The 2016 Meiji Yasuda J2 League (2016 明治安田生命J2リーグ) season was the 45th season of second-tier club football in Japan and the 18th season since the establishment of J2 League.
Clubs
Omiya Ardija have stayed in the second division for just a year, winning promotion as the champions. Júbilo Iwata have spent only 2 seasons in J2 after their first relegation from the J1 League in 2013 after 20 seasons. Third-placed Avispa Fukuoka won the promotion playoffs and will return to the first division after playing in the J2 for four years. Matsumoto Yamaga were relegated from the J1 immediately after their inaugural promotion. Shimizu S-Pulse also suffered their first relegation to the J2 after 23 seasons in the J1, while Montedio Yamagata returned after one season.
On the other end of the table, Renofa Yamaguchi have been promoted from the 2015 J3 League as the champions of the second season of the J3 League, replacing Tochigi SC and becoming the first club based in Yamaguchi Prefecture to play in the second tier since Eidai SC back in 1973. J3 runners-up Machida Zelvia were also promoted by beating Oita Trinita in the promotion-relegation playoffs.
The participating clubs are listed in the following table: Club nameHome town(s)Note(s) Cerezo Osaka Osaka & Sakai, Osaka 2015 Play-off finalist Consadole Sapporo All cities/towns in HokkaidōEhime FCAll cities/towns in Ehime2015 Play-off contestantFagiano OkayamaAll cities/towns in OkayamaAll cities/towns in GifuGiravanz KitakyushuKitakyushu, Fukuoka Not eligible for J1 promotion in 2015Mito, Ibaraki Not eligible for J1 promotion in 2015JEF United ChibaChiba & Ichihara, ChibaKamatamare Sanuki Takamatsu, Kagawa Not eligible for J1 promotion in 2015 All cities/towns in Yamagata Relegated from J1 League in 2015 Renofa Yamaguchi All cities/towns in Yamaguchi Promoted from J3 League in 2015Roasso KumamotoKumamoto, KumamotoSouthwestern cities/towns in KyotoThespakusatsu GunmaAll cities/towns in Gunma Not eligible for J1 promotion in 2015Shizuoka, Shizuoka Relegated from J1 League in 2015V-Varen NagasakiAll cities/towns in Nagasaki2015 J2 League Play-off contestantAll cities/towns in Tokyo All cities/towns in Tokushima Matsumoto Yamaga Central cities/towns in Nagano Relegated from J1 League in 2015Yokohama FCYokohama, KanagawaMachida ZelviaMachida, TokyoPromoted from J3 League in 2015Zweigen KanazawaKanazawa, Ishikawa
Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Date of departure Manner of departure Incoming manager Date of announcementShimizu S-Pulse Kazuaki Tasaka25 November 2015Resigned Shinji Kobayashi25 November 2015Tokushima Vortis Shinji Kobayashi26 November 2015Contract expired Hiroaki Nagashima26 November 2015Yokohama FC Hitoshi Nakata1 December 2015Retired from coaching Miloš Rus1 December 2015Roasso Kumamoto Takeshi Ono25 November 2015Contract expired Hiroyuki Kiyokawa28 December 2015Yokohama FC Miloš Rus15 June 2016Resigned Hitoshi Nakata15 June 2016FC Gifu Ruy Ramos22 July 2016Sacked Megumu Yoshida22 July 2016JEF United Ichihara Chiba Takashi Sekizuka25 July 2016Sacked Shigetoshi Hasebe25 July 2016
Foreign players Clubs Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Asian player Non-visa foreign Type-C contract Cerezo Osaka Ricardo Santos Souza Besart Abdurahimi Kim Jin-hyeon Ahn Joon-soo Consadole Sapporo Julinho Macedo Reis Gu Sung-yun Irfan Bachdim Ehime FC Park Kwang-il Park Chan-yong Fagiano Okayama Wang Jingbin Kim Jin-kyu Evandro Leo Mineiro Leonardo Rocha Choi Sung-keun Giravanz Kitakyushu Rodrigo Romero Frank Yoo Lomon Song Ju-hun Nguyễn Công Phượng JEF United Chiba Élton Eduardo Aranda Lee Joo-young Kamatamare Sanuki Allan Evson Miguel Han Chang-joo Montedio Yamagata Alceu Diego Diego Rosa Lee Je-seung Koo Bon-hyeok Renofa Yamaguchi Luciano Romero Yoon Sin-young Roasso Kumamoto Anderson Kim Tae-yeon Andrei Girotto Daniel Lovinho Kiros Lee Yong-jae Shimizu S-Pulse Mitchell Duke Dejan Jaković Kim Byeom-yong Byeon Jun-byum Jong Tae-se Thespakusatsu Gunma Lucas Gaúcho Matheus Park Gon Lim Jung-bin Park Seung-ri Alan Pinheiro Douglas Weslley Lim You-hwan V-Varen Nagasaki Baek Sung-dong Park Hyung-jin Cho Min-woo Ri Yong-jik Tokushima Vortis Alex Carlinhos Achille Emaná Kim Kyung-jung Matsumoto Yamaga Obina Paulinho Willians Han Seung-hyeon Yokohama FC Ibba Laajab Rok Štraus Nguyễn Tuấn Anh Na Sung-soo An Yong-hak Zweigen Kanazawa David Mendes Romarinho Kim Young-heon An Byong-jun Kim Tea-sung Machida Zelvia Calvin Jong-a-Pin Kim Song-gi Ri Han-jae
League table
Play-offs
J1 Promotion Playoffs 2016 J.League Road To J1 Play-Offs (2016 J1昇格プレーオフ)
Semifinals
Final
Cerezo Osaka was promoted to J1 League.
