2011 J. League Division 1

J. League Division 1

Season	2011
Champions	Kashiwa Reysol 1st J. League title 2nd Japanese title
Relegated	Ventforet Kofu Avispa Fukuoka Montedio Yamagata
Champions League	Kashiwa Reysol Nagoya Grampus Gamba Osaka F.C. Tokyo
Matches played	306
Goals scored	869 (2.84 per match)
Top goalscorer	Joshua Kennedy (19 goals)
Highest attendance	54,441 Reds vs Reysol
Lowest attendance	4,028 Avispa vs Ardija
Average attendance	15,797
← 2010 2012 →

The 2011 J. League Division 1 season was the 46th season of Japanese top flight football and 19th since the establishment of the J. League. The season began on March 5 and concluded on December 3. The season was put on hold from March 12 to April 23 due to the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, therefore canceling a planned five-week summer break between June 27–July 29 in order to allow preparation of the Japanese national team for the 2011 Copa América.

The 2011 J. League Division 1 champion also qualified to the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup as the host team, entering the qualifying play-off round.

Kashiwa Reysol won a second league title, their first in 39 years and first in the professional J. League era. They also became the first League champions to win the title the season after being promoted as second division champions.

Clubs

F.C. Tokyo, Kyoto Sanga F.C. and Shonan Bellmare were relegated at the end of the 2010 season after finishing in the bottom three places of the table. Shonan had only played one season in Division 1 while Kyoto had enjoyed a three year stay. F.C. Tokyo had been in the top flight for eleven seasons.

The three relegated teams were replaced by 2010 J. League Division 2 champions Kashiwa Reysol, runners-up Ventforet Kofu and third-placed team Avispa Fukuoka. Kashiwa had made an immediate return to the top division, while Kofu and Fukuoka ended three- and four-year absences respectively.

Albirex Niigata

Avispa Fukuoka

Cerezo Osaka

Gamba Osaka

Júbilo Iwata

Kashima Antlers

Kashiwa Reysol

Kawasaki Frontale

Montedio Yamagata

Nagoya Grampus

Omiya Ardija

Sanfrecce Hiroshima

Shimizu S-Pulse

Urawa Red Diamonds

Vegalta Sendai

Ventforet Kofu

Vissel Kobe

Yokohama F. Marinos

Locations of the 2011 J. League 1 teams

Club Name	Home Town(s)	Note(s)
Albirex Niigata	Niigata & Seiro, Niigata
Avispa Fukuoka	Fukuoka, Fukuoka	Promoted from J2 League in 2010
Cerezo Osaka	Osaka, Osaka	2011 ACL Participant
Gamba Osaka	Suita, Osaka	2011 ACL Participant
Júbilo Iwata	Iwata, Shizuoka
Kashima Antlers	Southwestern cities/towns of Ibaraki	2011 ACL Participant
Kashiwa Reysol	Kashiwa, Chiba	Promoted from J2 League in 2010
Kawasaki Frontale	Kawasaki, Kanagawa
Montedio Yamagata	All cities/towns in Yamagata
Nagoya Grampus	Nagoya, Aichi	2011 ACL Participant 2010 Defending Champions
Omiya Ardija	Omiya, Saitama
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Hiroshima, Hiroshima
Shimizu S-Pulse	Shizuoka, Shizuoka
Urawa Red Diamonds	Urawa, Saitama
Vegalta Sendai	Sendai, Miyagi
Ventforet Kofu	All cities/towns in Yamanashi	Promoted from J2 League in 2010
Vissel Kobe	Kobe, Hyōgo
Yokohama F. Marinos	Yokohama & Yokosuka, Kanagawa

Personnel and kits

Team	Manager1	Captain1	Kit Manufacturer1	Shirt sponsor1
Avispa Fukuoka	Shinoda, YoshiyukiYoshiyuki Shinoda	Kosuke Nakamachi	svolme	EVERLIFE
Sanfrecce Hiroshima	Mihailo Petrović	Hisato Satō	Nike	Deodeo
Júbilo Iwata	Yanagishita, MasaakiMasaaki Yanagishita	Daisuke Nasu	Puma	Yamaha
Kashima Antlers	Oswaldo de Oliveira	Mitsuo Ogasawara	Nike	LIXIL
Kashiwa Reysol	Nelsinho Baptista	Hidekazu Otani	Yonex	Hitachi
Kawasaki Frontale	Soma, NaokiNaoki Soma	Yusuke Igawa	Puma	Fujitsu
Vissel Kobe	Wada, MasahiroMasahiro Wada	Takayuki Yoshida	ASICS	Rakuten
Ventforet Kofu	Miura, ToshiyaToshiya Miura	Hideomi Yamamoto	Mizuno	Hakubaku
Nagoya Grampus	Dragan Stojković	Seigo Narazaki	Le Coq Sportif	Toyota
Albirex Niigata	Kurosaki, HisashiHisashi Kurosaki	Isao Homma	Adidas	Kameda Seika
Omiya Ardija	Jun Suzuki	Chikara Fujimoto	Under Armour	NTT DoCoMo
Cerezo Osaka	Levir Culpi	Teruyuki Moniwa	Mizuno	Yanmar
Gamba Osaka	Akira Nishino	Tomokazu Myojin	Umbro	Panasonic
Vegalta Sendai	Teguramori, MakotoMakoto Teguramori	Atsushi Yanagisawa	ASICS	IRIS OHYAMA
Shimizu S-Pulse	Afshin Ghotbi	Shinji Ono	Puma	Suzuyo
Urawa Red Diamonds	Željko Petrović	Keita Suzuki	Nike	Meiji Seika
Montedio Yamagata	Kobayashi, ShinjiShinji Kobayashi	Katsuyuki Miyazawa	Puma	Tsuyahime
Yokohama F. Marinos	Kimura, KazushiKazushi Kimura	Shunsuke Nakamura	Nike	Nissan

