2013 J.League Division 1

J.League Division 1
Season	2013
Champions	Sanfrecce Hiroshima; 2nd J. League title; 7th Japanese title
Relegated	Oita Trinita; Júbilo Iwata; Shonan Bellmare
Champions League	Sanfrecce Hiroshima; Yokohama F. Marinos; Kawasaki Frontale; Cerezo Osaka
Matches played	306
Goals scored	879 (2.87 per match)
Top goalscorer	Yoshito Ōkubo; (26 goals)
Highest attendance	62,632; F. Marinos vs Albirex
Lowest attendance	5,698; Júbilo vs Albirex
Average attendance	17,226
	← 2012 2014 →

The 2013 J.League Division 1 season was the 48th season of Japanese top-flight football and the 21st since the establishment of the J.League in 1992. The season began on 2 March and finished on 7 December.^[1]

Sanfrecce Hiroshima are the defending champions.

Clubs

Vissel Kobe, Gamba Osaka and Consadole Sapporo were relegated at the end of the 2012 season after finishing in the bottom three places of the table. Consadole Sapporo returned to J2 after only one season in the top flight, while Vissel Kobe was relegated after six seasons in the top flight. Gamba Osaka, instead, was relegated for the first time since the creation of J. League in 1993 and the first time since their forerunners, Matsushita Electric Soccer Club, were relegated to the second Division of the Japan Soccer League after the 1986–87 season.

The three relegated teams were replaced by 2012 J.League Division 2 champions Ventforet Kofu, runners-up Shonan Bellmare and sixth-placed and play-off winner team Oita Trinita. Kofu made an immediate return to the top division, while Shonan after a two-year absence. In the end, Oita beat JEF United Chiba in the playoff final and returned in J1 after three seasons in the second division. Due to Oita's promotion, it will be the first time to have 2 clubs in the top-flight league competitions from Kyushu since 2006, and Kansai region will have only one club competing in the top flight first time since 1994 season due to Kobe and Gamba's relegations.

Club Name	Home Town(s)	Stadium	Capacity	Note(s)
Albirex Niigata	Niigata & Seirō, Niigata	Big Swan Stadium	42,300
Kashima Antlers	Kashima, Ibaraki	Kashima Soccer Stadium	40,728
Omiya Ardija	Omiya, Saitama	NACK5 Stadium	15,500
Cerezo Osaka	Osaka	Nagai Stadium	47,816
Yokohama F. Marinos	Yokohama & Yokosuka	Nissan Stadium	72,327
Kawasaki Frontale	Kawasaki, Kanagawa	Todoroki Athletics Stadium	26,232
Nagoya Grampus	Nagoya, Aichi	Mizuho Athletic Stadium	27,000
Júbilo Iwata	Iwata, Shizuoka	Yamaha Stadium	15,165
Oita Trinita	Ōita	Ōita Stadium	40,000	Promoted from J2 League (6th place/play-off winner in J2 2012)
Urawa Red Diamonds	Urawa, Saitama	Saitama Stadium	63,700	2013 ACL participant (3rd place in J1 2012)
Kashiwa Reysol	Kashiwa, Chiba	Kashiwa Soccer Stadium	15,900	2013 ACL Participant (2012 Emperor's Cup Winners)
Shimizu S-Pulse	Shizuoka	IAI Stadium Nihondaira	20,339
Sagan Tosu	Tosu, Saga	Tosu Stadium	24,490
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshima	Hiroshima Big Arch	50,000	2013 ACL participant (Champions in J1 2012)
Shonan Bellmare	Hiratsuka, Kanagawa	Shonan BMW Stadium	18,500	Promoted from J2 League (Runners-up in J2 2012)
FC Tokyo	Tokyo	Ajinomoto Stadium	49,970
Vegalta Sendai	Sendai, Miyagi	Yurtec Stadium	19,694	2013 ACL participant (Runners-up in J1 2012)
Ventforet Kofu	Kofu, Yamanashi	Yamanashi Chuo Bank Stadium	17,000	Promoted from J2 League (Champions in J2 2012)

