The 2010 J.League Division 1 season was the 46th season of the top-flight club football in Japan and the 18th season since the establishment of

J1 League The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

. The season began on March 6 and ended on December 4. A total of eighteen clubs participated in double round-robin format. At the end of the season, top three clubs received automatic qualification to the following years'

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League Elite (abbreviated as the ACL Elite) is an annual continental club association football, football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's List of top-division football clubs i ...

. Also, the bottom three clubs were relegated to

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...

by default.

Nagoya Grampus ; formerly known as is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, and have for all but one season since the inauguration of the league, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture an ...

won their first ever Japanese championship. This was also the first time since the advent of the J.League that the top scorer scored less than 20 goals; the honour of scoring 17 goals was shared between Nagoya's

Joshua Kennedy Joshua Blake Kennedy (born 20 August 1982) is an Australian former professional footballer who played as a striker for the Australia national soccer team. At club level, he played mostly for soccer clubs in Germany and Japan. Kennedy is kno ...

and

Júbilo Iwata is a Japanese professional association football, football team based in Iwata, Shizuoka, Iwata, located in Shizuoka Prefecture. The club competes in J2 League following relegation from J1 League in 2024 J1 League, 2024. Etymology The team's ...

Ryoichi Maeda is a Japanese football coach and former player who played as a forward. He was the J.League Top Scorer and J.League Best XI in 2009 and 2010. He currently works as an assistant coach for the Japan national team. Club career Maeda was born in ...

. Additionally, this was also the first Japanese top division season in which clubs from the

Kantō region The is a geography, geographical region of Honshu, the largest island of Japan. In a common definition, the region includes the Greater Tokyo Area and encompasses seven prefectures of Japan, prefectures: Chiba Prefecture, Chiba, Gunma Prefe ...

did not place among the top three.

Clubs

The following eighteen clubs participated in J.League Division 1 during the 2010 season. Of these clubs, Vegalta Sendai, Cerezo Osaka and Shonan Bellmare were newly promoted clubs. For the first time since 1995 season, all top-flight teams are located on a single island (

Honshū , historically known as , is the largest of the four main islands of Japan. It lies between the Pacific Ocean (east) and the Sea of Japan (west). It is the seventh-largest island in the world, and the second-most populous after the Indonesian ...

Personnel

Foreign players

Format

Eighteen clubs will play in double round-robin (home and away) format, a total of 34 games each. A club receives 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. The clubs are ranked by points, and tie breakers are, in the following order: * Goal differential * Goals scored * Head-to-head results * Disciplinary points A draw would be conducted, if necessary. However, if two clubs are tied at the first place, both clubs will be declared as the champions. The bottom three clubs will be relegated to J.League Division 2. The top three clubs will qualify to

in the following year. ;Changes from previous year * Regular season schedule had two months break after May 16 games, due to

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

. The season was resumed from July 17, with exceptions for clubs advancing to the Round of 16 of

2010 AFC Champions League The 2010 AFC Champions League was the 29th edition of the top-level Asian club football tournament organized by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), and the 8th under the current AFC Champions League title. The final was held at the National ...

, which 11th-week matches were rescheduled to July 14.

League table

Results

Top scorers

Awards

MVP

Seigo Narazaki is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. He played for Japan national team. Narazaki is the second highest number of J.League all-time appearances in history with 631 appearances. Club career Yokohama Flüg ...

Top scorers

Best XI

Attendances

References

{{J1 League champions J1 League seasons 1

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...