The 2013 J.League Division 2 season was the 42nd season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 15th season since the establishment of J2 League. The regular season began on 3 March and ended on 24 November, followed by the promotion play-offs among four clubs ranked between 3rd and 6th at the end of regular season. Gamba Osaka became champions, and Vissel Kobe became runners-up, both returned to J1 immediately after one season at J2. The other promoted team was third runners-up (fourth placers) Tokushima Vortis, who won the promotion playoff final, defeating Kyoto Sanga FC. With the win, Vortis made their J1 debut, becoming the first professional Shikoku football club to compete in the top division of their national league.
Clubs Ventforet Kofu and Shonan Bellmare, champions and runners-up in the previous season, and Oita Trinita, winners of the promotion play-offs for 2012, were promoted to J1, then Consadole Sapporo, Vissel Kobe, and Gamba Osaka were relegated to J2 instead. Sapporo returned to J2 only after one season in the top-flight, and Kobe returned to J2 second time after 2006 season, while Gamba suffered their very first relegation to the second-tier after J.League Division 2 was established in 1999, and the first relegation since their former organization, Matsushita Electric Soccer Club, were relegated after the 1986–87 season of JSL.
V-Varen Nagasaki, champions of the 2012 Japan Football League, were promoted to J2 while F.C. Machida Zelvia, promoted to J2 from the previous season and ranked 22nd, were relegated back to 2013 Japan Football League only after spending one season in J2.
In February, Thespa Kusatsu changed their name to Thespakusatsu Gunma.
The participant clubs were as follows: Club nameHome town(s)StadiumCapacity Note(s)Avispa FukuokaFukuokaBest Denki Stadium22,563Consadole SapporoSapporo, HokkaidōSapporo Dome41,484Relegated from J1 League in 2012Ehime FCAll cities/towns in EhimeNingineer Stadium20,000Fagiano OkayamaAll cities/towns in OkayamaCity Light Stadium20,000Gainare TottoriAll cities/towns in TottoriAxis Bird Stadium16,033Gamba OsakaSuita, OsakaExpo '70 Commemorative Stadium21,000Relegated from J1 League in 2012All cities/towns in GifuGifu Nagaragawa Stadium26,109Giravanz KitakyushuKitakyushu, FukuokaHonjo Athletic Stadium10,000Mito, IbarakiK's denki Stadium Mito12,000JEF United ChibaChiba & Ichihara, ChibaFukuda Denshi Arena19,781Kataller ToyamaAll cities/towns in ToyamaToyama Athletic Recreation Park Stadium28,494Montedio YamagataAll cities/towns in YamagataND Soft Stadium20,315Roasso KumamotoKumamotoUmakana-Yokana Stadium32,000Southwestern cities/towns in KyotoKyoto Nishikyogoku Stadium20,242Thespakusatsu GunmaAll cities/towns in GunmaShoda Shoyu Stadium15,253Tochigi SCUtsunomiya, TochigiTochigi Green Stadium18,025All cities/towns in TokyoAjinomoto Stadium49,970Vissel KobeKobe, HyōgoHome's Stadium30,132Relegated from J1 League in 2012All cities/towns in TokushimaPocarisweat Stadium17,924V-Varen NagasakiAll cities/towns in NagasakiNagasaki Stadium20,246Champions of JFL in 2012Matsumoto, NaganoMatsumotodaira Park Stadium20,396Yokohama FCYokohama, KanagawaNHK Spring Mitsuzawa Football Stadium15,046
Foreign Players Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 AFC player Type-C contract Non-visa foreign Former players Avispa Fukuoka Bratislav Punoševac Kim Min-je Oh Chang-hyun Park Kun Jang Jung-won Kim Yeong-gi Osmar Consadole Sapporo Félix Paulão Lee Ho-seung Lê Công Vinh Jo Sung-jin Tele Ehime FC Alair Osmar Ante Tomić Han Hee-hoon Fagiano Okayama Kim Min-kyun Piakai Henkel Go Daimu Lee Jae-gwan Gainare Tottori Eduardo Ansger Otto Im Dong-hyeon Bruno Rafael Fefo Reginaldo Gamba Osaka Adi Rocha Paulinho Oh Jae-suk Leandro FC Gifu Stipe Plazibat Kayne Vincent Blazhe Ilijoski Do Dong-hyun Ri Han-jae Daniel Lemos Fábio Martins Desmond N'Ze Giravanz Kitakyushu Ahn Young-kyu Kim Dong-hee Nam Il-woo Lee Keun-ho Mito HollyHock Kim Yong-gi JEF United Chiba Kempes Kim Hyun-hun Nam Seung-woo Jair Kataller Toyama Kim Sung-ju Seo Yong-duk Yang Hae-joon Montedio Yamagata Kim Byeom-yong Álvaro Peña Lee Tae-ho Roasso Kumamoto Douglas Fábio Pena Hugo Almeida Noh Hyung-goo Jefferson Pablo Kyoto Sanga Wilfried Sanou Miloš Bajalica Oh Seung-hoon Kang Song-ho Hwang Dae-Seong Thespakusatsu Gunma Daniel Lovinho Eder Kwon Han-Jin Hwang Song-su Hwang Dae-Jun Júnior Alves Tochigi SC Cristiano Paulinho Sabia Cha Young-hwan Tokyo Verdy Kim Jong-Pil Nicollas Bae Dae-won Tokushima Vortis Alex Douglas Kim Jong-min Ri Yong-jik
League table
Results
Play-offs Promotion Playoffs to Division 1 2013 J.League Road To J1 play-offs (2013 J1昇格プレーオフ) Teams that finished 3rd to 6th participate in play-off series for the last J1 promotion berth.
Semifinals
If the score was tied after 90 minutes, no extra time was played and the winner was the team with the best league ranking.
Final
Tokushima Vortis were promoted to 2014 J.League Division 1
JFL Relegation Playoffs 2013 J2/JFL play-offs (2013 J2・JFL入れ替え戦) The last-placed Gainare Tottori faced 2013 Japan Football League runners-up Kamatamare Sanuki in a two-legged playoff series.
Gainare Tottori was relegated to 2014 J3 League Kamatamare Sanuki was promoted to 2014 J.League Division 2
Top scorers RankScorerClubGoals 1 Kempes JEF United Chiba 2 Takashi Usami Gamba Osaka 3 Yoshihiro Uchimura Consadole Sapporo 4 Cristiano Tochigi SC Keijiro Ogawa Vissel Kobe Popó Vissel Kobe Sabiá Tochigi SC 8 Tomohiro Tsuda Tokushima Vortis 9 Ryuichi Hirashige Thespakusatsu Gunma Leandro Gamba OsakaPlays for Gamba until June Updated to games played on 24 November 2013 Source: J. League
Awards
Player of the Month Month Player Club March Popó Vissel Kobe April Leandro Gamba Osaka May Oh Seung-Hoon Kyoto Sanga June Ryohei Hayashi Montedio Yamagata July Koji Yamase Kyoto Sanga August Takashi Usami Gamba Osaka September Keijiro Ogawa Vissel Kobe October Kempes JEF United Chiba November
Attendances
References