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Asian Player	Non-Visa Foreign	Type-C Contract	Former Player(s)
Albirex Niigata	Léo Silva	Roger Gaúcho	Kim Kun-hoan	Kim Jin-su			Bruno Lopes
Kashima Antlers	Davi	Juninho
Omiya Ardija	Lucas Neill	Milivoje Novaković	Zlatan Ljubijankić	Cho Young-cheol			Carlinhos Paraíba
Shonan Bellmare	Alex Muralha	Wellington	Stevica Ristić	Han Kook-young			Edivaldo Thiago Quirino
Cerezo Osaka	Branquinho	Edno	Fábio Simplício	Kim Jin-hyeon		Gu Sung-yun
Yokohama F. Marinos	Dutra	Fábio Aguiar	Marquinhos	Jeong Dong-ho
Kawasaki Frontale	Alan Pinheiro	Jeci	Renatinho		An Byong-jun	Róbson	Patric
Nagoya Grampus	Daniel	Danilson Córdoba	Nikola Jakimovski	Joshua Kennedy	Tiago
Júbilo Iwata	Carlinhos Paraíba	Cho Byung-kuk	Jung Woo-young	Baek Sung-dong
Urawa Red Diamonds	Márcio Richardes
Kashiwa Reysol	Cléo	Jorge Wagner	Leandro Domingues	Kim Chang-soo			Ricardo Lobo
Shimizu S-Pulse	Calvin Jong-a-Pin	Dženan Radončić	Lee Min-soo	Lee Ki-je			Baré
Sagan Tosu	Nilson	Kim Min-woo		Yeo Sung-hae	Kim Jung-ya	Jonathan Restrepo	Roni
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Mihael Mikić	Park Hyung-jin	Lee Dae-heon	Hwang Seok-ho		Kim Jeong-seok
Oita Trinita	Rodrigo Mancha			Choi Jung-han		Kim Jung-hyon	Kim Yeong-gi
FC Tokyo	Lucas	Nemanja Vučićević		Jang Hyun-soo
Ventforet Kofu	Gilsinho	Marquinhos Paraná	Patric	Choi Sung-keun			Douglas William Pottker Hugo Almeida José Ortigoza
Vegalta Sendai	Diogo	Wilson	Heberty		Ryang Yong-gi

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Sanfrecce Hiroshima (C)	34	19	6	9	51	29	+22	63	Qualification for 2014 AFC Champions League group stage^[a]
2	Yokohama F. Marinos	34	18	8	8	49	31	+18	62
3	Kawasaki Frontale	34	18	6	10	65	51	+14	60
4	Cerezo Osaka	34	16	11	7	53	32	+21	59
5	Kashima Antlers	34	18	5	11	60	52	+8	59
6	Urawa Red Diamonds	34	17	7	10	66	56	+10	58
7	Albirex Niigata	34	17	4	13	48	42	+6	55
8	FC Tokyo	34	16	6	12	61	47	+14	54
9	Shimizu S-Pulse	34	15	5	14	48	57	−9	50
10	Kashiwa Reysol	34	13	9	12	56	59	−3	48
11	Nagoya Grampus	34	13	8	13	47	48	−1	47
12	Sagan Tosu	34	13	7	14	54	63	−9	46
13	Vegalta Sendai	34	11	12	11	41	38	+3	45
14	Omiya Ardija	34	14	3	17	45	48	−3	45
15	Ventforet Kofu	34	8	13	13	30	41	−11	37
16	Shonan Bellmare (R)	34	6	7	21	34	62	−28	25	Relegation to 2014 J.League Division 2
17	Júbilo Iwata (R)	34	4	11	19	40	56	−16	23
18	Oita Trinita (R)	34	2	8	24	31	67	−36	14

Updated to match(es) played on 7 December 2013. Source: J.League Division 1
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

^ The winners of the 2013 Emperor's Cup qualify for the group stage of the 2014 AFC Champions League. As the Emperor's Cup winners were Yokohama F. Marinos, who had already qualified to ACL through the championship, the remaining spot was awarded to the fourth-placed team.

