2014 J.League Division 1

	Leader and qualification to 2015 AFC Champions League group stage
	Qualification to 2015 AFC Champions League group stage
	Qualification to 2015 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off
	Relegation to 2015 J2 League

J. League Division 1
Season	2014
Champions	Template:Fb team Gamba; 2nd J. League title; 2nd Japanese title
Relegated	Template:Fb team Ardija; Template:Fb team Cerezo; Template:Fb team Vortis
Champions League	Template:Fb team Gamba; Template:Fb team Red Diamonds; Template:Fb team Antlers
Matches played	306
Goals scored	774 (2.53 per match)
Top goalscorer	Yoshito Ōkubo (18 goals)
Highest attendance	56,758; Reds vs Gamba
Lowest attendance	0; Reds vs S-Pulse
Average attendance	17,240
	← 2013 2015 →

The 2014 J. League Division 1 season was the 49th season of top-flight football in Japan, and the 22nd since the establishment of the J. League in 1993. The season began on 1 March and ended on 8 December. Sanfrecce Hiroshima were the defending champions.

Due to Japan's participation in the 2014 FIFA World Cup, there was an extended break to allow for preparation after the 14th-week matches on 17 and 18 May, with the league resuming on 15 July for four clubs who participated in the 2014 AFC Champions League to play rescheduled 12th-week matches, and 19 July for other 14 clubs.^[1]

2014 saw the league played via a home and away system over a single season for the last time until at least 2020. From 2015 the league will revert to an Apertura and Clausura system, with a multi-team play-off 'super stage' to decide the champions, similar to the format used when the J. League began.^[2]

The league was won by Gamba Osaka, who won their second J. League title following a 0–0 away draw against Tokushima Vortis. They became the second league champions (after Kashiwa Reysol) to win the first division after being promoted as second division champions.

Clubs

18 teams compete in this year's competition. Both Gamba Osaka and Vissel Kobe return to J1 after a single season outside the top flight; they finished as the J. League Division 2 champions and runners-up, respectively. Tokushima Vortis, who finished fourth in the regular season and won the promotion playoff, will make their top-flight debut, becoming the first club from Shikoku to do so. Those three teams replaced Oita Trinita, Shonan Bellmare and Júbilo Iwata; Júbilo were relegated from J1 for the first time after twenty seasons in the top tier, while Bellmare and Trinita were bumped down after cameo appearances in J1.

Template:J. League Div 1 map 2014

Club Name	Coach	Home Town(s)	Stadium	Capacity	Note(s)
Template:Fb team Albirex	Masaaki Yanagishita	Niigata & Seiro, Niigata	Big Swan Stadium	42,300
Template:Fb team Antlers	Toninho Cerezo	Kashima, Ibaraki	Kashima Soccer Stadium	40,728
Template:Fb team Ardija	Hiroki Shibuya	Omiya, Saitama	NACK5 Stadium	15,500
Template:Fb team Cerezo	Yuji Okuma	Osaka, Osaka	Nagai Stadium	47,816	2014 AFC Champions League participant (as 2013 J. League fourth-placed)
Template:Fb team F Marinos	Yasuhiro Higuchi	Yokohama & Yokosuka, Kanagawa	Nissan Stadium	72,327	2014 AFC Champions League participant (as 2013 J. League runners-up)
Template:Fb team Frontale	Yahiro Kazama	Kawasaki, Kanagawa	Todoroki Athletics Stadium	26,232	2014 AFC Champions League participant (as 2013 J. League Third placed team)
Template:Fb team Gamba	Kenta Hasegawa	Suita, Osaka	Osaka Expo '70 Stadium	21,000	Promoted from J. League Division 2 in 2013
Template:Fb team Grampus	Akira Nishino	Nagoya, Aichi	Mizuho Athletic Stadium	27,000
Template:Fb team Red Diamonds	Mihailo Petrović	Urawa, Saitama	Saitama Stadium	63,700
Template:Fb team Reysol	Nelsinho Baptista	Kashiwa, Chiba	Kashiwa Soccer Stadium	15,900
Template:Fb team S-Pulse	Katsumi Oenoki	Shizuoka, Shizuoka	IAI Stadium Nihondaira	20,339
Template:Fb team Sagan	Megumu Yoshida	Tosu, Saga	Tosu Stadium	24,490
Template:Fb team Sanfrecce	Hajime Moriyasu	Hiroshima, Hiroshima	Hiroshima Big Arch	50,000	2014 AFC Champions League participant (as 2013 J. League winners)
Template:Fb team FC Tokyo	Massimo Ficcadenti	Tokyo	Ajinomoto Stadium	49,970
Template:Fb team Vortis	Shinji Kobayashi	All cities/towns in Tokushima	Pocarisweat Stadium	20,441	Promoted from J. League Division 2 in 2013 (through a play-off system)
Template:Fb team Vegalta	Susumu Watanabe	Sendai, Miyagi	Yurtec Stadium	19,694
Template:Fb team Ventforet	Hiroshi Jofuku	Kofu, Yamanashi	Yamanashi Chuo Bank Stadium	17,000
Template:Fb team Vissel	Ryo Adachi	Kobe, Hyōgo	Misaki Park Stadium	30,132	Promoted from J. League Division 2 in 2013

