2018 J1 League

Meiji Yasuda J1 League
Season	2018
Dates	23 February 2018 – 1 December 2018
Champions	Kawasaki Frontale (2nd title)
Relegated	Kashiwa Reysol; V-Varen Nagasaki
AFC Champions League	Kawasaki Frontale; Sanfrecce Hiroshima; Kashima Antlers; Urawa Red Diamonds
Matches played	306
Goals scored	813 (2.66 per match)
Top goalscorer	Jô (Nagoya Grampus); (24 goals)
Biggest home win	Kawasaki v Consadole 7–0; (15 September)
Biggest away win	Vegalta v Marinos 2–8; (16 July)
Highest scoring	Vegalta v Marinos 2–8; (16 July)
Longest winning run	9 – Gamba Osaka; (Matchday 25–33)
Longest unbeaten run	12 – Consadole Sapporo ; (Matchday 25–34)
Longest winless run	15 – Nagoya Grampus ; (Matchday 3–17)
Longest losing run	8 – Nagoya Grampus ; (Matchday 4–11)
Highest attendance	55,689 – Urawa v Vissel; (23 September,; Matchday 27)
Lowest attendance	6,189 – Shimizu v V-Varen ; (11 April,; Matchday 7)
Total attendance	5,833,538
Average attendance	19,064
	← 2017 2019 →

This was fourth season of J1 League as renamed from J. League Division 1.

Kawasaki Frontale were the defending champions.

2018 season clubs

A total of 18 clubs contested the league. The 2017 J2 League champion Shonan Bellmare and the winner of the promotion play-offs Nagoya Grampus returned to the top flight a year after being relegated from J1 in the 2016 season. V-Varen Nagasaki, J2 runner-up in 2017, played in the J1 League for the first time.

Club	Location	Stadium	Last season
Hokkaido Consadole Sapporo	Hokkaido	Sapporo Dome	J1 (11th)
Vegalta Sendai	Miyagi Prefecture	Yurtec Stadium Sendai	J1 (12th)
Kashima Antlers	Ibaraki Prefecture	Kashima Soccer Stadium	J1 (2nd)
Urawa Red Diamonds	Saitama Prefecture	Saitama Stadium 2002	J1 (7th)
Kashiwa Reysol	Chiba Prefecture	Sankyo Frontier Kashiwa Stadium	J1 (4th)
FC Tokyo	Tokyo	Ajinomoto Stadium	J1 (13th)
Kawasaki Frontale	Kanagawa Prefecture	Todoroki Athletics Stadium	J1 (champions)
Yokohama F. Marinos		Nissan Stadium Nippatsu Mitsuzawa Stadium	J1 (5th)
Shonan Bellmare		Shonan BMW Stadium Hiratsuka	J2 (champions)
Shimizu S-Pulse	Shizuoka Prefecture	IAI Stadium Nihondaira	J1 (14th)
Júbilo Iwata	Shizuoka Prefecture	Yamaha Stadium	J1 (6th)
Nagoya Grampus	Aichi Prefecture	Paloma Mizuho Stadium Toyota Stadium	J2 (3rd)
Gamba Osaka	Osaka Prefecture	Panasonic Stadium Suita	J1 (10th)
Cerezo Osaka	Osaka Prefecture	Yanmar Stadium Nagai Kincho Stadium	J1 (3rd)
Vissel Kobe	Hyōgo Prefecture	Noevir Stadium Kobe	J1 (9th)
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshima Prefecture	Edition Stadium Hiroshima	J1 (15th)
Sagan Tosu	Saga Prefecture	Best Amenity Stadium	J1 (8th)
V-Varen Nagasaki	Nagasaki Prefecture	Transcosmos Stadium Nagasaki	J2 (2nd)