Results

Home \ Away	ALB	ANT	ARD	BEL	CER	FMA	FRO	GRA	JÚB	RED	REY	SAG	SFR	SSP	TOK	TRI	VEG	VEN
Albirex Niigata		2–3	1–0	3–2	1–0	1–0	2–1	2–0	4–2	0–2	3–2	3–1	1–2	3–1	0–3	2–3	1–0	1–1
Kashima Antlers	1–0		1–0	1–0	1–0	2–1	4–1	3–1	1–1	1–2	3–1	1–2	0–2	3–1	3–2	3–1	3–2	0–0
Omiya Ardija	1–1	3–1		2–1	0–3	1–0	2–3	2–1	3–0	1–0	2–3	1–1	2–1	2–2	2–5	0–1	0–2	1–2
Shonan Bellmare	0–2	1–2	0–1		0–3	1–2	1–1	1–1	1–1	2–2	1–2	1–1	0–2	1–1	3–2	2–1	3–2	1–2
Cerezo Osaka	1–0	1–2	1–2	2–1		2–1	0–0	2–1	2–0	2–2	1–1	4–1	1–0	4–1	1–0	0–0	1–1	0–1
Yokohama F. Marinos	0–2	1–1	2–1	4–2	1–1		2–1	1–2	2–1	3–0	1–1	2–1	1–0	1–0	3–2	1–1	0–0	1–1
Kawasaki Frontale	2–1	4–2	2–1	1–2	2–2	1–0		2–1	2–1	4–0	3–1	0–1	2–0	2–0	2–2	1–1	4–2	1–1
Nagoya Grampus	2–0	3–1	2–1	2–0	1–1	1–2	1–2		1–1	2–0	3–2	3–2	1–1	2–1	0–2	2–1	0–2	0–0
Júbilo Iwata	2–1	2–3	0–1	4–0	2–2	0–1	2–4	2–3		1–2	0–1	3–3	0–2	0–1	0–0	3–1	1–1	1–1
Urawa Red Diamonds	1–0	3–1	4–0	2–0	2–5	2–3	1–3	1–0	2–1		2–1	6–2	3–1	0–1	2–2	4–3	1–1	1–1
Kashiwa Reysol	1–1	2–1	0–4	5–2	1–3	2–1	3–1	3–3	1–3	2–6		2–1	1–1	2–2	4–1	3–1	0–0	2–0
Sagan Tosu	1–3	1–1	2–1	1–0	2–0	0–1	5–4	1–1	1–0	4–1	0–3		0–2	0–1	2–3	3–2	1–0	2–1
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	2–0	0–0	3–1	1–0	1–0	1–3	4–2	1–1	2–1	1–2	0–0	2–0		3–1	1–2	1–0	1–0	5–1
Shimizu S-Pulse	1–2	4–3	1–0	3–1	1–1	0–5	1–2	2–1	1–0	0–2	1–2	6–4	0–4		0–0	3–1	2–0	2–1
FC Tokyo	2–0	1–4	0–1	2–1	1–2	0–2	2–0	3–1	2–2	3–2	3–0	2–3	0–1	2–0		2–0	2–0	4–1
Oita Trinita	1–3	2–3	0–2	1–2	0–2	0–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	2–2	0–0	2–4	1–1	2–3	1–2		0–1	0–1
Vegalta Sendai	0–1	2–1	2–1	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	3–3	2–1	1–1	0–2	1–2	2–1	6–0		1–1
Ventforet Kofu	1–1	3–0	0–3	0–1	1–2	0–0	1–3	0–1	2–1	0–1	3–1	0–0	2–0	0–2	1–1	0–0	0–1

