2011 Japan Football League

Japan Football League

Season	2011
Champions	Sagawa Shiga 3rd JFL title 3rd D3 title
Promoted	Machida Zelvia Matsumoto Yamaga
Relegated	Arte Takasaki (withdrawn) JEF Reserves (withdrawn)
Matches played	289
Goals scored	792 (2.74 per match)
Top goalscorer	Masatoshi Matsuda (20 goals)
Highest attendance	11,956 Yamaga vs Sony
Lowest attendance	91 Printing vs Lock
Average attendance	1,682
← 2010 2012 →

The 2011 Japan Football League was the thirteenth season of the Japan Football League, the third tier of the Japanese football league system. It was scheduled to begin at 13 March 2011 and to end at 27 November 2011;^[1] however, the start of the season has been delayed to 23 April due to the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. As a result, the ending date of the season was moved to 11 December.^[2][3]

Overview

F.C. Ryūkyū

Blaublitz Akita

Sony Sendai

Tochigi Uva

Arte Takasaki

Yokogawa Musashino

Machida Zelvia

JEF United Reserves

Honda F.C.

Nagano Parceiro

Matsumoto Yamaga

Zweigen Kanazawa

Sagawa Shiga

MIO Biwako Kusatsu

Sagawa Printing

Kamatamare Sanuki

V-Varen Nagasaki

Honda Lock

At the end of the 2010 season, two new clubs, Kamatamare Sanuki and Nagano Parceiro, were promoted from the Japanese Regional Leagues by virtue of their final placing in the Regional League promotion series.

Kamatamare Sanuki were approved as J. League associate members at the annual meeting in February. Applications by Zweigen Kanazawa and FC Ryukyu were given "continuous deliberations" status with further efforts required to obtain the membership.

The earthquake and tsunami led to significant changes in competition schedule. Besides the postponement of the tournament, Sony Sendai, who were the most affected by disaster and couldn't recover in time, asked the league to put them on temporary hiatus.^[4] Missing the first eleven rounds (7th to 17th), Sony re-joined the league on 3 July and continued participation from then on. The final tournament schedule is as follows:^[1][5]

• Every team in the league will play 33 games: Two against each other (home and away) and one against Sony Sendai according to the schedule of the second half of the tournament (rounds 18th to 34th).
• Sony Sendai will play 17 games against every other team in the second half of the tournament.
• Sony Sendai will also participate in the re-scheduled games of rounds 1–6, called "Matches for reconstruction assistance of Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami" (東日本大震災 災害復興支援試合). Although those games are treated as official JFL matches, they will not be included into the league results.
• For the purpose of determining the relegated teams, Sony Sendai can add points gained in six aforementioned "reconstruction" games to their official 17-match outcome. Thus, Sony Sendai will be judged by 23 matches, while every other team – by 33.

On 3 August JEF Reserves had submitted a request of withdrawal from the league at the end of the season due to difficult financial conditions and poor performances of the team. The request was approved by the league Board on 12 September.^[6]

In the penultimate round Sagawa Shiga won their third JFL championship in only five years of existence, firmly placing themselves among the strongest amateur teams in Japan. Two clubs, Machida Zelvia and Matsumoto Yamaga were promoted to J. League.

By virtue of their placing in the Regional League promotion series, three clubs were promoted to JFL at the end of the season: YSCC Yokohama, Fujieda MYFC, and Hoyo AC Elan Oita. Because of JEF Reserves' withdrawal, no additional promotion and relegation play-offs were held.

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Sagawa Shiga (C)	33	23	1	9	60	34	+26	70
2	Nagano Parceiro	33	19	6	8	51	27	+24	63
3	Machida Zelvia (P)	33	18	7	8	61	28	+33	61	Promotion to 2012 J. League Division 2 ^1
4	Matsumoto Yamaga (P)	33	17	8	8	60	38	+22	59
5	V-Varen Nagasaki	33	15	11	7	61	44	+17	56
6	Honda FC	33	15	7	11	40	36	+4	52
7	Zweigen Kanazawa	33	13	8	12	49	40	+9	47
8	Honda Lock^†	33	12	11	10	47	45	+2	47
9	FC Ryukyu^†	33	14	4	15	47	51	−4	46
10	Tochigi Uva	33	12	9	12	40	43	−3	45
11	Kamatamare Sanuki	33	11	7	15	39	49	−10	40
12	SP Kyoto	33	11	5	17	43	61	−18	38
13	MIO Biwako Kusatsu	33	11	5	17	43	65	−22	38
14	Blaublitz Akita	33	10	7	16	38	52	−14	37
15	Yokogawa Musashino	33	9	9	15	33	37	−4	36
16	Arte Takasaki (R)	33	9	7	17	39	55	−16	34	Withdrawn ^2
17	JEF Reserves (R)	33	4	7	22	27	63	−36	19	Withdrawn ^3
18	Sony Sendai	17	3	7	7	14	24	−10	16