J3 Relegation Playoffs 2016 J2/J3 Play-Offs (2016 J2・J3入れ替え戦)
Zweigen Kanazawa remains in J2 League.Tochigi SC remains in J3 League.
Positions by round
Team \ Round1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 Consadole Sapporo 17 8 8 6 4 7 3 4 3 2 1 3 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 Shimizu S-Pulse 13 5 6 11 9 6 9 9 6 4 6 7 9 10 9 9 9 7 8 5 6 6 5 7 6 5 6 5 6 5 5 4 5 5 4 4 3 3 3 3 2 2Matsumoto Yamaga 17 9 10 14 12 16 14 8 4 6 7 6 6 6 4 3 2 5 3 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 3Cerezo Osaka 4 3 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 3 2 2 4 4 3 5 5 3 2 2 2 3 3 3 3 3 4 3 4 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 4 4 4 4Kyoto Sanga 9 14 13 13 15 12 12 13 14 14 8 9 7 7 5 6 6 4 5 6 5 5 6 4 5 6 5 6 5 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 6 5 5 5Fagiano Okayama 9 6 7 5 3 4 7 3 5 7 5 4 5 2 6 4 3 2 4 4 4 4 4 5 4 4 3 4 3 4 4 5 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 6Machida Zelvia 17 16 9 7 5 2 2 2 1 1 3 1 2 3 2 2 4 6 6 7 7 7 8 6 7 7 8 8 8 8 9 8 8 7 7 7 7 7 8 7 7 7 Yokohama FC 17 21 22 17 17 13 11 12 13 10 12 8 11 11 11 12 12 14 16 12 14 17 16 15 15 13 11 10 9 10 7 7 7 8 8 8 8 8 7 8 8 8Tokushima Vortis 15 20 21 21 15 19 19 19 17 18 16 17 14 15 13 15 16 12 14 16 16 12 12 13 10 11 13 13 13 12 12 12 13 12 12 12 11 10 10 9 9 9Ehime FC 13 15 14 18 18 15 13 14 12 11 13 13 13 14 16 13 13 15 11 13 10 11 11 12 13 12 12 12 12 13 11 11 11 9 9 9 9 9 9 10 10 10JEF United Chiba 2 10 5 4 7 9 5 6 10 12 11 12 10 8 8 8 8 8 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 9 10 9 10 9 10 10 9 10 10 11 12 12 11 11 11 11Renofa Yamaguchi 9 7 11 16 13 10 10 10 7 5 4 5 3 5 7 7 7 9 7 8 8 8 7 8 8 8 7 7 7 7 8 9 10 11 11 10 10 11 12 12 12 12Mito HollyHock 9 16 19 19 21 18 18 18 16 15 15 15 17 13 15 16 14 16 18 17 18 16 14 16 16 14 14 14 15 14 14 14 14 13 14 13 14 14 14 13 13 13Montedio Yamagata 17 16 18 19 21 22 22 21 20 20 18 16 16 16 14 14 15 10 12 14 11 10 10 11 12 15 16 16 18 18 18 16 16 18 18 16 17 18 18 16 16 14V-Varen Nagasaki 2 13 12 12 14 17 17 17 19 19 20 21 21 20 19 17 18 19 19 18 17 13 13 10 11 10 9 11 11 11 13 13 12 14 13 14 13 13 13 14 14 15Roasso Kumamoto 4 3 1 3 1 3 5 7 11 13 14 14 15 18 18 19 17 17 15 11 12 14 15 14 14 17 17 18 14 16 17 18 17 15 15 17 18 15 16 18 15 16Thespakusatsu Gunma 1 1 4 8 10 11 16 16 18 17 19 19 18 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 21 21 21 22 20 20 19 19 16 15 15 17 18 16 16 15 15 17 17 15 17 17Tokyo Verdy 4 11 15 9 11 13 15 15 15 16 17 18 20 17 17 18 19 18 17 19 19 19 19 17 18 18 18 15 17 17 16 15 15 17 17 18 16 16 15 17 18 18Kamatamare Sanuki 4 2 3 2 6 8 4 5 9 8 9 11 12 12 12 10 10 11 13 15 15 18 18 19 17 16 15 17 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 19 20 19 19FC Gifu 22 22 17 10 8 5 8 11 8 9 10 10 