Personnel and kits

Club	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Front shirt sponsor
Kashima Antlers	Go Oiwa	Mitsuo Ogasawara	Nike	Lixil
Cerezo Osaka	Yoon Jong-hwan	Hotaru Yamaguchi	Puma	Yanmar
Consadole Sapporo	Mihailo Petrović	Hiroki Miyazawa	Kappa	Shiroi Koibito
Yokohama F. Marinos	Ange Postecoglou	Yuji Nakazawa	Adidas	Nissan
Kawasaki Frontale	Toru Oniki	Yū Kobayashi	Puma	Fujitsu
Gamba Osaka	Tsuneyasu Miyamoto	Yasuhito Endō	Umbro	Panasonic
Júbilo Iwata	Hiroshi Nanami	Nagisa Sakurauchi	Puma	Yamaha
Nagoya Grampus	Yahiro Kazama	Hisato Satō	Mizuno	Toyota
Urawa Red Diamonds	Oswaldo de Oliveira	Yōsuke Kashiwagi	Nike	Polus
Kashiwa Reysol	Nozomu Kato	Hidekazu Otani	Yonex	Hitachi
Shimizu S-Pulse	Jan Jönsson	Ryo Takeuchi	Puma	Suzuyo
Sagan Tosu	Kim Myung-hwi	Yutaka Yoshida	New Balance	DHC
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshi Jofuku	Toshihiro Aoyama	Nike	Edition
Shonan Bellmare	Cho Kwi-jea	Kaoru Takayama	Penalty	Meldia
FC Tokyo	Kenta Hasegawa	Jang Hyun-soo	Umbro	Lifeval
Vegalta Sendai	Susumu Watanabe	Shingo Tomita	Adidas	Iris Ohyama
Vissel Kobe	Juan Manuel Lillo	Lukas Podolski	Asics	Rakuten
V-Varen Nagasaki	Takuya Takagi	Jordy Buijs	Hummel	Japanet

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Yokohama F. Marinos	Erick Mombaerts	1 January 2018	Ange Postecoglou	19 December 2017
Urawa Red Diamonds	Takafumi Hori	2 April 2018	Oswaldo de Oliveira	19 April 2018
Kashiwa Reysol	Takahiro Shimotaira	13 May 2018	Nozomu Kato	13 May 2018
Gamba Osaka	Levir Culpi	23 July 2018	Tsuneyasu Miyamoto	23 July 2018
Vissel Kobe	Takayuki Yoshida	17 Sep 2018	Juan Manuel Lillo	4 Oct 2018
Sagan Tosu	Massimo Ficcadenti	17 Oct 2018	Kim Myung-hwi	17 Oct 2018

Foreign players

The total number of foreign players is restricted to five per club. Clubs can register up to four foreign players for a single match-day squad, of which a maximum of three are allowed from nations outside the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran and Qatar) are exempt from these restrictions.

Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Other	Former Players
Consadole Sapporo	Jay Bothroyd	Gu Sung-yun	Kim Min-tae			Chanathip Songkrasin	Jonathan Reis Julinho
Vegalta Sendai	Rafaelson	Ramon Lopes	Kim Jung-ya	Lee Yun-oh		Ryang Yong-gi
Kashima Antlers	Leandro	Léo Silva	Serginho	Jung Seung-hyun	Kwoun Sun-tae		Pedro Júnior
Urawa Red Diamonds	Andrew Nabbout	Fabrício	Maurício Antônio	Quenten Martinus	Zlatan Ljubijankič
Kashiwa Reysol	Cristiano	Nathan Otávio	Michael Olunga	Kim Bo-kyung	Park Jeong-su		Ramon Lopes Yun Suk-young
FC Tokyo	Diego Oliveira	Lins	Lipe Veloso	Jang Hyun-soo		Jakkit Wachpirom
Kawasaki Frontale	Caio César	Eduardo	Elsinho	Jung Sung-ryong		Jefferson Tabinas	Eduardo Neto
Yokohama F. Marinos	Thiago Martins	Olivier Boumal	Hugo Vieira	Dušan Cvetinović	Yun Il-lok	Ippei Shinozuka	Milos Degenek David Babunski
Shonan Bellmare	André Bahia	Mihael Mikić	Lee Jeong-hyeop				Alen Stevanović
Shimizu S-Pulse	Mitchell Duke	Crislan	Douglas	Freire	Hwang Seok-ho	Jong Tae-se	Wu Shaocong
Júbilo Iwata	Adaílton	Krzysztof Kaminski	Eren Albayrak	Fozil Musaev			Guilherme Santos Gabriel Morbeck
Nagoya Grampus	Mitchell Langerak	Eduardo Neto	Gabriel Xavier	Jô	Willian Rocha		Washington
Gamba Osaka	Ademilson	Fábio Aguiar	Hwang Ui-jo	Oh Jae-suk			Matheus Jesus
Cerezo Osaka	Souza	Matej Jonjić	Kim Jin-hyeon	Yang Dong-hyun	Osmar Barba	Pierce Waring Chaowat Veerachat
Vissel Kobe	Wellington	Lukas Podolski	Kim Seung-gyu	Andrés Iniesta		Theerathon Bunmathan Ahmed Yasser	Leandro Jung Woo-young
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Besart Berisha	Felipe Silva	Patric			Teerasil Dangda
Sagan Tosu	Joan Oumari	Cho Dong-geon	Kim Min-hyeok	Fernando Torres			Víctor Ibarbo An Yong-woo Jung Seung-hyun
V-Varen Nagasaki	Jordy Buijs	Choi Kyu-baek	Jairo Morillas	Juanma			Ben Halloran