Updated to games played on 11 December 2011.
Source: Japan Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
^† FC Ryukyu and Honda Lock occupied top 2 places at the end of the 17th round (11th week) and were seeded for 2011 Emperor's Cup.^[7] These clubs were automatically qualified for the tournament, while each of other JFL clubs had to go through the prefectural qualifier.
¹ Must hold J. League Associate Membership, pass a final inspection by J. League (club name shown in bold) and finish no less than in fourth place to be promoted. V-Varen Nagasaki, though being an associate members, have announced that their stadium is not matching the J. League standards so they are not eligible for the promotion until the completion of necessary renovations. The target date is set for 2013 season.^[8] Because the maximum capacity of Division 2 set by J. League is 22 teams, no more than two clubs can be promoted.
² Arte Takasaki decided to withdraw from JFL and fold the club after the end of the season, when clubs promoted from regional leagues were already determined. JFL decided that the next season will be contested by 17 clubs (i.e. without supplying an additional club from a regional league).^[9]
3 JEF Reserves had submitted a request of withdrawal from the league at the end of the season regardless of team's performance. It was approved by league board on 12 September.^[6]
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home ╲ Away

ART

BLA

HON

LOC

JER

KAM

MIO

PAR

PRI

RYU

SSH

SON

UVA

VVN

YAM

YMC

ZEL

ZWE

Arte Takasaki

2–2

1–3

2–2

2–1

2–3

0–1

0–1

0–1

1–2

4–3

1–1

1–1

0–1

1–5

1–1

0–1

0–3

Blaublitz Akita

0–1

0–2

0–3

2–1

2–0

1–2

0–2

2–3

0–1

1–2

1–0

2–1

0–2

3–2

0–1

2–1

1–3

Honda FC

2–1

1–0

3–3

1–1

1–1

2–0

0–3

2–1

2–1

0–1

0–0

2–0

0–2

3–0

0–2

0–4

2–1

Honda Lock

1–1

1–1

3–2

2–0

1–0

2–1

1–2

6–1

0–4

0–3

2–2

1–3

0–2

0–1

0–1

1–1

JEF Reserves

2–3

1–1

1–2

0–3

3–3

3–1

0–1

2–3

0–2

3–1

0–1

1–2

0–2

0–1

0–2

0–2

Kamatamare Sanuki

3–1

2–1

0–1

1–1

1–1

1–2

1–0

3–2

2–1

1–2

1–1

1–1

4–2

1–0

0–3

1–2

MIO Biwako Kusatsu

3–1

1–2

1–0

0–2

1–0

2–1

3–1

2–2

1–2

1–4

1–1

0–6

0–2

4–1

1–6

2–0

Nagano Parceiro

1–0

4–1

0–0

1–1

4–0

2–1

4–1

0–0

3–1

0–1

2–1

0–0

1–1

0–2

1–0

0–3

SP Kyoto

2–2

2–0

0–1

1–2

0–1

2–1

2–1

2–0

4–1

0–2

1–2

1–2

2–3

1–1

2–1

0–2

0–0

FC Ryukyu

3–2

0–1

1–0

0–2

0–2

2–0

1–4

0–4

0–4

2–1

4–0

4–0

1–3

0–1

1–1

0–0

1–1

Sagawa Shiga

2–0

2–1

3–2

1–2

4–0

2–0

1–0

2–1

1–2

2–1

2–0

2–1

0–1

2–1

1–0

3–3

0–1

Sony Sendai

1–1^2

1–1

0–0

3–0

1–1

0–2

1–1^2

0–0^2

1–1

0–2

1–0

1–4

Tochigi Uva

0–1

1–1

1–3

1–0

3–0

1–0

3–2

0–2

1–0

2–2

1–3

3–2

4–0

1–2

1–0

1–0

0–1

V-Varen Nagasaki

1–2

2–2

1–1

1–1

3–3

0–1

2–1

0–2

6–0

1–3

2–1

0–1^2

2–2

1–1

1–0

5–1

0–2

Matsumoto Yamaga

1–2

1–2

1–1

2–0

1–1

2–2

3–2

2–1

6–0

1–0

1–2

0–3^2

3–1

1–1

2–2

2–0

2–0

Yokogawa Musashino

0–1

3–3

0–1

0–0

4–0

0–1

0–0

0–2

2–0

1–2

0–1

1–1^3

0–1

3–4

0–2

0–0

3–3

Machida Zelvia

1–3

1–1

1–0

4–0

1–0

2–0

6–0

2–2

2–0

5–1

2–1

0–0^2

0–0

3–0

3–1

1–2

2–0

Zweigen Kanazawa

1–0

1–2

1–0

2–3

4–0

1–2

1–1

1–2

4–1

0–3

0–2

1–1

3–3

1–2

0–1

1–1

Updated to games played on 11 December 2011.
Source: Japan Football League: First round, second round
