2012 Japan Football League

The 2012 Japan Football League (Japanese: 第14回日本フットボールリーグ, Hepburn: Dai Jūyon-kai Nihon Futtobōru Rīgu) was the fourteenth season of the Japan Football League, the third tier of the Japanese football league system. It has started on March 11, and finished on November 18.[1]

Japan Football League
Season2012
ChampionsV-Varen Nagasaki
1st JFL title
1st D3 title
PromotedV-Varen Nagasaki
RelegatedSagawa Shiga (withdrawn)
Matches played272
Goals scored762 (2.8 per match)
Top goalscorerShunta Takahashi, Masao Tsuji (20 goals)
Highest attendance11,658
Ryukyu vs MYFC
Lowest attendance92
Shiga vs Sony
Average attendance1,240
← 2011
2013 →

Clubs
Locations of the 2012 Japan Football League teams

The league intended to run the season in the usual 18-team format, but after the withdrawal of Arte Takasaki in January no replacement team was invited so in 2012 JFL features only 17 teams.[2]

Subsequently, only one club will be directly relegated and one take part in pro/rele playoffs to bring the number of JFL clubs back to 18.

During the season, on 23 July, Nagano Parceiro were approved as J. League associate members,[3] though they are not eligible for promotion until the completion of the renovation of their home stadium which is expected in 2016.

On 28 September 2012, J. League Organization made an announcement for club licenses for 2013, and only Nagasaki was granted conditional J2 license.

On 16 October 2012, it was reported that Sagawa Shiga F.C. had notified JFL organization about their intention of withdrawal from JFL as of the end of this season.[4] On 17 October 2012, JFL Committee has approved the request from Sagawa Shiga F.C. for its withdrawal from JFL as of the end of the season.[5]

Club Name Home Town(s) Note(s)
Blaublitz Akita All cities/towns in Akita
Honda FC Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
Honda Lock Miyazaki, Miyazaki
Hoyo Oita Ōita, Ōita Promoted from Kyushu league in 2011
Kamatamare Sanuki All cities/towns in Kagawa J. League associate member, not eligible for J2 promotion
MIO Biwako Shiga Kusatsu, Shiga
Fujieda MYFC Fujieda, Shizuoka Promoted from Tōkai league D1 in 2011
Nagano Parceiro Nagano, Nagano J. League associate member (since July 23), not eligible for J2 promotion
SP Kyoto Mukō, Kyoto
FC Ryukyu All cities/towns in Okinawa
Sagawa Shiga Moriyama, Shiga
Sony Sendai Tagajō, Miyagi
Tochigi Uva Tochigi, Tochigi
V-Varen Nagasaki All cities/towns in Nagasaki J. League associate member, eligible for J2 promotion
Yokogawa Musashino Musashino, Tokyo
YSCC Yokohama Yokohama, Kanagawa Promoted from Kantō league D1 in 2011
Zweigen Kanazawa Kanazawa, Ishikawa

Change in rules

Promotions to J. League Division 2
Main article: 2012 J. League Division 2 § Relegations to JFL

Relegation to regional leagues

Because of withdrawals by Arte Takasaki and Sagawa Shiga, no clubs will be relegated automatically as of the end of the season. The bottom finished (17th placed) club will play a play-off against the 3rd placed club of the 2012 Regional League promotion series.[6]

Table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 V-Varen Nagasaki[lower-alpha 1] (C, P) 32 20 7 5 57 24 +33 67 Promotion to 2013 J.League Division 2
2 Nagano Parceiro 32 17 7 8 57 34 +23 58
3 Sagawa Shiga (R) 32 16 9 7 61 37 +24 57 Withdrawn[lower-alpha 2]
4 Kamatamare Sanuki 32 15 8 9 49 29 +20 53
5 Honda FC 32 16 5 11 55 39 +16 53
6 YSCC Yokohama 32 15 4 13 58 50 +8 49
7 SP Kyoto 32 12 9 11 43 43 0 45
8 MIO Biwako Shiga 32 11 10 11 53 52 +1 43
9 FC Ryukyu 32 12 7 13 58 62 −4 43
10 Yokogawa Musashino 32 11 8 13 35 50 −15 41
11 Fujieda MYFC 32 11 7 14 39 48 −9 40
12 Sony Sendai 32 9 12 11 27 29 −2 39
13 Blaublitz Akita 32 9 10 13 33 41 −8 37
14 Zweigen Kanazawa 32 8 12 12 33 41 −8 36
15 Hoyo Oita 32 9 8 15 40 57 −17 35
16 Honda Lock 32 7 7 18 28 56 −28 28
17 Tochigi Uva 32 4 10 18 36 70 −34 22 Qualification for pro/rel playoffs
Updated to match(es) played on 18 November 2012. Source: Japan Football League
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal differential; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head results; 5th disciplinary points; 6th draw.
(C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.
Notes:
  1. V-Varen Nagasaki topped the table at the end of the 17th round and thus were awarded JFL seed for 2012 Emperor's Cup.[7]
  2. On 21 October Sagawa Express Co., the owner and operator of Sagawa Shiga FC, have announced that after the season the club will withdraw from JFL and cease its operations.[8]

