The 2026–27 J1 League, also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is the 34th season of J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. This is the 12th season of the league since its rebrand from J.League Division 1 and the first to have encompassed two calendar years, having switched from the single-year season format.
Kashima Antlers are the defending champions, having won a record-extending ninth J.League title on the last matchday of the 2025 season. It was their record-breaking ninth top flight title, their first trophy since winning the 2018 AFC Champions League, and the first league title since 2016.
Overview This is the first J.League season played in two calendar years from summer to spring, having always played in a whole calendar year from late winter to early winter since its inaugural season in 1993.
Changes from the previous season Three teams were relegated to the 2026–27 J2 League. Yokohama FC, Shonan Bellmare, and Albirex Niigata, were relegated as they finished 18th, 19th, and 20th respectively in the 2025 season, ending their one, eight, and three-year stays in the top flight respectively.
Three teams were promoted from the 2025 J2 League: Mito HollyHock, who won the title and play top flight football for the first time ever and second team from Ibaraki Prefecture in J1 League, V-Varen Nagasaki, who finished second, play only its second ever season in the J1 after seven seasons playing in the J2 League, and JEF United Chiba, who finished third and won the play-offs to play their first season in the top tier since their most recent relegation in 2008.
Clubs
+Club Location Stadium Capacity Kashima AntlersIbaraki Prefecture Mercari Stadium 39,095 Mito HollyHock Mito Shinkin Bank Stadium 17,034 Urawa Red Diamonds Saitama Prefecture Saitama Stadium 2002 62,040JEF United ChibaChiba PrefectureFukuda Denshi Arena19,470 Kashiwa Reysol Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium 15,109 FC TokyoTokyoAjinomoto Stadium47,851 Tokyo Verdy Machida Zelvia Machida GION Stadium 15,320 Kawasaki FrontaleKanagawa Prefecture Uvance Todoroki Stadium by Fujitsu 26,827 Yokohama F. Marinos Nissan Stadium 71,624 Shimizu S-Pulse Shizuoka Prefecture IAI Stadium Nihondaira 19,594 Nagoya Grampus Aichi Prefecture Toyota Stadium 42,753 Kyoto Sanga Kyoto Prefecture Sanga Stadium by Kyocera 21,269 Gamba OsakaOsaka Prefecture Panasonic Stadium Suita 39,694 Cerezo Osaka Yodoko Sakura Stadium 24,481 Vissel Kobe Hyōgo Prefecture Noevir Stadium Kobe 27,974 Fagiano Okayama Okayama Prefecture JFE Harenokuni Stadium 15,479 Sanfrecce Hiroshima Hiroshima Prefecture Edion Peace Wing Hiroshima 28,407 Avispa Fukuoka Fukuoka Prefecture Best Denki Stadium 21,546 V-Varen Nagasaki Nagasaki Prefecture Peace Stadium Connected by SoftBank 20,268
Personnel and kits Club Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Kit sponsorsMainOther(s) Avispa Fukuoka Shinya Tsukahara Takumi Kamijima Yonex Shin Nihon Seiyaku Cerezo Osaka Pablo Machín Shunta Tanaka Mizuno Yanmar Fagiano Okayama Takashi Kiyama Ryo Takeuchi Penalty GROP FC Tokyo Rikizo Matsuhashi Sei Muroya New Balance Tokyo Gas Gamba Osaka Tomokazu Myojin Shinnosuke Nakatani Hummel Panasonic JEF United Chiba Yoshiyuki Kobayashi Daisuke Suzuki Hummel Fuji Electric Kashima Antlers Toru Oniki Gaku Shibasaki Nike LIXIL Kashiwa Reysol Ricardo Rodríguez Taiyo Koga Yonex Hitachi Kawasaki Frontale Shigetoshi Hasebe Yasuto Wakizaka Puma Fujitsu Kyoto Sanga Ranko Popović Rafael Elias Puma Kyocera Machida Zelvia Go Kuroda Gen Shoji Adidas CyberAgent Mito HollyHock Daisuke Kimori Arata Watanabe Soccer Junky K's Holdings Nagoya Grampus Mihailo Petrović Sho Inagaki Mizuno Toyota GR Corolla Sanfrecce Hiroshima Bartosch Gaul Sho Sasaki Nike EDION Shimizu S-Pulse Takayuki Yoshida Jelani Reshaun Sumiyoshi Puma Suzuyo (H & A) / Star Micronics (3rd) Tokyo Verdy Hiroshi Jofuku Koki Morita Athleta Nicigas Urawa Red Diamonds Cho Kwi-jae Shūsaku Nishikawa, Yūta Miyamoto, Takurō Kaneko, Ryōma Watanabe Nike Polus Vissel Kobe Michael Skibbe Tetsushi Yamakawa Asics Rakuten Mobile V-Varen Nagasaki Takuya Takagi Hotaru Yamaguchi Fanatics Japanet Yokohama F. Marinos Steve Corica Takuya Kida Adidas Nissan
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in the tableIncoming managerDate ofappointment Yokohama F. Marinos Hideo Ōshima Sacked 3 June 2026 Pre-season Steve Corica 21 June 2026 Kyoto Sanga Tatsuma Yoshida End of interim spell 7 June 2026 Ranko Popović 8 June 2026 Urawa Reds Tatsuya Tanaka 16 June 2026 Cho Kwi-jae 16 June 2026 Cerezo Osaka Arthur Papas Resigned 3 July 2026 Pablo Machín 3 July 2026 Gamba Osaka Jens Wissing Resigned 10 July 2026 Tomokazu Myojin 18 July 2026
Foreign players From the 2019 season, there are no limitations on signing foreign players, but clubs can only register up to five of them for a single matchday squad. Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Morocco, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia) were exempted from these restrictions.
Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season 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 6Player 7Player 8Player 9Player 10Player 11Former player (s)Avispa Fukuoka Werik Popó Oriol Romeu Cerezo Osaka Jackson Irvine Lucas Fernandes Thiago Andrade Dion Cools Javi Hernández Pablo SabbagFagiano Okayama Kewin Léo Gaúcho Lucão Oberdan Lennart Moser Na Sang-ho FC Tokyo Marcelo Ryan Alexander Scholz Nicolai Vallys Kim Seung-gyu Dani Gómez Gamba Osaka Eli Adams Welton Zhang Aolin Badra Ali Camara Juanpe Issam Jebali Deniz Hümmet JEF United Chiba Dan Hall Dudu Pacheco Erison Matheus Índio Leonardo Rocha José Aurelio Suárez Kashima Antlers Élber Léo Ceará Matheus Bueno Yan Matheus Aleksandar Čavrić Kim Tae-hyeon Kashiwa ReysolKawasaki Frontale Derik Lacerda Kayke Queiroz Marcinho Pedro Romano Noriharu Kan Quan Tianhai Filip Uremović Svend Brodersen Lazar Romanić Lee Keun-hyeongKyoto Sanga Alex Souza David Silva Everton Maceió Halls Henrique Trevisan João Pedro Marco Túlio Rafael Elias Thiago Weverton Yoon Sung-jun Machida Zelvia Mitch Duke Tete Yengi Aki Koch Neta Lavi Ibrahim Drešević Thomas Ouwejan Nicholas Guimarães Cha Je-hoon Kim Min-tae Mito HollyHock Hugo Leonardo Patryck Ferreira Jakub Słowik Matheus LeiriaNagoya Grampus Marcus Índio Mateus Castro Sanfrecce Hiroshima Kusini Yengi Sébastien Haller Kim Ju-sung Shimizu S-Pulse Capixaba Dieguinho Mateus Brunetti Eom Joo-young Oh Se-hun Park Seung-wook Won Du-jae Jelani Reshaun SumiyoshiTokyo Verdy Matheus Vidotto Cho Yu-min Kim Hyun-wooUrawa Red Diamonds Luka Didulica Danilo Boza Matheus Sávio Samuel Gustafson Vissel Kobe Anderson Lopes Caetano Diego Erik Jean Patric Matheus Thuler Richard Monday UbongV-Varen Nagasaki Diego Pituca Eduardo Emerson Deocleciano Jonathan Júnior Matheus Jesus Thiago Santana Norman Campbell Luka Radotić Ko Rei-jin Noh Hyeung-junYokohama F. Marinos Thomas Deng Jordy Croux Tevis Gabriel Yuri Jeison Quiñones Dean David Park Il-gyu Rubén Blanco
Foreign players by confederation Foreign players by confederation CONMEBOL (55) (54), (1) AFC (27) (16), (8), (3), (1), (1), (1) UEFA (23) (6), (3), (3), (2), (2), (1), (1), (1), (1), (1), (1), (1), (1) CAF (4) (2), (1), (1), (1) CONCACAF (2) (1), (1) Total foreign players: 116
League table
Results
Season statistics
Top scorers
RankPlayerClubGoals1 Léo CearáKashima Antlers102 Yusuke SegawaKyoto Sanga73 MarcinhoKawasaki Frontale6 Kaina TanimuraYokohama F. Marinos Akito SuzukiSanfrecce Hiroshima6 Arata WatanabeMito HollyHock5 Motoki NagakuraFC Tokyo Rafael EliasKyoto Sanga9 Aleksandar ČavrićKashima Antlers4 Matheus SávioUrawa Reds Harumi MinaminoUrawa Reds
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Ref. Arata Watanabe4Mito HollyHockKashima Antlers4–2 (H)2 September 2026 Kota KawanoFagiano OkayamaSanfrecce Hiroshima3–2 (H)6 September 2026 Shun AyukawaSanfrecce HiroshimaCerezo Osaka6–1 (H)12 September 2026
Awards Monthly MVP MonthPlayerClubAugust Léo CearáFWKashima Antlers
Goal of the Month MonthPlayerClubAugust Akito SuzukiFWSanfrecce Hiroshima
Young Player of the Month MonthPlayerClubAugust Shin MiideraMFYokohama F. Marinos
Save of the Month MonthPlayerClubAugust Kosuke NakamuraCerezo Osaka
Manager of the Month MonthManagerClubAugust Ricardo RodríguezKashiwa Reysol
See also 2026 Japanese Super Cup 2026–27 Emperor's Cup 2026–27 J.League Cup 2026–27 J2 League 2026–27 J3 League 2026–27 Japan Football League 2026 Japanese Regional Leagues
References
External links Official website Official website J.League Data Site J.League Data Site