2025 J3 League
| Season | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 15 February – 24 November 2025 |
| Matches played | 140 |
| Goals scored | 319 (2.28 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Kokoro Kobayashi (10 goals) |
| Highest attendance | 12,807 Tochigi SC 1–1 Tochigi City FC (30 March 2025) |
| Lowest attendance | 374 FC Osaka 4–3 Thespa Gunma (18 April 2025) |
| Total attendance | 457,161[1] |
| Average attendance | 3,265 |
← 2024 2026–27 →
All statistics correct as of 09:43, 2 June 2025 (UTC). | |
The 2025 J3 League, also known as the 2025 Meiji Yasuda J3 League (Japanese: 2025 明治安田J3リーグ, Hepburn: 2025 Meiji Yasuda J3 Rīgu) for sponsorship reasons, is the 12th season of the J3 League, the third-tier Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2013.
Overview
This is the last J.League season played in a whole calendar year from late winter to early winter, with the following season onwards played from summer to spring.
The league continued with 20 teams for 2025 season since 2023.
The top two teams in the league will be automatically promoted to the J2 League, teams ranked 3rd to 6th dispute the promotion play-offs. There is the possibility that as many as two clubs will be relegated to the Japan Football League. Promotion from the JFL is conditional on holding a valid J3 license. If the JFL champions hold a license, the club will be automatically promoted and the J3's 20th-placed team will be automatically relegated. If the JFL runners-up hold a license, the club will need to play promotion/relegation play-offs against J3's 19th or 20th-placed team for the season, depending on whether the JFL champions hold the J3 license. The club(s) who do not hold a license cannot be promoted and no teams will be relegated from the J3 League.[2]
Schedule
The league and match format was announced on 25 November 2024. The league began on 15 February and ended on 29 November in a round-robin format of 38 matches.[2]
The J3 promotion play-offs were held in a similar manner to the J2 playoffs, with the dates will be confirmed in November[3]
Changes from the previous season
Tochigi SC,Kagoshima United, and Thespa Gunma have been relegated to J3 League finishing in 18th, 19th, and 20th places, respectively. Tochigi SC were relegated after eight years in the second division. Kagoshima United returns to the third tier after just one season in J2, while Thespa Gunma drops back to the J3 following five years in J2.
From J3, the promoted teams are RB Omiya Ardija (formerly known as Omiya Ardija) the team was recently acquired by the Red Bull Group who were promoted after only one season in J3, runner-up FC Imabari gets promoted for first time ever and will play the Ehime Derby against Ehime FC in J2 League, the last team promoted was Kataller Toyama after eleven seasons in J3 thanks to an epic draw in the play-off final against Matsumoto Yamaga with a double from the striker Shosei Usui in the last ten minutes.
Tochigi City got promoted from Japan Football League the for first time ever and will play the Tochigi Derby against Tochigi SC. The second team promoted was Kochi United SC, who finished as runner-up and thus qualified for the relegation play-off where they defeated YSCC Yokohama with an aggregate score of 3-1, they are the first team from Kochi Prefecture to play in the J League.
Clubs
Managerial changes
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in the table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zweigen Kanazawa | Akira Ito | Appointed as general manager | 1 June 2025 | 11th | Masateru Tsujita | 3 June 2025 | [4] |
| Nara Club | Ichizo Nakata | Sacked | 12 June 2025 | 11th | Michiharu Otagiri | 12 June 2025 | [5][6] |
Foreign players
From the 2021 season onwards, there is no limitations on signing foreign players, but clubs could only register up to five of them for a single matchday squad.[7] Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Qatar) were exempted from these restrictions.
- Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the summer 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.[8]
League table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tochigi City FC | 20 | 13 | 4 | 3 | 32 | 18 | +14 | 43 | Promotion to the 2026–27 J2 League |
| 2 | FC Osaka | 20 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 32 | 13 | +19 | 41 | |
| 3 | Vanraure Hachinohe | 20 | 12 | 4 | 4 | 27 | 13 | +14 | 40 | Qualification for the promotion play-offs |
| 4 | Tegevajaro Miyazaki | 20 | 9 | 8 | 3 | 27 | 19 | +8 | 35 | |
| 5 | Kagoshima United | 20 | 8 | 8 | 4 | 32 | 22 | +10 | 32 | |
| 6 | Nara Club | 20 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 26 | 23 | +3 | 30 | |
| 7 | Giravanz Kitakyushu | 20 | 8 | 3 | 9 | 19 | 21 | −2 | 27 | |
| 8 | Matsumoto Yamaga | 20 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 24 | 26 | −2 | 26 | |
| 9 | Zweigen Kanazawa | 20 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 22 | 24 | −2 | 26 | |
| 10 | Fukushima United | 20 | 7 | 5 | 8 | 32 | 43 | −11 | 26 | |
| 11 | Gainare Tottori | 20 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 16 | 19 | −3 | 25 | |
| 12 | Kochi United | 20 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 30 | 35 | −5 | 25 | |
| 13 | Thespa Gunma | 20 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 27 | 30 | −3 | 23 | |
| 14 | Tochigi SC | 20 | 6 | 5 | 9 | 15 | 19 | −4 | 23 | |
| 15 | Ryukyu Okinawa | 20 | 6 | 4 | 10 | 17 | 22 | −5 | 22 | |
| 16 | SC Sagamihara | 20 | 4 | 9 | 7 | 20 | 26 | −6 | 21 | |
| 17 | Nagano Parceiro | 20 | 5 | 6 | 9 | 16 | 23 | −7 | 21 | |
| 18 | Kamatamare Sanuki | 20 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 24 | −5 | 20 | |
| 19 | Azul Claro Numazu | 20 | 3 | 9 | 8 | 18 | 20 | −2 | 18 | Qualification for the relegation/promotion play-offs |
| 20 | FC Gifu | 20 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 23 | 34 | −11 | 18 | Relegation to the 2026–27 JFL |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head goal scored; 7) Fair-play points.
Play-offs
Promotion play-offs
The usual format will be applied in the 2025 season. Promotion play-offs, officially called the 2025 J.League Road To J2 Play-offs[A] (Japanese: 2025 J2昇格プレーオフ), was held from the semi-finals, where the match-ups were previously semi-determined. Based on the J3 placements at the end of the regular season, the third-placed team played against the sixth-placed, while the fourth-placed team played against the fifth-placed. The winners of the semi-finals played the final, with the winners promoted to the J2.
If a match was tied in the play-offs, the team with the highest league position are declared the winner. The rank order was: J3's third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-placed teams.
Relegation play-offs
The relegation play-offs, officially called the 2025 J3/JFL Play-Offs (Japanese: 2025 J3・JFL入れ替え戦[B]), take place on 7 and 12 December 2025. If two teams are equal on the scoreboard, the match will going to extra time and penalty shoot-out. Away goals rule will not applied.
Season statistics
- As of 1 June 2025
Top scorers
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals[9][10] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kokoro Kobayashi | Kochi United SC | 10 |
| 2 | Hiroki Higuchi | Fukushima United | 8 |
| 3 | Patric | Zweigen Kanazawa | 6 |
| Keigo Hashimoto | Tegevajaro Miyazaki | ||
| 5 | Paulo Junichi Tanaka | Tochigi City | 5 |
| Sora Tanaka | Matsumoto Yamaga | ||
| Ryoma Kita | FC Gifu | ||
| Takumi Shimada | FC Osaka | ||
| Shota Tamura | Nara Club |
Awards
See also
- 2025 Japanese Super Cup
- 2025 Emperor's Cup
- 2025 J1 League
- 2025 J2 League
- 2025 J.League Cup
- 2025 Japan Football League
Footnotes
References
- ^ "J. League Data Site". data.j-league.or.jp. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
- ^ a b "２０２４明治安田Ｊ３リーグ 大会方式および試合方式について：Ｊリーグ公式サイト（J.LEAGUE.jp）". Ｊリーグ.jp（日本プロサッカーリーグ） (in Japanese). 19 December 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
- ^ "２０２５明治安田Ｊ３リーグ 大会方式および試合方式について". Ｊリーグ.jp（日本プロサッカーリーグ） (in Japanese). 25 November 2024. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
- ^ "Announcement of change of head coach of the first team". www.zweigen-kanazawa.jp. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
- ^ "Notice of Termination of Coach Kazuzo Nakata's Contract". naraclub.jp. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ "Announcement of the appointment of Michiharu Odagiri as Director". naraclub.jp. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
- ^ "「ホームグロウン制度」の導入と「外国籍選手枠」の変更について" [About the introduction of the "homegrown system" and the change of the "foreign player quota"]. JLeague.jp (in Japanese). Japan Professional Football League. 20 November 2018. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018.
- ^ "プロサッカー選手の契約、登録および移籍に関する規則" [Rules for contracting, registering and transferring professional soccer players] (PDF). JFA.jp (in Japanese). Japan Football Association. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
- ^ "All Positions | Goals | All clubs | MEIJI YASUDA J3 LEAGUE | 2025 Player Stats". J.LEAGUE. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
- ^ "J. League Data Site". data.j-league.or.jp. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
External links
- Official website on jleague.co (in English)