Results
Home \ Away BLA HON LOC HOY KAM MIO MYF PAR PRI RYU SSH SON UVA VVN YMC YSC ZWE
Blaublitz Akita 1–0 1–0 1–1 1–2 0–0 0–0 1–2 3–3 1–0 1–2 2–2 1–1 1–2 1–1 0–1 2–1
Honda FC 1–1 1–1 0–2 3–1 0–1 2–1 4–0 2–0 4–1 2–2 2–0 3–0 1–0 1–0 6–0 0–1
Honda Lock 1–1 0–3 0–2 1–2 1–4 1–0 1–0 0–1 2–3 1–1 0–1 2–4 0–4 2–3 0–1 2–0
Hoyo Oita 0–4 6–1 1–1 0–3 0–5 0–2 3–1 1–0 4–5 0–3 1–1 1–0 0–2 2–2 1–2 0–3
Kamatamare Sanuki 3–0 1–0 6–0 1–0 0–1 1–2 0–2 1–0 4–1 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–1 1–2 2–0 1–1
MIO Biwako Shiga 0–1 3–1 1–2 1–0 1–1 1–0 3–3 1–2 2–2 2–2 0–3 2–4 1–4 1–1 2–2 3–1
Fujieda MYFC 2–0 0–2 1–1 0–0 0–0 1–7 1–0 2–5 3–0 2–4 3–0 2–2 1–2 0–1 4–1 0–0
Nagano Parceiro 1–0 5–0 2–0 1–2 0–1 3–1 4–0 2–1 1–0 2–2 1–1 3–1 1–0 5–0 0–1 2–2
SP Kyoto 1–1 0–0 0–1 6–2 2–4 1–1 2–0 1–0 2–2 1–0 0–2 4–1 1–1 1–1 1–1 1–2
FC Ryukyu 0–1 1–2 1–0 3–2 2–2[lower-alpha 1] 4–1 1–2 0–2 4–0 2–1 1–1 4–2 1–0 1–3 3–4 3–2
Sagawa Shiga 0–1 4–0 2–3 2–1 2–1 4–0 1–1 0–1 4–0 4–3 3–1 3–0 2–0 1–2 1–4 0–0
Sony Sendai 3–2 0–1 1–1 0–1 0–0 2–0 1–0 1–2 0–1 1–1 0–0 1–0 0–1 1–0 0–0 0–0
Tochigi Uva 3–1 3–3 2–1 0–0 0–3 0–3 0–1 1–4[lower-alpha 2] 1–3 1–1 2–3 2–4 1–4 0–0 1–6 1–1
V-Varen Nagasaki 1–0 2–0 1–1 4–0 4–2 1–1 3–1 2–2 0–0 4–1 2–2 1–0 2–2 1–0 2–1 2–0
Yokogawa Musashino 2–0 0–7 0–1 0–4 0–3 1–2 1–3 1–1 2–0 2–2 1–1 1–0 2–1 1–0 1–2 1–2
YSCC Yokohama 4–1 0–2 4–1 3–3 1–2 3–0 4–1 1–2 1–2 2–0 1–3 2–0 2–0 0–3 1–2 1–2
Zweigen Kanazawa 1–2 2–1 2–0 0–0 1–1 2–2 1–3 2–2 0–1 2–3 0–1 0–0 0–0 0–1 2–1 0–4
Updated to match(es) played on 18 November 2012. Source: Japan Football League: First round, second round
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
Notes:
  1. F.C. Ryukyu vs Kamatamare Sanuki, a match for the 27th round originally scheduled on 29 September, was postponed due to approaching Typhoon Jelawat, and played on 31 October.[9]
  2. The 10th round game on May 6 between Tochigi Uva and Nagano Parceiro was discontinued after the first half because of heavy thunderstorm. The score at the moment was 0–0.[10] The match was replayed in full on June 20.

Top scorers
Rank Scorer Club Goals
1 Shunta Takahashi FC Ryukyu
20
Masao Tsuji YSCC Yokohama
20
3 Shohei Kiyohara Sagawa Shiga
17
Kota Sugawara MIO Biwako Shiga
17
Yuji Unozawa Nagano Parceiro
17
6 Kiichi Iga Honda FC
15
7 Kazuki Ganaha FC Ryukyu
13
Hideyuki Ishida Kamatamare Sanuki
13
9 Shintaro Hirai SP Kyoto
12
Masatoshi Matsuda Blaublitz Akita
12
Shoma Mizunaga V-Varen Nagasaki
12

