2020 J2 League


The 2020 J2 League, also known as the '''2020 Meiji Yasuda Life for sponsorship reasons, will be the 28th season of J2 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1993. The league will start on 21 February 2020. For this season, the league was planned to have season break to avoid clash with 2020 Summer Olympics due to be starting from June to August, as the Olympics have been postponed to a year.

Effects of the 2019–20 coronavirus pandemic

On February 25, all J.League matches until March 15 were postponed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. After that, it was announced that it would be postponed until March 29. On March 19, the J.League announced no relegation would take place for the 2020 season, with the J1 League expanding to 20 clubs for the 2021 season. On March 25, announced that it would be Suspended April 3 to May 6.
On April 3, decided to starting over the official game schedule, which aims to gradually resume J3 from April 25, J2 from May 2, and J1 from May 9. Note that, considering a new schedule in the future, but it will resume it at least one month later and later in the month.
On May 29, J.LEAGUE announced to decided to resume on June 27. On June 9, announced to About schedule announcements of the 2020. On June 15, announced to New dates. The first 2 matches in each league will be held without spectators. After July 10th, as a general rule, the maximum number of people will be 5,000. After August, the maximum number of stadium capacity will be 50%, and it will be a “high alert spectator match”.
After that, 11th J.League extraordinary executive committee on July 20, it was announced that the "super strict alert audience game" extended to August 10 in view of the spread of coronavirus infection.

Clubs

After spending only one season in J2 Kashiwa Reysol became champions and have been promoted to 2020 J1 League along with Yokohama FC. 2019 J3 League champions Giravanz Kitakyushu and second place Thespakusatsu Gunma entered the league as promoted teams, replacing Kagoshima United and FC Gifu who were relegated to 2020 J3 League. Those teams that qualified for promotion playoffs in 2019 were unable to defeat their opponent and thus remain in 2020 J1 League season.
Giravanz Kitakyushu return to J2 after spending 3 seasons in J3, while Thespakusatsu Gunma return after spending two seasons.
Meanwhile, Matsumoto Yamaga and Júbilo Iwata will join 2020 J2 League as relegated teams from 2019 J1 League having placed 17th and 18th respectively.
Club NameHome TownStadiumCapacityLast seasonlicence
Albirex NiigataNiigata & Seiro, NiigataDenka Big Swan Stadium42,300J2 J1
Fukuoka City, FukuokaLevel5 Stadium22,563J2 J1
Ehime FCAll cities/towns in EhimeNingineer Stadium20,000J2 J1
Fagiano OkayamaAll cities/towns in OkayamaCity Light Stadium20,000J2 J1
Giravanz KitakyushuKitakyushu, FukuokaMikuni World Stadium Kitakyushu15,066 Promoted from J3 J1
JEF United ChibaChiba & Ichihara, ChibaFukuda Denshi Arena18,500J2 J1
Júbilo IwataIwata, ShizuokaYamaha Stadium15,165 Relegated from J1 J1
Cities/towns in KyotoSanga Stadium by Kyocera21,600J2 J1
Machida ZelviaMachida, TokyoMachida Athletic Stadium10,600J2 J1
Matsumoto YamagaCities/towns in NaganoSunpro Alwin20,396 Relegated from J1 J1
Cities/towns in IbarakiK's denki Stadium Mito12,000J2 J2
All cities/towns in YamagataND Soft Stadium20,315J2 J1
Omiya ArdijaSaitama, SaitamaNACK5 Stadium Omiya15,500J2 J1
Renofa YamaguchiAll cities/towns in YamaguchiYamaguchi Ishin Park Stadium20,000J2 J1
FC RyukyuAll cities/towns in OkinawaTapic Kenso Hiyagon Stadium25,000J2 J1
Tochigi SCUtsunomiya, TochigiTochigi Green Stadium18,025J2 J1
Thespakusatsu GunmaAll cities/towns in GunmaShoda Shoyu Stadium Gunma15,253 Promoted from J3（2nd）J1
All cities/towns in TokushimaPocarisweat Stadium20,441J2 J1
V-Varen NagasakiAll cities/towns in Nagasaki PrefectureNagasaki Athletic Stadium20,246J2 J1
Ventforet KofuAll cities/towns in Yamanashi PrefectureYamanashi Chuo Bank Stadium17,000J2 J1
All cities/towns in TokyoAjinomoto Stadium49,970J2 J1
Zweigen KanazawaAll cities/towns in IshikawaIshikawa Kanazawa Stadium20,000J2 J1

Personnel and kits

Foreign players

As of 2020 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 are exempt from these restrictions.
ClubPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Player 5Player 6Player 7Former players
Montedio Yamagata Vinícius Araújo Min Seong-jun
Halef Pitbull
Tochigi SC Mendes Han Yong-thae Woo Sang-ho
Thespakusatsu Gunma Kim Chol-ho
Nermin Haskic Vitalijs Maksimenko Filip Kljajic Ippei Shinozuka
JEF United Chiba Alan Pinheiro Kléber Jang Min-kyu Jason Geria
Tokyo Verdy Leandro Klebinho Matheus Vidotto
Machida Zelvia Alen Masovic Ri Han-jae Dorian Babunski Jeong Chung-geun Stefan Scepovic Erick Noriega
Ventforet Kofu Dudu Junior Barros Rafael Marques
Matsumoto Yamaga Augusto César Serginho Alvaro Jael Isma
Albirex Niigata FábioSilvinho Gonzalo González Pedro Manzi Mauro dos Santos
Zweigen Kanazawa Rodolfo Lucão
Jubilo Iwata Lulinha Lukian Juan Forlin Fozil Musaev
Kyoto Sanga Renan Mota Juninho Jordy Buijs Peter Utaka
Fagiano Okayama Paulinho Leo Mineiro Lee Yong-jae Yu Yong-hyeon Lee Kyeong-tae Choi Jung-won Hadi Fayyadh
Renofa Yamaguchi Renan Henik Iury Sandro
Tokushima Vortis Diego Dusan Cvetinovic
Ehime FC Sisi
Douglas Grolli Jon Ander Serantes Carlos Gutiérrez Juanma Emil Salomonsson
Giravanz Kitakyushu
V-Varen Nagasaki Caio César Freire Luan Victor Ibarbo
FC Ryukyu Felipe Tavares Daniel Sanches Danny Carvajal Lee Ji-seong Ri Yong-jik

League table

It was decided on 19 March to change the format regarding the rules for promotion/relegation for the end of the season for the J1, J2 and J3 leagues, such that there would be no relegation this season, that two clubs from the J2 League would be promoted to the 2021 J1 League, and that two clubs from the J3 League would be promoted to the 2021 J2 League. It was also announced that the J1/J2 play-offs will not be held.

Positions by round

Attendances