Foreign players

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Asian Player	Non-Visa Foreign	Type-C Contract^[3]
Template:Fb team Albirex	Léo Silva	Rafael Silva	Lee Myung-Jae	Song Ju-Hun
Template:Fb team Antlers	Davi	Jorge Wagner	Luís Alberto		Caio
Template:Fb team Ardija	Carlinhos Paraiba	Dragan Mrđa	Zlatan Ljubijankić	Cho Won-hee
Template:Fb team Cerezo	Cacau	Kim Seong-jun	Diego Forlán	Kim Jin-Hyeon		Gu Sung-Yun
Template:Fb team F Marinos	Fabio	Rafinha
Template:Fb team Frontale	Jeci	Paulinho	Renato		An Byong-Jun
Template:Fb team Gamba	Lins	Patric		Oh Jae-Suk
Template:Fb team Grampus	Leandro Domingues	Régis	Danilson Córdoba	Joshua Kennedy		Gustavo
Template:Fb team Red Diamonds	Marcio Richardes
Template:Fb team Reysol	Dudu	Dudu	Leandro	Kim Chang-Soo
Template:Fb team S-Pulse	Dejan Jaković	Calvin Jong-a-Pin	Milivoje Novaković	Lee Ki-Je	Bueno
Template:Fb team Sagan	Choi Sung-Keun	Kim Min-Hyeok		Kim Min-Woo
Template:Fb team Sanfrecce	Mihael Mikić	Byeon Jun-Byum	Park Hyung-Jin	Hwang Seok-Ho
Template:Fb team FC Tokyo	Edu	Michele Canini
Template:Fb team Ventforet	Cristiano	Gilsinho	Marquinhos Paraná	Irfan Bachdim	Thiago Quirino
Template:Fb team Vegalta	Ramon Lopez	Wilson			Ryang Yong-Gi
Template:Fb team Vissel	Fabio Simplicio	Marquinhos	Pedro Júnior	Jung Woo-Young
Template:Fb team Vortis	Adriano	Alex	Esteven	Kim Jong-Min	Lee Yon-Jick	Son Se-Hwang

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Incoming manager
Vegalta Sendai	Graham Arnold	Mutual consent	Susumu Watanabe
Cerezo Osaka	Ranko Popović	Mutual consent	Marco Pezzaiuoli
Shimizu S-Pluse	Afshin Ghotbi	Mutual consent	Katsumi Oenoki
Sagan Tosu	Yoon Jung-Hwan	Sacked	Megumu Yoshida
Omiya Ardija	Kiyoshi Okuma	Sacked	Hiroki Shibuya
Cerezo Osaka	Marco Pezzaiuoli	Sacked	Yuji Okuma

