Season | 2023 |
---|---|
Dates | 17 February – 3 December 2023 |
Champions | Vissel Kobe 1st J1 title 1st Japanese title |
Relegated | Yokohama FC |
Champions League Elite | Vissel Kobe Yokohama F. Marinos |
Champions League Two | Sanfrecce Hiroshima |
Matches played | 306 |
Goals scored | 777 (2.54 per match) |
Top goalscorer | Anderson Lopes Yuya Osako (22 goals each) |
Biggest home win | Yokohama F. Marinos 5–0 Yokohama FC (8 April 2023) |
Biggest away win | Shonan Bellmare 0–6 Sagan Tosu (24 June 2023) |
Highest scoring | Kashiwa Reysol 4–5 HC Sapporo (3 June 2023) |
Longest winning run | 6 matches Yokohama F. Marinos |
Longest unbeaten run | 9 matches Albirex Niigata Kashima Antlers Nagoya Grampus Urawa Red Diamonds |
Longest winless run | 15 matches Shonan Bellmare |
Longest losing run | 7 matches Gamba Osaka |
Highest attendance | 57,058[1] Nagoya Grampus 1–0 Albirex Niigata (5 August 2023) |
Lowest attendance | 3,935[1] Yokohama FC 0–3 Sanfrecce Hiroshima (15 April 2023) |
Total attendance | 5,811,987[1] |
Average attendance | 18,993[1] |
← 2022 2024 → |
The 2023 J1 League, also known as the 2023 Meiji Yasuda J1 League (Japanese: 2023 明治安田生命J1リーグ, Hepburn: 2023 Meiji Yasuda Seimei J1 Rīgu) for sponsorship reasons, was the 31st season of the J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. This was the ninth season of J1 League after being renamed from J. League Division 1.
Yokohama F. Marinos were the defending champions, having won their fifth J.League and seventh Japanese title in 2022 in the final match of the season.[2][3] Vissel Kobe won their first ever league title with one game to go.[4]
This season was the last as an 18 team-competition. At the end of season, only one club would be relegated to the J2 League as the number of clubs was expanded from 18 to 20 clubs from the 2024 season.[5]
There were two teams relegated last season to the 2023 J2 League. Shimizu S-Pulse and Júbilo Iwata, both from Shizuoka Prefecture, were relegated due to them finishing 17th and 18th respectively the previous season. Thus, this was the first Japanese top-flight season to not feature any team from the region.
Kyoto Sanga finished on 16th place, but won the promotion/relegation playoffs against Roasso Kumamoto and thus retained their top league status. Had Roasso won, it would have been their first ever promotion to the top-flight.
Two teams were promoted from the 2022 J2 League: Albirex Niigata, who won the title and returned to J1 after a five-year absence, and Yokohama FC, who finished second, returning to the J1 after just a season playing on the J2 League.
Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in the table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Urawa Red Diamonds | Ricardo Rodríguez[7] | Resigned | 5 November 2022 | Pre-season | Maciej Skorża[8] | 10 November 2022 |
Gamba Osaka | Hiroshi Matsuda[9] | 23 November 2022 | Dani Poyatos[10] | 23 November 2022 | ||
Kashiwa Reysol | Nelsinho Baptista[11] | 17 May 2023 | 16th | Masami Ihara[11] | 17 May 2023 | |
FC Tokyo | Albert Puig[12] | 14 June 2023 | 12th | Takayoshi Amma[12] | 14 June 2023 | |
Takayoshi Amma | End of interim spell | 16 June 2023 | Peter Cklamovski[13][14] | 16 June 2023 |
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.[15] Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Morocco, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Tunisia, Egypt, and Qatar) were exempted from these restrictions.
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Vissel Kobe (C) | 34 | 21 | 8 | 5 | 60 | 29 | +31 | 71 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League Elite league stage |
2 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 34 | 19 | 7 | 8 | 63 | 40 | +23 | 64 | |
3 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 34 | 17 | 7 | 10 | 42 | 28 | +14 | 58 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League Two group stage |
4 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 34 | 15 | 12 | 7 | 42 | 27 | +15 | 57 | |
5 | Kashima Antlers | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 43 | 34 | +9 | 52 | |
6 | Nagoya Grampus | 34 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 41 | 36 | +5 | 52 | |
7 | Avispa Fukuoka | 34 | 15 | 6 | 13 | 37 | 43 | −6 | 51 | |
8 | Kawasaki Frontale | 34 | 14 | 8 | 12 | 51 | 45 | +6 | 50 | Qualification for the AFC Champions League Elite league stage[a] |
9 | Cerezo Osaka | 34 | 15 | 4 | 15 | 39 | 34 | +5 | 49 | |
10 | Albirex Niigata | 34 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 36 | 40 | −4 | 45 | |
11 | FC Tokyo | 34 | 12 | 7 | 15 | 42 | 46 | −4 | 43 | |
12 | Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo | 34 | 10 | 10 | 14 | 56 | 61 | −5 | 40 | |
13 | Kyoto Sanga | 34 | 12 | 4 | 18 | 40 | 45 | −5 | 40 | |
