2021 J2 League
# 2021 J2 League

The 2021 J2 League, also known as the 2021 Meiji Yasuda J2 League (2021 明治安田生命J2リーグ, 2021 Meiji Yasuda Seimei J2 Rīgu) for sponsorship reasons, was the 23rd season of J2 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1999. The league started on 27 February 2021 and ended on 5 December.

## Clubs

With no relegations from J1 League, the second division hosted the same number of teams, since there were also no relegations to J3 League in 2020, but there were two promotions from the third division. This year, though, saw four relegations to J3 to match the four relegations from J1.

Tokushima Vortis left the second division after six seasons, coming back to J1, this time winning the title and topping the table in 2020. Despite losing in the last match against rivals and runners-up Avispa Fukuoka, both clubs assured themselves of the promotion to J1 with one game still to be played.

Meanwhile, in J3 League, two teams won promotion to J2: Blaublitz Akita stormed their way to J2, winning their second title in J3, but this time also getting promoted to J2 (unlike what happened in 2017, when they won, but did not hold a J2 license; this was their first appearance in the second tier since 1986). In the last match of the season, SC Sagamihara overcame Nagano Parceiro and clinched their first promotion ever, leaving the third division after seven seasons.

| Club Name | Home Town | Stadium | Capacity | Last season | License |
| - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Albirex Niigata | Niigata & Seiro, Niigata | Denka Big Swan Stadium | 42,300 | J2 (11th) | J1 |
| Blaublitz Akita | Akita | Soyu Stadium | 20,125 | Promoted from J3 (champions) | J2 |
| Ehime FC | All cities/towns in Ehime | Ningineer Stadium | 20,000 | J2 (21st) | J1 |
| Fagiano Okayama | All cities/towns in Okayama | City Light Stadium | 20,000 | J2 (17th) | J1 |
| Giravanz Kitakyushu | Kitakyushu, Fukuoka | Mikuni World Stadium Kitakyushu | 15,066 | J2 (5th) | J1 |
| JEF United Chiba | Chiba & Ichihara, Chiba | Fukuda Denshi Arena | 18,500 | J2 (14th) | J1 |
| Júbilo Iwata | Iwata, Shizuoka | Yamaha Stadium | 15,165 | J2 (6th) | J1 |
| Kyoto Sanga | Cities/towns in Kyoto | Sanga Stadium by Kyocera | 21,600 | J2 (8th) | J1 |
| Machida Zelvia | Machida, Tokyo | Machida Athletic Stadium | 10,600 | J2 (19th) | J1 |
| Matsumoto Yamaga | Cities/towns in Nagano | Sunpro Alwin | 20,396 | J2 (13th) | J1 |
| Mito HollyHock | Cities/towns in Ibaraki | K's denki Stadium Mito | 12,000 | J2 (9th) | J2 |
| Montedio Yamagata | All cities/towns in Yamagata | ND Soft Stadium | 20,315 | J2 (7th) | J1 |
| Omiya Ardija | Saitama, Saitama | NACK5 Stadium Omiya | 15,500 | J2 (15th) | J1 |
| Renofa Yamaguchi | All cities/towns in Yamaguchi | Yamaguchi Ishin Park Stadium | 20,000 | J2 (22nd) | J1 |
| FC Ryukyu | All cities/towns in Okinawa | Tapic Kenso Hiyagon Stadium | 25,000 | J2 (16th) | J1 |
| SC Sagamihara | Sagamihara | Gion Stadium | 15,300 | Promoted from J3 (runners-up) | J2 |
| Tochigi SC | Utsunomiya, Tochigi | Kanseki Stadium Tochigi | 25,244 | J2 (10th) | J1 |
| Thespakusatsu Gunma | All cities/towns in Gunma | Shoda Shoyu Stadium Gunma | 15,253 | J2 (20th) | J1 |
| V-Varen Nagasaki | All cities/towns in Nagasaki Prefecture | Nagasaki Athletic Stadium | 20,246 | J2 (3rd) | J1 |
| Ventforet Kofu | All cities/towns in Yamanashi Prefecture | Yamanashi Chuo Bank Stadium | 17,000 | J2 (4th) | J1 |
| Tokyo Verdy | All cities/towns in Tokyo | Ajinomoto Stadium | 49,970 | J2 (12th) | J1 |
| Zweigen Kanazawa | All cities/towns in Ishikawa | Ishikawa Kanazawa Stadium | 20,000 | J2 (18th) | J1 |