Results

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Kawasaki Frontale (C)	34	21	6	7	57	27	+30	69	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
2	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	34	17	6	11	47	35	+12	57	Qualification for the Champions League play-off round
3	Kashima Antlers	34	16	8	10	50	39	+11	56	Qualification for the Champions League play-off round
4	Consadole Sapporo	34	15	10	9	48	48	0	55
5	Urawa Red Diamonds	34	14	9	11	51	39	+12	51	Qualification for the Champions League group stage
6	FC Tokyo	34	14	8	12	39	34	+5	50
7	Cerezo Osaka	34	13	11	10	39	38	+1	50
8	Shimizu S-Pulse	34	14	7	13	56	48	+8	49
9	Gamba Osaka	34	14	6	14	41	46	−5	48
10	Vissel Kobe	34	12	9	13	45	52	−7	45
11	Vegalta Sendai	34	13	6	15	44	54	−10	45
12	Yokohama F. Marinos	34	12	5	17	56	56	0	41
13	Shonan Bellmare	34	10	11	13	38	43	−5	41
14	Sagan Tosu	34	10	11	13	29	34	−5	41
15	Nagoya Grampus	34	12	5	17	52	59	−7	41
16	Júbilo Iwata (O)	34	10	11	13	35	48	−13	41	Qualification for the Relegation play-off
17	Kashiwa Reysol (R)	34	12	3	19	47	54	−7	39	Relegation to J2 League
18	V-Varen Nagasaki (R)	34	8	6	20	39	59	−20	30	Relegation to J2 League

Source: Meiji Yasuda J1 League
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated
Notes:

	Leader and qualification to AFC Champions League Group stage
	Qualification to AFC Champions League qualifying play-off
	Qualification to Relegation play-off
	Relegation to J2 League

