The 2014 J.League Division 2 season was the 43rd season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 16th season since the establishment of J2 League. The season commenced on 2 March and ended on 23 November. Post-season promotion and relegation playoffs were played until 7 December.
Clubs Gamba Osaka and Vissel Kobe have stayed in the second division for just a year, winning a promotion as champions and runners-up respectively. Fourth-placed Tokushima Vortis won the promotion playoffs and become the very first Shikoku club to play in the top flight since the establishment of Japan Soccer League, the first amateur nationwide football league in Japan. Shonan Bellmare and Oita Trinita were relegated from the first division immediately after promotion, and Júbilo Iwata have suffered their debut relegation after 20 years in the first division.
On the other end of the table, Kamatamare Sanuki have been promoted from 2013 Japan Football League, replacing Gainare Tottori whom they defeated in the J2–JFL playoffs.
On 29 September the J.League licensing board issued J1 licenses to all J2 clubs except Mito HollyHock, FC Gifu, and Giravanz Kitakyushu. This means these three clubs are not eligible to play in J1 for 2015 season and therefore cannot be promoted directly or via playoffs.
The participating clubs are listed in the following table: Club nameHome town(s)Note(s)Avispa FukuokaFukuoka Hiratsuka, Kanagawa Relegated from J1 League in 2013 Consadole Sapporo Sapporo, HokkaidōEhime FCAll cities/towns in EhimeFagiano OkayamaAll cities/towns in OkayamaAll cities/towns in GifuNot eligible for J1 promotionGiravanz KitakyushuKitakyushu, FukuokaNot eligible for J1 promotionMito, IbarakiNot eligible for J1 promotionJEF United ChibaChiba & Ichihara, Chiba Júbilo Iwata Iwata, Shizuoka Relegated from J1 League in 2013Kamatamare Sanuki Takamatsu, Kagawa Promoted from JFL in 2013Kataller ToyamaAll cities/towns in ToyamaMontedio YamagataAll cities/towns in YamagataRoasso KumamotoKumamotoSouthwestern cities/towns in KyotoThespakusatsu GunmaAll cities/towns in GunmaTochigi SCUtsunomiya, Tochigi Oita Trinita Ōita Relegated from J1 League in 2013All cities/towns in TokyoV-Varen NagasakiAll cities/towns in NagasakiMatsumoto, NaganoYokohama FCYokohama, Kanagawa
Foreign players Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Asian player Non-visa foreign Type-C contract Avispa Fukuoka Lee Kwang-seon Oh Chang-hyun Park Kun Tam Sheang Tsung Wellington Consadole Sapporo Paulão Renan Jeong Shung-hoon Lee Ho-seung Stefano Lilipaly Ehime FC Ricardo Lobo Kim Min-je Moon Dong-ju Han Hee-hoon Fagiano Okayama Hugo Piakai Henkel Henik Kleiton Domingues Cristian Nazarit Tiago Pereira Giravanz Kitakyushu Osmar Yun Yeong-seung Kim Song-gi JEF United Chiba Jair Kempes Kim Hyun-hun Nam Seung-woo Júbilo Iwata Ferdinando Popó Tinga Baek Sung-dong Kamatamare Sanuki Allan Evson Andrea Blede Song Han-Ki Kataller Toyama Park Tae-Hong Kim Young-keun Gao Zhunyi Montedio Yamagata Diego Souza Kim Byeom-yong Lee Joo-young Romero Frank Roasso Kumamoto Anderson Fábio Kim Byeong-yeon Kim Jeong-seok Pablo Douglas Jairo Miloš Bajalica Oh Seung-hoon Hwang Te-song Thespakusatsu Gunma Daniel Lovinho Eder Kweon Han-jin Hwang Song-su Hwang Tae-jun Kaique Tochigi SC Lee Min-soo Cha Young-hwan Oita Trinita Daniel Dzenan Radoncic Gang Yoon-goo Kim Jeong-hyun Jonathan Abuda Nildo Kim Jong-pil V-Varen Nagasaki Stipe Knez Lee Yong-Jae Lee Dae-heon Jung Hoon-sung Sabia Lee Jun-Hyeob Yoon Sung-yeul Yokohama FC Douglas Ronaldo Park Sung-ho Na Sung-soo An Yong-hak Felipe
League table
Results
Play-offs
Promotion Playoffs to Division 1 2014 J.League Road To J1 Play-Offs (2014 J1昇格プレーオフ) Because Giravanz Kitakyushu did not obtain J1 license for 2015 season, they were ineligible to participate in the playoffs. Thus, JEF United Chiba who finished third in the season received a bye into the final.
Semifinal
Final
Montedio Yamagata were promoted to J1 League.
J3 Relegation Playoffs 2014 J2/J3 Play-Offs (2014 J2・J3入れ替え戦)
Kamatamare Sanuki remains in J2 League.Nagano Parceiro remains in J3 League.
Top scorers RankScorerClubGoals 1 Masashi OguroKyoto Sanga 26 2 WellingtonShonan Bellmare 20 3 Takayuki FunayamaMatsumoto Yamaga 19 4 Ryoichi MaedaJúbilo Iwata 17 Cristian NazaritFC Gifu 17 6 Tomoki IkemotoGiravanz Kitakyushu 15 7 DiegoMontedio Yamagata 14 Daniel LovinhoThespakusatsu Gunma 14 Shohei OkadaShonan Bellmare 14 Ken TokuraConsadole Sapporo 14 Updated to games played on 23 November 2014 Source: J. League data
Attendances
References