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
²The postponed Sony Sendai matches from rounds 1–6, called "Matches for reconstruction assistance of 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami" (東日本大震災 災害復興支援試合). Those games are treated as official JFL matches but are not included into the final results.
³The game was originally scheduled to 7 August, but was abandoned after the first half (0–0) because of the heavy thunderstorm. The remaining 45 minutes were played on 19 October.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For coming matches, an a indicates there is an article about the match.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals[10]
1	Masatoshi Matsuda	Blaublitz Akita	20
2	Ryota Arimitsu	V-Varen Nagasaki	19
	Tetsuya Kijima	Matsumoto Yamaga	19
4	Yoshinori Katsumata	Machida Zelvia	16
5	Yuji Unozawa	Nagano Parceiro	15
6	Shoma Mizunaga	V-Varen Nagasaki	14
	Shunta Takahashi	FC Ryukyu	14
	Masaru Takeuchi	Tochigi Uva	14
9	Dragan Dimić	Machida Zelvia	13
10	Shohei Kiyohara	Sagawa Shiga	12

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Matsumoto Yamaga	126,830	11,956	4,032	7,461	+46.8%^†
2	Machida Zelvia	59,757	8,113	1,326	3,515	+0.3%^†
3	Kamatamare Sanuki	48,393	11,178	1,065	3,025	+67.0%^†
4	Zweigen Kanazawa	40,070	11,234	446	2,504	+61.7%^†
5	Nagano Parceiro	36,494	3,849	1,030	2,281	+41.9%^†
6	FC Ryukyu	31,620	3,017	363	1,860	+4.6%^†
7	V-Varen Nagasaki	25,717	3,187	625	1,513	−40.0%^†
8	Blaublitz Akita	21,666	3,624	793	1,274	+1.4%^†
9	Sagawa Shiga	19,576	3,450	115	1,152	−2.6%^†
10	Honda FC	15,107	2,481	172	889	+13.9%^†
11	Yokogawa Musashino	12,179	1,648	229	716	−7.7%^†
12	Sony Sendai	8,155	1,282	440	680	−10.5%^†
13	Honda Lock	10,838	1,552	440	677	+26.0%^†
14	MIO Biwako Kusatsu	10,724	1,263	189	670	−15.5%^†
15	Tochigi Uva	9,032	1,436	295	531	−29.2%^†
16	Arte Takasaki	7,775	1,727	212	457	+6.2%^†
17	SP Kyoto	6,516	1,162	91	383	−4.7%^†
18	JEF Reserves	5,757	782	171	360	+11.1%^†
	League total	496,206	11,956	91	1,682	+14.8%^†

Updated to games played on 11 December 2011
Source: Japan Football League: First round, second round
Notes:
^† Team played previous season in Regional Leagues.

References

1. "The 13th Japan Football League" (in Japanese). Japan Football League. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
2. 第１３回ＪＦＬ前期第１節　全９試合　開催中止のお知らせ (in Japanese). Japan Football League. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
3. 第１３回ＪＦＬ 前期第２節〜第３節　開催中止のお知らせ (in Japanese). Japan Football League. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
4. 第１３回ＪＦＬ大会方式変更点 (in Japanese). Japan Football League. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
5. ソニー仙台ＦＣの今季活動ならびに第１３回ＪＦＬ大会方式について (in Japanese). Japan Football League. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
6. お知らせ「ジェフリザーブズ、ＪＦＬからの退会について」 (in Japanese). Japan Football League. Retrieved 14 May 2011.
7. About 2011 Emperor's Cup JFL Seeds (第91回天皇杯全日本サッカー選手権大会 ＪＦＬシードチームにＦＣ琉球とホンダロックＳＣが決定?), Japan Football Association, dated 7 July 2011.
8. Preliminary results of J. League admission (Jリーグ入会予備審査の結果について?), official V-Varen Nagasaki website, dated 16 September 2010.
9. アルテ高崎、ＪＦＬからの退会について [Withdrawal of Arte Takasaki from JFL] (in Japanese). Japan Football League. 13 January 2012. Retrieved 11 February 2012.
10. "JFL Top Scorers". jfl.or.jp. Japan Football League. Retrieved 24 April 2011.

External links

• Official site