Home \ Away	ANT	BEL	CER	CON	FMA	FRO	GAM	GRA	JUB	RED	REY	SSP	SAG	SFR	TOK	VVN	VEG	VIS
Kashima Antlers	—	2–1	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–0	1–1	1–0	6–2	1–0	0–0	0–1	1–2	2–1	1–2	1–1
Shonan Bellmare	2–1	—	1–1	2–2	0–1	0–0	1–0	0–0	1–0	2–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	0–2	0–0	2–1	1–3	0–2
Cerezo Osaka	0–2	2–1	—	3–3	1–1	2–1	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–1	0–3	3–1	2–1	0–1	1–0	3–1	2–1	1–1
Consadole Sapporo	0–2	1–0	1–1	—	2–1	1–2	2–0	3–0	0–0	1–2	1–2	1–3	2–1	2–2	3–2	2–1	1–0	3–1
Yokohama F. Marinos	3–0	4–4	1–2	2–1	—	1–1	1–1	1–2	1–3	1–2	3–1	1–2	1–2	1–4	0–1	5–2	5–2	1–2
Kawasaki Frontale	4–1	1–1	1–2	7–0	2–0	—	2–0	3–1	2–1	0–2	3–0	3–0	0–0	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	5–3
Gamba Osaka	1–1	1–0	1–0	1–1	2–1	2–0	—	2–3	2–0	0–0	2–2	1–2	3–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	1–0	0–1
Nagoya Grampus	4–2	2–2	0–0	1–2	1–1	0–1	3–2	—	1–0	4–1	2–3	1–3	3–0	0–0	1–2	3–4	2–3	1–2
Júbilo Iwata	3–3	1–0	1–1	0–2	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–6	—	2–1	2–0	0–0	1–0	3–2	2–0	1–2	3–2	0–2
Urawa Red Diamonds	3–1	0–1	1–2	0–0	0–1	2–0	1–3	3–1	4–0	—	3–2	2–1	0–0	1–2	3–2	0–0	1–0	4–0
Kashiwa Reysol	2–3	0–2	1–1	1–2	2–0	1–2	4–2	0–1	1–2	1–0	—	2–3	1–1	0–1	0–1	5–1	0–2	2–1
Shimizu S-Pulse	0–0	4–2	3–0	1–2	0–1	1–2	1–2	2–0	5–1	3–3	2–1	—	1–0	2–0	0–1	0–1	1–1	3–3
Sagan Tosu	0–1	0–1	1–0	1–2	2–1	0–2	3–0	3–2	0–0	1–0	1–2	3–1	—	1–0	0–0	1–0	0–1	1–1
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	3–1	2–2	0–2	1–0	3–1	1–2	4–0	1–2	0–0	1–4	0–3	2–0	1–0	—	1–1	2–0	0–1	2–0
FC Tokyo	2–1	1–0	0–1	0–0	5–2	0–2	3–2	3–2	0–0	1–1	0–1	0–2	0–0	3–1	—	0–1	0–1	1–0
V-Varen Nagasaki	1–2	1–3	0–2	2–3	1–2	1–2	3–0	3–0	0–0	1–1	1–0	1–2	2–2	0–2	2–5	—	1–0	0–1
Vegalta Sendai	0–3	4–1	2–2	2–2	2–8	0–0	2–1	1–2	0–3	1–1	1–0	2–1	2–3	1–3	1–0	1–0	—	1–1
Vissel Kobe	0–5	0–3	2–0	4–0	0–2	1–2	1–2	3–0	2–1	2–3	1–0	2–4	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	3–2	—

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Urawa Red Diamonds	603,534	55,689	21,250	35,502	+5.8%^†
2	FC Tokyo	449,388	44,801	13,425	26,432	−0.2%^†
3	Nagoya Grampus	419,218	43,579	9,297	24,660	+60.5%^†
4	Gamba Osaka	399,242	35,242	11,824	23,485	−3.3%^†
5	Kawasaki Frontale	394,709	24,677	17,113	23,218	+5.0%^†
6	Yokohama F. Marinos	370,401	41,686	8,688	21,788	−9.9%^†
7	Vissel Kobe	367,716	26,603	9,015	21,630	+18.4%^†
8	Kashima Antlers	330,376	33,647	7,672	19,434	−5.0%^†
9	Cerezo Osaka	319,782	34,303	8,165	18,811	−10.3%^†
10	Consadole Sapporo	309,798	34,250	6,729	18,223	−1.1%^†
11	Júbilo Iwata	263,060	31,375	8,047	15,474	−5.2%^†
12	Vegalta Sendai	261,943	19,152	13,158	15,408	+4.5%^†
13	Sagan Tosu	255,004	22,669	7,138	15,000	+5.7%^†
14	Shimizu S-Pulse	254,844	20,109	6,193	14,991	−0.8%^†
15	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	243,874	21,997	7,344	14,346	+2.2%^†
16	Shonan Bellmare	206,039	15,351	8,002	12,120	+43.4%^†
17	Kashiwa Reysol	193,833	14,208	9,255	11,402	+6.3%^†
18	V-Varen Nagasaki	190,827	15,975	6,579	11,225	+88.9%^†
	League total	5,833,538	55,689	6,193	19,064	+1.0%^†

Award	Winner	Club
J.League Manager of the Year	Mihailo Petrović	Consadole Sapporo
J.League Most Valuable Player	Akihiro Ienaga	Kawasaki Frontale
J.League Rookie of the Year	Hiroki Abe	Kashima Antlers

