The 2024 J1 League, also known as the for sponsorship reasons, was the 32nd season 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 top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. This was the tenth season of the league since its rebrand from J.League Division 1.

Vissel Kobe is a Japanese professional football club based in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture. The club plays in the J1 League, which is the top tier of football in the country. They are currently the J1 League champions. The club's home stadium is Noevir Stad ...

were the defending champions, having won their first ever league title with one match to spare in the previous season. They retained their league title on the last matchday.

Overview

For the first time since

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, the number of the clubs in the league increased from 18 to 20. At the end of season, three clubs were relegated to the

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 ...

for the 2025 season, without relegation play-offs between J1 and J2 clubs.

Changes from the previous season

Only one club was relegated to the 2024 J2 League. Due to the re-introduction of 20 clubs league format,

Yokohama FC is a Japanese professional football club based in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture, part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The club was formed by fans of Yokohama Flügels as a protest against Flügels' merger with Yokohama Marinos in 1999, becoming th ...

became the sole team going down to the second division, after just one season in the J1 League. They have been replaced by three teams promoted from the 2023 J2 League. The first club promoted was

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

-based

Machida Zelvia commonly known as is a Japanese professional football club based in Machida, Tokyo. They currently play in the J1 League, following promotion as J2 League champions in 2023. History Formation and election to the Prefectural League (1989–2 ...

, debuting in the J1 as the J2 champions following a seven-year run in the Japanese second tier. Another automatic promotion spot was obtained by

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 ...

, who made a swift comeback after just a single season absence by finishing second, thus marking the return of a team from Shizuoka in the Japanese first division since

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. The last promotion spot was earned by

Tokyo Verdy is a Japanese professional football club based in Inagi, Tokyo. The club currently competes in the J1 League, following promotion from the J2 League in 2023. History Founded as Yomiuri Football Club in 1969, Tokyo Verdy is one of the mo ...

, returning to the top flight for the first time since

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

by finishing third in the J2 League and later won the

promotion play-offs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

. This brings back the Tokyo derby between Verdy and FC Tokyo in the J1 for the first time since that season as well as the first season in which three clubs from the capital city are competing at the highest tier of Japanese football system.

Schedule

The league and match format was announced on 19 December 2023. The league began on 23 February and ended on 8 December; it was played in a double round-robin format with 38 fixtures in total.

Participating clubs

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Foreign players

From the 2021 season, there are no limitations on signing foreign players, but clubs can only register up to five of them for a single matchday squad. Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Morocco, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia) were exempted from these restrictions. *Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season 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.

League table

Results

Season statistics

Top scorers

Hat-tricks

;Notes *⁴ Player scored 4 goals *(H) – Home team *(A) – Away team

Awards

Monthly awards

Annual awards

References

External links

Official website

Official website

J.League Data Site

J.League Data Site
{{2024–25 in Asian football (AFC) 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 ...