Updated to games played on 18 November 2012
Source: Japan Football League

Attendance
Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 V-Varen Nagasaki 58,502 8,545 679 3,656 +141.6%†
2 Nagano Parceiro 44,963 4,127 1,803 2,810 +23.2%†
3 Kamatamare Sanuki 37,511 3,457 1,216 2,344 −22.5%†
4 Zweigen Kanazawa 37,013 9,136 522 2,313 −7.6%†
5 FC Ryukyu 34,626 11,658 262 2,164 +16.3%†
6 Blaublitz Akita 18,175 2,162 618 1,136 −10.8%†
7 Honda FC 13,171 3,056 376 823 −7.4%†
8 Sagawa Shiga 11,875 1,852 92 742 −35.6%†
9 Yokogawa Musashino 11,445 1,312 316 715 −0.1%†
10 YSCC Yokohama 11,360 1,436 411 710 n/a†
11 MIO Biwako Shiga 10,189 2,206 208 637 −4.9%†
12 Sony Sendai 9,413 1,174 263 588 −13.5%†
13 Honda Lock 8,715 1,274 296 545 −19.5%†
14 Fujieda MYFC 8,507 1,317 200 532 +81.0%†
15 Tochigi Uva 7,853 1,588 175 491 −7.5%†
16 Hoyo Oita 7,668 1,415 252 479 +161.7%†
17 SP Kyoto 6,242 736 105 390 +1.8%†
League total 337,228 11,658 92 1,240 −26.3%†

Updated to games played on 18 November 2012
Source: Japan Football League: First round, second round
Notes:
† Team played previous season in Regional Leagues.

Promotions and relegations after the regular season

V-Varen Nagasaki were automatically promoted to J2 while Machida Zelvia became the first ever team to be relegated from J. League, returning to the JFL after only one season.

SC Sagamihara and Fukushima United were promoted to JFL as the winner and runner-up of the Regional League promotion series, respectively. Third-placed Norbritz Hokkaido faced Tochigi Uva in a playoff series.[11] Both games were played in Tochigi to prevent snow in Hokkaido from potentially postponing an away game. After two games, the series were tied 2–2, but Tochigi Uva won the penalty shootout 4–1, securing their spot in 2013 JFL.

Playoffs with Regional Promotion Series
Norbritz Hokkaido2–1Tochigi Uva
Yamada  44', 58' Report
(Japanese)		 Wakabayashi  4'
Tochigi General Athletic Park Stadium, Tochigi
Attendance: 902
Referee: 井上知大
Tochigi Uva1–0 (a.e.t.)Norbritz Hokkaido
Hamaoka  62' (pen.) Report
(Japanese)
Penalties
Hamaoka
Okada
Takeuchi
Amma 		4–1 Hatakeyama
Ji Jun-Gi
Kuraya
Tochigi General Athletic Park Stadium, Tochigi
Attendance: 1,445
Referee: Takuya Maeda

Tochigi Uva won the series 4–1 on penalty kicks and remained in JFL.

References
  1. "News on the 14th JFL season opener" (in Japanese). Japan Football League. Retrieved 14 March 2011.
  2. 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.
  3. Ｊリーグ準加盟審査結果について [About the results of J. League associate membership examination] (in Japanese). J. League. 23 July 2012. Archived from the original on 2012-07-26. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  4. "佐川滋賀 JFLへ退会申し出" (in Japanese). NHK. 2012-10-16. Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2012-10-16.
  5. "SAGAWA SHIGA FC、JFLからの大会について" [About the withdrawal of Sagawa Shiga FC from JFL] (in Japanese). Japan Football League. 22 October 2012. Retrieved 22 October 2012.
  6. 入れ替えについての変更 [Changes in league promotion/relegation] (in Japanese). Japan Football League. 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
  7. "第92回天皇杯ＪＦＬシードはＶ･ファーレン長崎に決定！" [V-Varen Nagasaki as the JFL-seeded for the 92nd Emperor's Cup]. Japan Football League. 2012-06-24. Retrieved 2012-06-24.
  8. "SAGAWA SHIGA FC 活動停止に関するお知らせ" [Note on cessation of activity of Sagawa Shiga FC] (in Japanese). Sagawa Express Co. 2012-10-22. Retrieved 2012-10-22.
  9. Japan Football League (4 October 2012). "第14回JFL第27節「FC琉球vsカマタマーレ讃岐」代替日決定のお知らせ" [Noticee of alternative match date for "FC Ryukyu vs Kamatamare Sanuki", a 27th round game for 14th JFL] (in Japanese). Retrieved 8 October 2012.
  10. Japan Football League (6 May 2012). 第10節 栃木ウ－長野 中止のお知らせ [Note of discontinuation of the 10th round game between Tochigi Uva and Nagano Parceiro] (in Japanese). Retrieved 8 May 2012.
  11. "２０１２年度ＪＦＬ入替戦について" [About 2012 JFL exchange competition] (in Japanese). Japan Football League. 2012-12-03. Retrieved 2012-12-03.
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