8 9 10 11 11 13 10 10 13 15 17 18 19 19 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 20 21 22 22 19 20 20Zweigen Kanazawa 15 19 20 21 20 21 21 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 22 21 21 22 22 22 22 22 22 20 21 21 21 21 21 22 22 22 21 21 21 22 20 20 21 22 22 21Giravanz Kitakyushu 4 12 16 15 18 20 20 20 21 21 21 20 19 21 21 22 22 21 21 21 20 20 20 21 22 22 22 22 22 21 21 21 22 22 22 21 22 21 20 21 21 22 Last updated: 20 November 2016Source: J. League Data Site Note 1: Two games for Matchday 8 (V. Varen Nagasaki vs. Mito HollyHock; Kyoto Sanga FC vs. Roasso Kumamoto) scheduled on 17 April 2016 were affected by the series of earthquakes in Kumamoto prefecture. Matchday 8 game between Kyoto Sanga FC and Roasso Kumamoto was rescheduled on 29 June 2016. Result of this match were included on Matchday 21 ranking. Matchday 8 game between V. Varen Nagasaki and Mito HollyHock was rescheduled on 7 September 2016. Result of this match were included on Matchday 31 ranking. Note 2: Matchday 8 schedule for Zweigen Kanazawa vs. Ehime FC, scheduled on 17 April 2016, was postponed due to severe storms in the area. The match was rescheduled on May 18 and results were included on Matchday 14 Ranking. Note 3: Fixtures of Roasso Kumamoto for Matchdays 9 (Roasso Kumamoto vs. Yokohama FC), 10 (Montedio Yamagata vs. Roasso Kumamoto), 11 (Roasso Kumamoto vs. Ehime FC) and 12 (Consadole Sapporo vs. Roasso Kumamoto) were postponed by the J. League due to series of earthquakes in Kumamoto prefecture. Matchday 9 game between Roasso Kumamoto and Yokohama FC was rescheduled on 7 September 2016. Result of this match were included on Matchday 31 ranking. Matchday 10 game between Montedio Yamagata and Roasso Kumamoto was rescheduled on 6 July 2016. Result of this match were included on Matchday 22 ranking. Matchday 11 game between Roasso Kumamoto and Ehime FC was rescheduled on 31 August 2016. Result of this match were included on Matchday 31 ranking. Matchday 12 game between Consadole Sapporo and Roasso Kumamoto was rescheduled on 25 August 2016. Result of this match were included on Matchday 31 ranking.
Leader and qualification for 2017 J1 League Qualification for 2017 J1 League Qualification for promotion play-offs Qualification for relegation play-offs Relegation to 2017 J3 League
Results
Top scorers RankScorerClubGoals1 Jong Tae-seShimizu S-Pulse 262 Ken TokuraConsadole Sapporo 193 Genki OmaeShimizu S-Pulse 18 Ibba LaajabYokohama FC5 Ryo NagaiV-Varen Nagasaki 176 Kazuki HaraGiravanz Kitakyushu 16 Hiroyuki TakasakiMatsumoto Yamaga8 Yuki NakashimaMachida Zelvia 14 Kenyu SugimotoCerezo Osaka Yuki OshitaniFagiano Okayama11 Léo MineiroFC Gifu 13 Yusuke SegawaThespakusatsu Gunma
Updated to games played on 20 November 2016Source: J.League Data
Attendances
References