J.League Best XI
Attack	Hwang Ui-jo (Gamba Osaka)		Jô (Nagoya Grampus)
Midfield	Chanathip Songkrasin (Consadole Sapporo)	Ryota Oshima (Kawasaki Frontale)	Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale)	Akihiro Ienaga (Kawasaki Frontale)
Defence	Daigo Nishi (Kashima Antlers)	Shintaro Kurumaya (Kawasaki Frontale)	Shogo Taniguchi (Kawasaki Frontale)	Elsinho (Kawasaki Frontale)
Goalkeeper	Jung Sung-ryong (Kawasaki Frontale)

2018 J1 League

2018 season clubs

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Foreign players

Results

League table

Positions by round

Results table

Promotion–Relegation Playoff

Season statistics

Top scorers

Top assists

Hat-tricks

Attendances

Awards

References

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Team ╲ Round	1	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
Team ╲ Round
Kawasaki Frontale	1	4	2	1	3	2	5	6	3	3	3	4	5	4	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	4	2	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2	2	2	2	2	2
Kashima Antlers	12	7	9	6	8	12	13	8	12	14	15	13	8	10	11	13	10	7	9	6	7	7	7	7	8	7	4	3	3	5	5	3	3	3
Consadole Sapporo	16	11	15	11	15	7	6	4	4	4	4	3	3	3	5	5	5	6	4	4	5	6	6	4	4	5	7	4	5	3	3	4	4	4
Urawa Red Diamonds	6	13	13	17	17	16	11	10	9	12	14	11	12	13	14	11	12	9	7	8	9	9	9	9	9	9	8	6	6	6	6	6	6	5
FC Tokyo	6	14	17	13	9	4	3	5	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	2	3	3	3	3	3	3	5	4	4	4	5	5	6
Cerezo Osaka	6	9	10	15	12	6	4	3	5	5	5	5	4	5	4	4	4	5	6	7	6	5	5	6	5	6	5	7	8	7	8	8	9	7
Shimizu S-Pulse	12	5	3	3	4	5	8	12	13	11	7	10	11	9	10	9	8	10	8	10	11	11	11	12	12	10	10	9	9	8	7	7	7	8
Gamba Osaka	14	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	17	17	16	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	16	17	17	18	17	17	17	17	17	13	12	10	9	9	8	9
Vissel Kobe	6	15	14	8	13	10	9	9	7	6	8	8	10	7	6	6	6	4	5	5	4	4	4	5	7	8	9	10	11	12	11	12	11	10
Vegalta Sendai	4	3	5	4	2	3	2	2	6	7	6	9	7	8	7	8	7	8	10	12	8	8	8	8	6	4	6	8	7	9	10	10	10	11
Yokohama F. Marinos	6	16	16	12	10	13	14	16	15	15	13	16	15	15	13	10	13	13	13	15	13	14	15	15	14	14	12	11	10	11	13	11	12	12
Shonan Bellmare	3	6	7	10	14	11	12	15	14	13	10	12	13	14	12	14	11	12	11	11	12	12	12	14	13	13	14	14	13	14	14	14	14	13
Sagan Tosu	6	10	6	9	6	9	9	14	16	16	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	16	15	15	16	16	16	15	15	16	17	16	15	15	15	14
Nagoya Grampus	2	1	4	5	7	15	16	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	16	14	13	11	12	13	15	16	15	16	16	16	15
Júbilo Iwata	18	18	11	13	10	14	15	11	8	10	9	6	6	6	8	7	9	11	12	9	10	10	10	10	10	11	11	12	15	13	12	13	13	16
Kashiwa Reysol	16	8	8	7	5	8	7	7	10	8	11	7	9	11	9	12	14	15	15	13	14	13	13	11	15	16	16	17	14	17	17	17	17	17
V-Varen Nagasaki	15	11	12	16	16	17	17	13	11	9	12	14	14	12	15	15	15	14	14	14	16	17	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Yōsuke Kashiwagi	Urawa Reds	12
2	Junya Ito	Kashiwa Reysol	11
3	Kosei Shibasaki	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	9
3	Yuma Suzuki	Kashima Antlers	9
4	Gabriel Xavier	Nagoya Grampus	8
	Hideki Ishige	Shimizu S-Pulse	8
	Koya Kitagawa	Shimizu S-Pulse	8
	Yuki Muto	Urawa Reds	8