the season in the top 4 of the JFL, and finishing in the top 2 out of the J.League 100 Year Plan clubs. Average home attendance of at least 2,000 is also required.

[table_note_res_FLD0.095745111860216-18] Withdrew after the end of the season.

[1] "About the JFL 2022 slogan". Retrieved 22 June 2022.

[2] "Informations about 2022 JFL broadcasting system". Retrieved 22 June 2022.

[3] "第２４回日本フットボールリーグ表彰式をライブ配信！". JFL (in Japanese). 5 December 2022. Retrieved 5 December 2022.

[auto-4] "JFL/Regional Leagues play-offs results". www.jfl.or.jp. 19 December 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.

[5] "About the competition's extension period". Retrieved 22 June 2022.

[6] "Recommendation on permanent five-substitute option supported at IFAB Annual Business Meeting". FIFA. 25 November 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2022.

[7] "About the JFL". Retrieved 22 June 2022.

[8] "J3クラブライセンス申請のお知らせ". Criacao Shinjuku. 30 June 2022. Retrieved 17 September 2022.

[J3Licenses-9] ^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g J3 Licenses - "２０２３シーズンＪ３クラブライセンス判定結果について（Ｊ３入会を希望するクラブ）". jleague.jp (in Japanese). Japan Professional Football League. 27 September 2022. Retrieved 27 September 2022.

[12] "Addition of Oita City as Hometown". verspah.jp/. Retrieved 28 June 2022.

[13] "J3クラブライセンス申請のお知らせ" (in Japanese). 4 July 2022. Retrieved 4 July 2022.

[14] "【規律委員会】 2022年4月5日付公表". 5 April 2022. Retrieved 22 June 2022.

[15] "鈴鹿ポイントゲッターズのＪリーグ百年構想クラブの資格について" [About Suzuka's 100-Year Plan Status]. J.League. 28 June 2022. Retrieved 28 June 2022.

[19] "第２４回日本フットボールリーグ(2022)".

[20] "日本フットボールリーグオフィシャルWebサイト|2022年|試合日程・結果". www.jfl.or.jp. Retrieved 2022-10-27.

[21] "Assists". Japan Football League. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.

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[Note 1]

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