League table

Template:2014 J. League Division 1 table

Positions by round

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
Template:Fb team Gamba	14	5	9	11	14	16	15	13	14	15	16	15	11	16	13	11	8	6	5	7	8	7	5	5	5	4	2	2	2	2	2	2	1	1
Template:Fb team Red Diamonds	6	9	5	5	11	6	4	3	5	4	1	2	2	1	1	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	2	2
Template:Fb team Antlers	2	1	1	1	1	1	2	4	1	1	2	3	7	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	3	3	4	4	3	2	3	4	4	3	3	3	3	3
Template:Fb team Reysol	10	12	14	10	12	9	9	10	9	6	6	7	4	5	6	7	9	8	9	6	7	6	8	9	8	9	9	8	7	6	6	5	5	4
Template:Fb team Sagan	1	1	4	9	4	8	5	5	3	5	3	1	1	2	2	2	2	1	1	3	2	2	3	3	4	5	5	3	5	5	4	4	4	5
Template:Fb team Frontale	8	14	16	14	9	4	7	8	8	9	7	8	6	8	3	3	3	3	3	2	4	4	2	2	2	3	4	5	3	4	5	6	6	6
Template:Fb team F Marinos	3	3	2	3	5	7	10	11	13	14	11	12	15	12	9	8	10	11	11	11	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	10	8	10	10	7	7	7
Template:Fb team Sanfrecce	6	4	7	6	3	2	1	2	4	2	4	4	5	6	7	5	5	7	6	8	9	9	9	7	9	8	8	7	9	8	8	9	9	8
Template:Fb team FC Tokyo	10	12	13	16	15	12	13	12	10	10	12	13	12	10	10	9	7	5	7	5	5	8	7	8	6	6	6	6	6	7	7	8	8	9
Template:Fb team Grampus	12	7	6	4	6	11	12	15	15	13	14	11	13	15	15	14	14	15	16	14	14	14	12	12	11	12	12	12	12	12	11	12	11	10
Template:Fb team Vissel	8	11	8	12	7	3	3	1	2	3	5	6	3	3	5	6	6	9	8	9	6	5	6	6	7	7	7	9	10	9	9	10	10	11
Template:Fb team Albirex	5	10	10	6	8	10	6	7	7	7	8	5	8	7	8	10	11	10	10	10	11	11	11	11	12	11	11	11	11	11	12	11	12	12
Template:Fb team Ventforet	17	15	15	13	13	15	16	14	12	12	13	14	16	14	16	16	16	14	14	15	15	15	15	15	13	13	14	15	16	13	13	13	13	13
Template:Fb team Vegalta	13	16	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	14	11	11	12	13	13	13	12	12	13	14	14	14	15	13	13	13	14	14	14	14	14
Template:Fb team S-Pulse	4	8	12	15	16	14	11	6	6	8	10	10	9	9	12	15	12	12	12	13	13	12	13	13	15	17	16	16	15	16	15	15	15	15
Template:Fb team Ardija	16	16	11	8	10	13	14	16	16	16	15	16	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	16	15	14	14	15	16	16	16	16
Template:Fb team Cerezo	15	5	3	2	2	5	8	9	11	11	9	9	10	13	14	13	15	16	15	16	16	16	16	16	16	14	17	17	17	17	17	17	17	17
Template:Fb team Vortis	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18	18

Last updated: 08 December 2014
Source: J. League Data Site
Note 1: Matchday 12 results for 2014 AFC Champions League Participants (Sanfrecce Hiroshima vs. Yokohama F. Marinos, Cerezo Osaka vs. Kawasaki Frontale), held on 15 July 2014, are included in Matchday 15 ranking. Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Kawasaki Frontale and Cerezo Osaka qualified to the Round of 16 of the 2014 AFC Champions League, in which the First Leg matches overlap with matches for Matchday 12

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Red Diamonds	603,770	56,758	0	35,516	−4.3%^†
2	FC Tokyo	428,184	42,059	13,048	25,187	+0.5%^†
3	F Marinos	392,496	40,571	11,088	23,088	−16.0%^†
4	Albirex	390,648	35,533	2,104	22,979	−12.0%^†
5	Cerezo	367,651	42,723	10,262	21,627	+14.9%^†
6	Antlers	300,310	32,099	8,840	17,665	+7.6%^†
7	Grampus	284,474	38,966	5,599	16,733	+3.7%^†
8	Frontale	283,241	19,668	10,609	16,661	+0.1%^†
9	Vegalta	257,949	18,914	11,144	15,173	+2.1%^†
10	Vissel	255,185	25,382	9,375	15,010	+30.3%^†
11	Sanfrecce	254,951	24,734	9,515	14,997	−7.5%^†
12	Gamba	250,738	19,569	10,898	14,749	+20.0%^†
13	S-Pulse	241,577	19,824	8,539	14,210	+0.5%^†
14	Sagan	240,323	23,277	8,276	14,137	+22.8%^†
15	Ventforet	206,904	36,505	5,416	12,170	−3.5%^†
16	Ardija	183,791	14,182	7,001	10,811	−2.9%^†
17	Reysol	182,161	14,623	6,115	10,715	−14.6%^†
18	Vortis	151,034	17,274	3,594	8,884	+104.3%^†
	League total	5,275,387	56,758	0	17,240	+0.1%^†

Clubs

Foreign players

Managerial changes

League table

Positions by round

Results

Top scorers

Awards

Individual

Best Eleven

Attendances

References