Updated to match(es) played on 7 December 2013. Source: J. League Division 1
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Yoshito Ōkubo	Kawasaki Frontale	26
2	Kengo Kawamata	Albirex Niigata	23
3	Yoichiro Kakitani	Cerezo Osaka	21
4	Yohei Toyoda	Sagan Tosu	20
5	Masato Kudo	Kashiwa Reysol	19
5	Yuya Osako	Kashima Antlers	19
7	Hisato Satō	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	17
7	Kazuma Watanabe	FC Tokyo	17
9	Marquinhos	Yokohama F. Marinos	16
10	Shinzo Koroki	Urawa Red Diamonds	13
10	Wilson	Vegalta Sendai	13

Updated to games played on 7 December 2013
Source: J. League

Awards

Player of the Month

Month	Player	Club
March	Shunsuke Nakamura^[2]	Yokohama F. Marinos
April	Zlatan Ljubijankič^[2]	Omiya Ardija
May	Yoichiro Kakitani	Cerezo Osaka
June	N/A^[3]
July	Shusaku Nishikawa	Sanfrecce Hiroshima
August	Yuya Osako	Kashima Antlers
September	Aria Jasuru Hasegawa	FC Tokyo
October	Tetsuya Enomoto	Yokohama F. Marinos
November	Yoshito Ōkubo	Kawasaki Frontale

Best XI

Position	Player	Club
GK	Shusaku Nishikawa	Sanfrecce Hiroshima
DF	Daisuke Nasu	Urawa Red Diamonds
DF	Masato Morishige	FC Tokyo
DF	Yuji Nakazawa	Yokohama F. Marinos
MF	Hotaru Yamaguchi	Cerezo Osaka
MF	Toshihiro Aoyama	Sanfrecce Hiroshima
MF	Shunsuke Nakamura	Yokohama F. Marinos
MF	Yoichiro Kakitani	Cerezo Osaka
FW	Yuya Osako	Kashima Antlers
FW	Yoshito Ōkubo	Kawasaki Frontale
FW	Kengo Kawamata	Albirex Niigata

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Urawa Red Diamonds	630,701	54,905	23,295	37,100	+1.3%^†
2	Yokohama F. Marinos	467,425	62,632	12,537	27,496	+19.8%^†
3	Albirex Niigata	443,906	33,378	18,919	26,112	+4.4%^†
4	FC Tokyo	426,246	40,371	12,905	25,073	+4.7%^†
5	Cerezo Osaka	319,928	36,361	9,119	18,819	+11.3%^†
6	Kawasaki Frontale	282,952	21,657	12,345	16,644	−6.5%^†
7	Kashima Antlers	279,115	32,305	6,681	16,419	+6.7%^†
8	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	275,556	27,911	10,045	16,209	−8.5%^†
9	Nagoya Grampus	274,297	30,478	9,237	16,135	−5.9%^†
10	Vegalta Sendai	252,725	17,892	11,755	14,866	−10.4%^†
11	Shimizu S-Pulse	240,324	21,420	9,238	14,137	−6.5%^†
12	Ventforet Kofu	214,441	28,906	7,754	12,614	+21.2%^†
13	Kashiwa Reysol	213,406	34,021	7,013	12,553	−8.8%^†
14	Sagan Tosu	184,242	22,530	6,292	11,515	−4.0%^†
15	Oita Trinita	202,557	23,814	7,067	11,915	+22.6%^†
16	Omiya Ardija	189,342	13,365	7,412	11,138	+4.7%^†
17	Júbilo Iwata	185,207	20,049	5,698	10,895	−17.0%^†
18	Shonan Bellmare	168,481	13,786	6,080	9,911	+44.6%^†
	League total	5,271,047	62,632	5,698	17,226	−1.9%^†