* ↑ centering on Matsuyama
* ↑ centering on Okayama, Kurashiki, Tsuyama
* ↑ Kyoto, Uji, Joyo, Kyotanabe, Muko, Nagaokakyo, Kizugawa, Kameoka, Nantan, Kyotanba, Fukuchiyama, Maizuru, Ayabe
* ↑ Matsumoto, Azumino, Yamagata, Shiojiri, Omachi, Ikeda, Ikusaka, Minowa, Asahi
* ↑ Mito, Hitachinaka, Kasama, Naka, Omitama, Ibaraki, Shirosato, Oarai, Tokai
* ↑ centering on Yamagata, Tendo, Tsuruoka
* ↑ centering on Okinawa
* ↑ centering on Kusatsu and Maebashi
* ↑ centering on Nagasaki and Isahaya
* ↑ centering on Kofu and Nirasaki
* ↑ centering on Kanazawa, Nonoichi, Kahoku, Tsubata, Tsubata

### Personnel and kits

| Club | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer |
| - | - | - | - |
| Albirex Niigata | Albert Puig | / Michael Fitzgerald Yuto Horigome Yuzuru Shimada | Adidas |
| Blaublitz Akita | Ken Yoshida | Ryota Nakamura | ATHLETA |
| Ehime FC | Noritada Saneyoshi | Takanori Maeno | Mizuno |
| Fagiano Okayama | Kenji Arima | TBA | Penalty |
| Giravanz Kitakyushu | Shinji Kobayashi | Kota Muramatsu | Penalty |
| JEF United Chiba | Yoon Jong-hwan | Daisuke Suzuki | Kappa |
| Júbilo Iwata | Masakazu Suzuki | Kentaro Oi | Puma |
| Kyoto Sanga | Cho Kwi-jae | Temma Matsuda | Puma |
| Machida Zelvia | Ranko Popović | Hiroki Mizumoto | SVOLME |
| Matsumoto Yamaga | Kei Shibata | Hayuma Tanaka | Adidas |
| Mito HollyHock | Tadahiro Akiba | Masato Nakayama | soccer junky |
| Montedio Yamagata | Peter Cklamovski | Takumi Yamada | Penalty |
| Omiya Ardija | Ken Iwase | Yuta Mikado | Under Armour |
| Renofa Yamaguchi | Susumu Watanabe | Joji Ikegami | Finta |
| FC Ryukyu | Tetsuhiro Kina | Kazumasa Uesato | sfida |
| SC Sagamihara | Fumitake Miura | Jiro Kamata | gol. |
| Tochigi SC | Kazuaki Tasaka | TBA | ATHLETA |
| Thespakusatsu Gunma | Ryosuke Okuno | Kodai Watanabe | Kelme |
| V-Varen Nagasaki | Takayuki Yoshida | Hiroki Akino | Umbro |
| Ventforet Kofu | Akira Ito | Ryohei Arai | Mizuno |
| Tokyo Verdy | Hideki Nagai | Tomohiro Taira | ATHLETA |
| Zweigen Kanazawa | Masaaki Yanagishita | Tomonobu Hiroi | hummel |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing | Manner | Exit date | Exit date | Position in table | Incoming | Incoming date | Incoming date | Ref. |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Team | Outgoing | Manner | Announced on | Departed on | Position in table | Incoming | Announced on | Arrived on | Ref. |
| Ehime FC | Shigenari Izumi | Resigned | 4 April 2021 | 4 April 2021 | 22nd | Noritada Saneyoshi | 7 April 2021 | 7 April 2021 | |
| V-Varen Nagasaki | Takayuki Yoshida | Demoted to Assistant Coach | 3 May 2021 | 3 May 2021 | 11th | Kazuki Sato (Caretaker) | 3 May 2021 | 4 May 2021 | |
| V-Varen Nagasaki | Kazuki Sato | End of term | 3 May 2021 | 6 May 2021 | 15th | Hiroshi Matsuda | 3 May 2021 | 6 May 2021 | |
| FC Ryukyu | Yasuhiro Higuchi | Sacked | 20 October 2021 | 20 October 2021 | 8th | Tetsuhiro Kina | 20 October 2021 | 20 October 2021 | |

