The 2025 J3 League, also known as the for sponsorship reasons, was the 12th season of the J3 League, the third-tier Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2013.
Overview This was the last J.League season played in a whole calendar year from late winter to early winter, with the following season onwards played from summer to spring.
The league continued with 20 teams for 2025 season since 2023.
The top two teams in the league are automatically promoted to the J2 League, teams ranked 3rd to 6th dispute the promotion play-offs. There is the possibility that as many as two clubs will be relegated to the Japan Football League. Promotion from the JFL is conditional on holding a valid J3 license. If the JFL champions hold a license, the club is automatically promoted and the J3's 20th-placed team is automatically relegated. If the JFL runners-up hold a license, the club needs to play promotion/relegation play-offs against J3's 19th or 20th-placed team for the season, depending on whether the JFL champions hold the J3 license. The club(s) who do not hold a license cannot be promoted and no teams are relegated from the J3 League.
Schedule The league and match format was announced on 25 November 2024. The league began on 15 February and ended on 29 November in a round-robin format of 38 matches.
The J3 promotion play-offs were held in a similar manner to the J2 playoffs, with the dates confirmed in November.
Changes from the previous season Tochigi SC, Kagoshima United and Thespa Gunma were relegated to J3 League finishing in 18th, 19th, and 20th places, respectively. Tochigi SC were relegated after eight years in the second division. Kagoshima United returned to the third tier after just one season in J2, while Thespa Gunma dropped back to the J3 following five years in J2.
From J3, the promoted teams were RB Omiya Ardija (formerly known as Omiya Ardija), the team was recently acquired by the Red Bull Group, who were promoted after only one season in J3, runner-up FC Imabari got promotion for the first time ever and played the Ehime derby against Ehime FC in J2 League, and the last team promoted was Kataller Toyama after eleven seasons in J3 thanks to an epic draw in the play-off final against Matsumoto Yamaga with a double from the striker Shosei Usui in the last ten minutes.
Tochigi City got promoted from Japan Football League for the first time ever and played the Tochigi Derby against Tochigi SC. The second team promoted was Kochi United SC, who finished as runner-up and thus qualified for the relegation play-off where they defeated YSCC Yokohama with an aggregate score of 3-1; they are the first team from Kochi Prefecture to play in the J.League.
Clubs <noinclude>
TeamsLocationStadiumCapacityHead coachLast seasonLicenseAzul Claro NumazuNumazu, ShizuokaAshitaka Park Stadium5,104 Hideto Suzuki10thJ2Fukushima UnitedFukushima, FukushimaToho Stadium15,454 Shuhei Terada5thJ2Gainare TottoriTottori, TottoriAxis Bird Stadium11,999 Kentaro Hayashi13thJ2FC GifuGifu, GifuGifu Nagaragawa Stadium16,310 Kiyotaka Ishimaru8thJ1Giravanz KitakyushuKitakyushu, FukuokaMikuni World Stadium Kitakyushu15,300 Kohei Masumoto7thJ1Kagoshima UnitedKagoshima, KagoshimaShiranami Stadium19,934 Naoki Soma J2 (19th)J1Kamatamare SanukiTakamatsu, KagawaPikara Stadium30,099 Kim Jong-song16thJ1Kochi UnitedKōchi, KōchiKochi Haruno Athletic Stadium25,000 Yutaka Akita JFL (2nd)J3Matsumoto YamagaMatsumoto, NaganoSunpro Alwin20,000 Tomonobu Hayakawa4thJ1Nagano ParceiroNagano, NaganoNagano U Stadium15,515 Chikara