14 | Sagan Tosu | 34 | 9 | 11 | 14 | 43 | 47 | −4 | 38 | |
15 | Shonan Bellmare | 34 | 8 | 10 | 16 | 40 | 56 | −16 | 34 | |
16 | Gamba Osaka | 34 | 9 | 7 | 18 | 38 | 61 | −23 | 34 | |
17 | Kashiwa Reysol | 34 | 6 | 15 | 13 | 33 | 47 | −14 | 33 | |
18 | Yokohama FC (R) | 34 | 7 | 8 | 19 | 31 | 58 | −27 | 29 | Relegation to the J2 League |
Rank | Player | Club | Goals[17][18] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Anderson Lopes | Yokohama F. Marinos | 22 |
Yuya Osako | Vissel Kobe | ||
3 | Kasper Junker | Nagoya Grampus | 16 |
4 | Diego Oliveira | FC Tokyo | 15 |
5 | Mao Hosoya | Kashiwa Reysol | 14 |
Yuma Suzuki | Kashima Antlers | ||
7 | Yuki Ohashi | Shonan Bellmare | 13 |
8 | Yuya Asano | Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo | 12 |
9 | Léo Ceará | Cerezo Osaka | 11 |
10 | Yoshinori Muto | Vissel Kobe | 10 |
Yoichi Naganuma | Sagan Tosu | ||
Patric | Kyoto Sanga | ||
Yuta Toyokawa | Kyoto Sanga | ||
Yuya Yamagishi | Avispa Fukuoka |
Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Yuki Ohashi | Shonan Bellmare | Sagan Tosu | 5–1 (A) | 18 February 2023 | [19] |
Shuto Machino4 | Gamba Osaka | 4–1 (H) | 1 April 2023 | [20] | |
Ryotaro Ito | Albirex Niigata | Avispa Fukuoka | 3–2 (H) | 15 April 2023 | [21] |
Yuji Ono | Sagan Tosu | Shonan Bellmare | 6–0 (A) | 24 June 2023 | [22] |
Rank | Player | Club | Assists[18][23] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Élber | Yokohama F. Marinos | 11 |
Yan Matheus | Yokohama F. Marinos | ||
3 | Yuta Higuchi | Kashima Antlers | 10 |
Yoshinori Muto | Vissel Kobe | ||
Matheus Sávio | Kashiwa Reysol | ||
6 | Ryo Hatsuse | Vissel Kobe | 8 |
Yuya Osako | Vissel Kobe | ||
8 | Kota Mizunuma | Yokohama F. Marinos | 7 |
9 | Adaílton | FC Tokyo | 6 |
Yasuto Wakizaka | Kawasaki Frontale |
Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets[24] |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Tomoki Hayakawa | Kashima Antlers | 15 |
Shusaku Nishikawa | Urawa Red Diamonds | ||
3 | Daiya Maekawa | Vissel Kobe | 14 |
4 | Keisuke Osako | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 13 |
5 | Ryosuke Kojima | Albirex Niigata | 10 |
Mitchell Langerak | Nagoya Grampus | ||
Masaaki Murakami | Avispa Fukuoka | ||
8 | Kim Jin-hyeon | Cerezo Osaka | 7 |
9 | Jun Ichimori | Yokohama F. Marinos | 6 |
Jung Sung-ryong | Kawasaki Frontale | ||
Kenta Matsumoto | Kashiwa Reysol | ||
Park Il-gyu | Sagan Tosu | ||
Jakub Słowik | FC Tokyo |
Month | Manager of the Month | Monthly MVP | Goal of the Month | References | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Manager | Club | Player | Club | Player | Club | ||
February/March | Takayuki Yoshida | Vissel Kobe | Ryotaro Ito | Albirex Niigata | Ryonosuke Kabayama | Sagan Tosu | [29][30][31] |
April | Michael Skibbe | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Douglas Vieira | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Ryoma Watanabe | FC Tokyo | [32][33][34] |
May | Shuhei Yomoda | Yokohama FC | Yuya Osako | Vissel Kobe | Shunsuke Mito | Albirex Niigata | [35][36][37] |
June | Dani Poyatos | Gamba Osaka | Yoshinori Muto | Vissel Kobe | Takumu Kawamura | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | [38][39][40] |
July | Shigetoshi Hasebe | Avispa Fukuoka | Yuya Osako | Vissel Kobe | Ken Iwao | Urawa Red Diamonds | [41][42][43] |
August | Daiki Iwamasa | Kashima Antlers | Yuta Higuchi | Kashima Antlers | Marcos Júnior | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | [44][45][46] |
September | Shigetoshi Hasebe | Avispa Fukuoka | Kazuya Konno | Avispa Fukuoka | Shunsuke Mito | Albirex Niigata | [47][48][49] |
October | Satoshi Yamaguchi | Shonan Bellmare | Daiki Tomii | Shonan Bellmare | Kota Tawaratsumida | FC Tokyo | [50][51][52] |
November/December | Takayuki Yoshida | Vissel Kobe | Yuya Osako | Vissel Kobe | Yuta Toyokawa | Kyoto Sanga | [53][54][55] |
Award | Winner | Club |
---|---|---|
Manager of the Year | Shigetoshi Hasebe[56] | Avispa Fukuoka |
Player of the Year | Yuya Osako[57] | Vissel Kobe |
Best Young Player | Shunsuke Mito[58] | Albirex Niigata |
Goal of the Year | Ryoma Watanabe[59] | FC Tokyo |
Best XI[60] | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Goalkeeper | Shusaku Nishikawa (Urawa Red Diamonds) | |||||||||||
Defenders | Alexander Scholz (Urawa Red Diamonds) | Marius Høibråten (Urawa Red Diamonds) | Seiya Maikuma (Cerezo Osaka) | Gotoku Sakai (Vissel Kobe) | ||||||||
Midfielders | Atsuki Ito (Urawa Red Diamonds) | Yasuto Wakizaka (Kawasaki Frontale) | Hotaru Yamaguchi (Vissel Kobe) | |||||||||
Forwards | Anderson Lopes (Yokohama F. Marinos) | Yuya Osako (Vissel Kobe) | Yoshinori Muto (Vissel Kobe) |
...Yuki Ohashi bagged a hat-trick...
...while Yuji Ono bagged a hat-trick as Sagan Tosu trounced bottom side Shonan Bellmare 6-0 away.