## Foreign players

As of 2021 season, there are no more restrictions on a number of signed foreign players, but clubs can only register up to five foreign players for a single match-day squad. Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia and Qatar) are exempt 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, 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 school in the country.

| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 | Player 6 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Montedio Yamagata | Vinícius Araújo | Min Seong-jun | Víctor Ibáñez | Quenten Martinus | | |
| Mito HollyHock | Jefferson Tabinas | | | | | |
| Tochigi SC | Juninho | | | | | |
| Thespakusatsu Gunma | | | | | | |
| Omiya Ardija | Nermin Haskić | Filip Kljajić | Ibba Laajab | | | |
| JEF United Chiba | Saldanha | Jang Min-gyu | | | | |
| Tokyo Verdy | Matheus Vidotto | Jaílton Paraíba | | | | |
| Machida Zelvia | Jong Tae-se | Dudu | | | | |
| Ventforet Kofu | Mendes | Willian Lira | Paulo Baya | | | |
| Matsumoto Yamaga | Goh Dong-min | Lucão | Serginho | | | |
| Albirex Niigata | Gonzalo González | Kazuyoshi Shimabuku | | | | |
| Zweigen Kanazawa | Rodolfo | | | | | |
| Jubilo Iwata | Fabián González | Lukian | Alexei Koșelev | | | |
| Kyoto Sanga | Jordy Buijs | Peter Utaka | Origbaajo Ismaila | | | |
| Fagiano Okayama | Paulinho | Lee Yong-jae | Yu Yong-hyeon | Brenner | Mitchell Duke | |
| Renofa Yamaguchi | Renan | Henik | | | | |
| Blaublitz Akita | | | | | | |
| Ehime FC | | | | | | |
| SC Sagamihara | Yuri Mamute | Eduardo Kunde | Agenor | | | |
| Giravanz Kitakyushu | | | | | | |
| V-Varen Nagasaki | Caio César | Freire | Luan | Víctor Ibarbo | Edigar Junio | Wellington Rato |
| FC Ryukyu | Felipe Tavares | Danny Carvajal | Ramon | Ri Yong-jik | Sittichok Paso | Vinícius Faria |

## League table

Unlike last season, J. League has then decided to have four relegations to balance the number of teams in place for the 2022 season. While in 2020 no relegation was in place, 2021 saw four teams dropped to J3, re-establishing the number of teams in the third division to at least 17.

