Japan Football League

Sport	Football
Founded	1999
No. of teams	18
Country	Japan
Current champions	Ehime FC

The Japan Football League (日本フットボールリーグ, Nihon futtobōru Līgu^?) is the 3rd tier of the Japanese football heararchy following J. League division 1 and 2. Also known as JFL, it is generally considered as the top amateur league in Japan although many full-time footballers play in the league. JFL is directly governed by the Japan Football Association, as opposed to J. League whose governing body is the independent Japan Professional Football League. Football (soccer) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia /**/ @import /skins-1. ... See also: 1998 in sports, other events of 1999, 2000 in sports and the list of years in sports. // Athletics Hicham El Guerrouj sets the new World Record in the mile at the World Championships in Rome. ... Image File history File links Flag_of_Japan_(bordered). ... Ehime F.C. is a professional football (soccer) club based in Matsuyama, the capital city of Ehime Prefecture of Japan. ... The Japan Professional Football League ), or J. League ), is the top professional soccer league in Japan and one of the most successful leagues in Asian club football. ... The Japan Football Association (JFA) is the governing body responsible for the administration of football (soccer) in Japan. ...

Note: In Japan's football history, there are two different leagues that have the same English name "Japan Football League" although their Japanese names are different. One (日本フットボールリーグ, Nihon futtobōru Līgu^?) still exists and is the subject of this page while the other (ジャパンフットボールリーグ, Japan futtobōru Līgu^?) ceased to exist in 1998. In this page, the ceased Japan Football League is referred to as "the former JFL". The former Japan Football League ) was a football (soccer) league that existed from 1992 to 1998. ...

Foundation

The Japan Football League started from the 1999 season when the second division of J. League (J2) was also born. Until then, J. League consisted of only one division and the former JFL was the second highest division. Out of 16 teams who played the last season of the former JFL, 9 decided and were accepted to play in J2 and the other 7 teams as well as Yokogawa Denki, the winners of the resional league play-off, formed the new Japan Football League. These 8 teams together with Yokohama FC that was allowed to participate as a special case after the merger of Yokohama Flügels and Yokohama Marinos competed in the inaugural 1999 season. Yokohama FC are a Japanese football club based in the city of Yokohama. ... Yokohama Flügels ) is a Japanese soccer team that played in the J. League between 1993 and 1999. ... Yokohama F. Marinos is a Japanese football team which participates in the professional J. League. ...

9 teams that competed in the first season were as follows: Denso FC, Honda Giken FC, Jatco FC, Kokushikan University FC, Mito HollyHock, Otsuka Pharmaceutica FC, Sony Sendai F.C., Yokohama FC and Yokogawa Denki F.C.. Mito HollyHock (Japanese: ) is a Japanese professional soccer (football) club, currently playing in the J-league Division 2. ... Tokushima VORTIS (Japanese: 徳島ヴォルティス) is a Japanese professional soccer (football) club, currently playing in the J-league Division 2. ... Yokohama FC are a Japanese football club based in the city of Yokohama. ...

Promotion from JFL

In principal, a team that satisfies the following criteria will be promoted to J. League Div. 2.

• Has an intention to be promoted to J. League
• Finishes 1st or 2nd in JFL
• Satisfies J. League requirements such as stadiums, practice grounds, supports from the local community and financials
• is approved by the J. League Committee

Therefore, the number of the teams promoted varies each year from 0 to 2.

Relegation from JFL

Two teams at the bottom of the league may face a relegation/promotion play-off against the teams finished at the top of the Regional League play-off. The number of the teams who need to compete in the play-off varies depending on the number of the teams that are promoted to J2 or withdraw from the JFL.

Current Format

The 2006 season is competed among 18 clubs.

They are: (@ denotes the teams that expressed their intention to be promoted to J. League)

• ALO's Hokuriku
• Arte Takasaki @ (former F.C. Horikoshi)
• F.C. Kariya (former DENSO S.C.)
• F.C. Ryukyu @
• Honda F.C.
• Honda Lock S.C.
• JEF United Ichihara Chiba Amateur
• Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima F.C.
• Rosso Kumamoto @
• Ryutsu Keizai University F.C.
• Sagawa Express Osaka S.C.
• Sagawa Express Tokyo S.C.
• Sagawa Printing S.C.
• S.C. Tottori @
• Sony Sendai F.C.
• Tochigi S.C. @
• YKK AP F.C.
• Yokogawa Musashino F.C.

Each club plays the other clubs twice, home and away. JEF United Ichihara Chiba ) is a J. League team. ... Sagawa Express Osaka Soccer Club(佐川急便大阪サッカー部) operate out of Tsutsumi stadium in Osaka although they often play home games in Nagai also in one of the smaller stadiums. ...

Sagawa Express Tokyo S.C. and Sagawa Express Osaka S.C. have announced the merger and they will play as Sagawa Express S.C. from the 2007 season.

External Links

• (Japanese) Official Site