Fujimoto18thJ2Nara ClubNara, NaraRohto Field Nara30,600 Michiharu Otagiri17thJ2FC OsakaHigashiōsaka, OsakaHanazono Rugby Stadium27,346 Naoto Otake6thJ2Ryukyu Okinawa Naha, OkinawaTapic Kenso Hiyagon Stadium15,500 Tadaaki Hirakawa14thJ1SC SagamiharaSagamihara, KanagawaSagamihara Gion Stadium6,291 Yuki Richard Stalph9thJ2Tegevajaro Miyazaki Miyazaki, MiyazakiIchigo Miyazaki Shintomi Football Stadium 5,354 Yuji Okuma15thJ2Thespa GunmaMaebashi, GunmaShoda Shoyu Stadium Gunma15,253 Masaru Okita J2 (20th)J1Tochigi City FCTochigi, TochigiCity Football Station5,129 Naoki Imaya JFL (1st)J2Tochigi SCUtsunomiya, TochigiKanseki Stadium Tochigi25,244 Shinji Kobayashi J2 (18th)J1Vanraure HachinoheHachinohe, AomoriPrifoods Stadium5,124 Nobuhiro Ishizaki7thJ2Zweigen KanazawaKanazawa, IshikawaKanazawa Go Go Curry Stadium10,444 Masateru Tsujita12thJ1
Personnel and kits Club Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Main shirt sponsorAzul Claro Numazu Masashi Nakayama Takuya Sugai AthletaUSUIFukushima United Shuhei Terada Takeaki Harigaya HummelSportsXGainare Tottori Kentaro Hayashi Hayato Nukui FC Gifu Kiyotaka Ishimaru Naoki Yamada RazzoliHot StaffGiravanz Kitakyushu Kohei Masumoto Haruki Izawa UmbroYaskawaKagoshima United Naoki Soma Shuto Inaba Under ArmourBHCKamatamare Sanuki Kim Jong-song Nao Eguchi HummelFuji ElectricKochi United SC Yutaka Akita Daichi Kobayashi AdmiralYamahaMatsumoto Yamaga Tomonobu Hayakawa Yusuke Kikui RazusoEpsonNagano Parceiro Chikara Fujimoto Yuya Ono HokioNara Club Michiharu Otagiri Daisei Suzuki SquadraDaiwa House GroupFC Osaka Mitsukyo Yabuta Takahiro Kitsui Daihatsu KyushuRyukyu Okinawa Tadaaki Hirakawa Yuta Sato SC Sagamihara Yuki Richard Stalph Toshio Shimakawa UmbroTegevajaro Miyazaki Yuji Okuma Keigo Hashimoto YonexIchigoThespa Gunma Masaru Okita Shusuke Yonehara KelmeCainzTochigi City Naoki Imaya Rempei Uchida LuxperiorOtsuka Pharmaceutical(Pocari Sweat)Tochigi SC Shinji Kobayashi Sho Sato AthletaTKCVanraure Hachinohe Nobuhiro Ishizaki Shogo Onishi HummelAtmixZweigen Kanazawa Maki Tsujita Hiroto Hatao HummelTwelve
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in the table Incoming manager Date ofappointment Zweigen Kanazawa Akira ItoAppointed as general manager1 June 202511th Masateru Tsujita3 June 2025Nara Club Ichizo NakataSacked12 June 20258th Michiharu Otagiri12 June 2025FC Gifu Yasuaki OshimaSacked2 July 202518th Koji Ohashi2 July 2025FC Gifu Koji OhashiReplaced by permanent manager2 July 202518th Kiyotaka Ishimaru7 July 2025Kamatamare Sanuki Atsushi YoneyamaSacked6 July 202520th Kim Jong-song8 July 2025FC Osaka Naoto OtakeSacked31 August 20254th Mitsukyo Yabuta (Interim)31 August 2025Azul Claro Numazu Masashi NakayamaSacked14 September 202520th Hideto Suzuki14 September 2025Kochi United SC Yutaka AkitaSacked23 September 202516th Takahisa Shiraishi23 September 2025
Foreign players From the 2021 season onwards, there are no limitations on signing foreign players, but clubs could only register up to five of them for a single matchday squad. Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Qatar) were exempted from these restrictions.
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the summer transfer window. Player's name in italics indicates the player has Japanese nationality in addition to their FIFA nationality, holds the nationality of a J.League partner nation, or is exempt from being treated as a foreign player due to having been born in Japan and being enrolled in, or having graduated from an approved type of school in the country.
ClubPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Player 5Player 6Former players Azul Claro Numazu Gustavo Rissi Lucas Sena Weverton Guirone Gueguim Wadi Ibrahim Suzuki Enric Martínez Fukushima United Gainare Tottori Jin Shiming Kojo Dadzie FC Gifu Dudu Mun In-ju Kim Yoo-geon Jon Ander Serantes Giravanz Kitakyushu Koh Seung-jin Kagoshima United Gaudencio Renan Rodrigo Angelotti Kamatamare Sanuki Eduardo Ismael Dunga Kochi United Kang Sung-chan Park Se-gi Park Yong-ie Arnau Riera Matsumoto Yamaga Lucas Vargas Tiago Kim Jun-hyun Nagano Parceiro Thales Paula Lee Seung-won Lim Ji-hoon Nara Club Yu Ye-chan Marc Vito Chanapach Buaphan Thawatchai Inprakhon FC Osaka Vinícius Kim Yoon-sik Shin Dong-min Woo Sang-ho Yves Avelete Ha Ji-sung Lee Dong-yeol Ryukyu Okinawa Jo Eun-soo SC Sagamihara Rafael Furtado Noam Baumann Kevin Pytlik Robin Maulun Origbaajo Ismaila Tegevajaro Miyazaki Kim Geon-yeon Lee Chung-won Thespa Gunma Kim Je-hee Tochigi City FC Joe Caletti Carlos Eduardo Matej Jonjić Peter Utaka Taofiq Jibril Tochigi SC Kim Min-jun Kenneth Otabor Rafael Costa Vanraure Hachinohe Zweigen Kanazawa Jeferson Jari Patric
League table
Play-offs Promotion play-offs The usual format was applied in the 2025 season. Promotion play-offs, officially called the Meiji Yasuda Road To J2 Play-offs 2025 (), was held from the semi-finals, where the match-ups were previously semi-determined. Based on the J3 placements at the end of the regular season, the third-placed team played against the sixth-placed, while the fourth-placed team played against the fifth-placed. The winners of the semi-finals played the final, with the winners promoted to the J2.
If a match was tied in the play-offs, the team with the highest league position are declared the winner. The rank order was: J3's third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-placed teams.
Semi-finals
Final
Relegation play-offs The relegation play-offs, officially called the 2025 J3/JFL Play-Offs (), took place on 7 and 14 December 2025. If two teams were level, the match went to extra time and a penalty shoot-out. The away goals rule does not count. Since the champions of the 2025 Japan Football League, Honda FC, did not hold a J3 professional license, they were ineligible for promotion. As a result, the bottom placed team faced the runners-up in the relegation play-off, while the 19th-place team avoided it.
Overview
Matches
Season statistics
Top scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Keigo HashimotoTegevajaro Miyazaki252 Ryuji SawakamiVanraure Hachinohe12 Yusei ToshidaZweigen Kanazawa Takumi ShimadaFC Osaka Yuta TogashiGainare Tottori6 Paulo Junichi TanakaTochigi City11 PatricZweigen Kanazawa Yuki OkadaNara Club9 Hiroki HiguchiFukushima United10 Kota MoriFukushima United Ryunosuke OtaTochigi SC Kokoro KobayashiKōchi United SC Keito KawamuraKagoshima United
Awards Monthly awards MonthManager of the MonthMonthly MVPGoal of the MonthYoung Player of the MonthSave of the MonthReferencesManagerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubPlayerClubFebruary/MarchNaoto OtakeFC OsakaPaulo Junichi TanakaTochigi CityYoshihito KondoKagoshima UnitedYuto KunitakeNara ClubToi YamamotoFC OsakaAprilNaoki ImayaTochigi CityKokoro KobayashiKochi United SCDaisuke InazumiVanraure HachinoheSora TanakaMatsumoto YamagaTakumi YamanoiZweigen KanazawaMayYuji OkumaTegevajaro MiyazakiTakumi ShimadaFC OsakaToi KagamiThespa GunmaSora TanakaMatsumoto YamagaHisaya SatoFC RyukyuJuneNobuhiro IshizakiVanraure HachinoheGenki EgawaTegevajaro MiyazakiKeito KawamuraKagoshima UnitedSora TanakaRoasso KumamotoKaito KonomiGiravanz Kitakyushu
See also 2025 Japanese Super Cup 2025 Emperor's Cup 2025 J1 League 2025 J2 League 2025 J.League Cup 2025 Japan Football League
Footnotes
References
External links Official website on jleague.co