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Júbilo Iwata (C) | 42 | 27 | 10 | 5 | 75 | 42 | +33 | 91 | Promotion to J1 League |
| 2 | Kyoto Sanga | 42 | 24 | 12 | 6 | 59 | 31 | +28 | 84 | Promotion to J1 League |
| 3 | Ventforet Kofu | 42 | 23 | 11 | 8 | 65 | 38 | +27 | 80 | |
| 4 | V-Varen Nagasaki | 42 | 23 | 9 | 10 | 69 | 44 | +25 | 78 | |
| 5 | Machida Zelvia | 42 | 20 | 12 | 10 | 64 | 38 | +26 | 72 | |
| 6 | Albirex Niigata | 42 | 18 | 14 | 10 | 61 | 40 | +21 | 68 | |
| 7 | Montedio Yamagata | 42 | 20 | 8 | 14 | 61 | 49 | +12 | 68 | |
| 8 | JEF United Chiba | 42 | 17 | 15 | 10 | 48 | 36 | +12 | 66 | |
| 9 | FC Ryukyu | 42 | 18 | 11 | 13 | 57 | 47 | +10 | 65 | |
| 10 | Mito HollyHock | 42 | 16 | 11 | 15 | 59 | 50 | +9 | 59 | |
| 11 | Fagiano Okayama | 42 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 40 | 36 | +4 | 59 | |
| 12 | Tokyo Verdy | 42 | 16 | 10 | 16 | 62 | 66 | −4 | 58 | |
| 13 | Blaublitz Akita | 42 | 11 | 14 | 17 | 41 | 53 | −12 | 47 | |
| 14 | Tochigi SC | 42 | 10 | 15 | 17 | 37 | 51 | −14 | 45 | |
| 15 | Renofa Yamaguchi | 42 | 10 | 13 | 19 | 37 | 51 | −14 | 43 | |
| 16 | Omiya Ardija | 42 | 9 | 15 | 18 | 51 | 56 | −5 | 42 | |
| 17 | Zweigen Kanazawa | 42 | 10 | 11 | 21 | 39 | 60 | −21 | 41 | |
| 18 | Thespakusatsu Gunma | 42 | 9 | 14 | 19 | 35 | 56 | −21 | 41 | |
| 19 | SC Sagamihara | 42 | 8 | 14 | 20 | 33 | 54 | −21 | 38 | Relegation to J3 League |
| 20 | Ehime FC | 42 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 38 | 67 | −29 | 35 | Relegation to J3 League |
| 21 | Giravanz Kitakyushu | 42 | 7 | 14 | 21 | 35 | 66 | −31 | 35 | Relegation to J3 League |
| 22 | Matsumoto Yamaga | 42 | 7 | 13 | 22 | 36 | 71 | −35 | 34 | Relegation to J3 League |

* ↑ Since Sagamihara did not hold a J1 license, the club was ineligible for promotion to the 2022 J1 League.

## Season statistics

### Top scorers

    As of September 23rd, 2021.

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Lukian | Júbilo Iwata | 17 |
| 2 | Peter Utaka | Kyoto Sanga | 15 |
| 3 | Junki Koike | Tokyo Verdy | 14 |
| 4 | Edigar Junio | V-Varen Nagasaki | 13 |
| 5 | Kaito Taniguchi | Albirex Niigata | 11 |
| 6 | Jin Izumisawa | Ventforet Kofu | 10 |
| 6 | Yoshiaki Takagi | Albirex Niigata | 10 |
| 8 | Masato Nakayama | Mito HollyHock | 9 |
| 8 | Yoshiki Fujimoto | Ehime FC | 9 |
| 10 | Tomoya Miki | JEF United Chiba | 8 |
| 10 | Shunsuke Ota | Machida Zelvia | 8 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Yoshiaki Takagi | Albirex Niigata | Tokyo Verdy | 7–0 (H) | 27 March 2021 |
| Peter Utaka | Kyoto Sanga | Giravanz Kitakyushu | 6–1 (H) | 17 April 2021 |
| Kunitomo Suzuki | Matsumoto Yamaga | Ventforet Kofu | 3–3 (H) | 17 April 2021 |
| Koki Kiyotake | FC Ryukyu | Matsumoto Yamaga | 4–0 (H) | 26 June 2021 |
| Kaina Yoshio | Machida Zelvia | Ehime FC | 5–0 (H) | 27 June 2021 |
| Asahi Uenaka | V-Varen Nagasaki | Montedio Yamagata | 5–1 (H) | 14 September 2021 |
| Edigar Junio | V-Varen Nagasaki | Machida Zelvia | 3–3 (A) | 18 September 2021 |
| Vinícius $Araújo^4$ | Montedio Yamagata | Giravanz Kitakyushu | 4–0 (H) | 5 December 2021 |

* $^4$ Player scored 4 goals