¹ Subject to change during the season.

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Kashiwa Reysol (C)	34	23	3	8	65	42	+23	72	Qualification to 2012 AFC Champions League group stage Group stage 1,2
2	Nagoya Grampus	34	21	8	5	67	36	+31	71
3	Gamba Osaka	34	21	7	6	78	51	+27	70
4	Vegalta Sendai	34	14	14	6	39	25	+14	56
5	Yokohama F. Marinos	34	16	8	10	46	40	+6	56
6	Kashima Antlers	34	13	11	10	53	40	+13	50
7	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	34	14	8	12	52	49	+3	50
8	Júbilo Iwata	34	13	8	13	53	45	+8	47
9	Vissel Kobe	34	13	7	14	44	45	−1	46
10	Shimizu S-Pulse	34	11	12	11	42	51	−9	45
11	Kawasaki Frontale	34	13	5	16	52	53	−1	44
12	Cerezo Osaka	34	11	10	13	67	53	+14	43
13	Omiya Ardija	34	10	12	12	38	48	−10	42
14	Albirex Niigata	34	10	9	15	38	46	−8	39
15	Urawa Red Diamonds	34	8	12	14	36	43	−7	36
16	Ventforet Kofu (R)	34	9	6	19	42	63	−21	33	Relegation to 2012 J. League Division 2
17	Avispa Fukuoka (R)	34	6	4	24	34	75	−41	22
18	Montedio Yamagata (R)	34	5	6	23	23	64	−41	21

Updated to games played on December 3, 2011.
Source: J. League Division 1
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal differential; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head results; 5th disciplinary points; 6th draw.
¹ League champions also qualified for the 2011 FIFA Club World Cup play-off stage.
² The winners of the 2011 Emperor's Cup, F.C. Tokyo, which played in the 2011 J. League Division 2, also qualified for the group stage of the 2012 AFC Champions League.
If two clubs are tied for first place, both clubs will be declared champions.
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Home \ Away

ALB

ANT

ARD

AVI

CER

FRO

GAM

GRA

JÚB

MON

REY

SFR

SSP

RED

VEG

VEN

VIS

FMA

Albirex Niigata

2–2

0–0

3–1

1–1

1–0

2–2

0–1

1–1

2–0

0–3

0–1

4–0

2–3

1–1

1–2

1–0

4–2

Kashima Antlers

1–2

3–3

6–0

2–1

2–2

1–4

1–1

2–0

3–1

0–1

2–0

3–0

0–0

3–0

0–1

1–1

0–3

Omiya Ardija

0–0

1–1

0–2

0–0

0–5

2–3

2–3

2–0

1–1

0–1

0–1

1–4

2–2

2–2

3–1

1–1

1–1

Avispa Fukuoka

0–3

1–2

1–0

0–3

2–1

2–3

0–3

1–2

0–2

0–2

2–1

2–2

1–2

0–3

1–0

2–2

0–1

Cerezo Osaka

1–1

1–3

0–1

7–1

3–3

1–1

2–3

2–3

6–0

5–0

5–4

4–0

3–1

1–1

0–4

0–3

0–1

Kawasaki Frontale

1–2

3–2

0–1

3–2

1–2

2–1

1–2

1–0

2–0

3–2

2–0

1–1

0–1

1–2

2–2

0–3

3–0

Gamba Osaka

2–1

1–0

2–0

2–0

2–1

6–3

2–2

2–2

3–2

2–0

5–3

2–2

1–0

1–0

0–2

3–2

2–1

Nagoya Grampus

4–0

2–1

2–2

5–2

3–1

2–0

4–1

2–1

3–0

0–0

3–2

1–1

1–1

0–1

4–1

3–1

1–1

Júbilo Iwata

1–0

1–2

1–2

4–1

0–4

2–1

1–2

0–1

4–0

6–1

1–1

2–1

1–1

1–1

2–1

3–0

1–2

Montedio Yamagata

0–1

0–2

0–1

0–5

0–0

0–1

0–5

0–2

1–1

2–1

1–3

1–1

0–0

0–1

3–1

2–0

0–2

Kashiwa Reysol

4–0

2–1

1–3

3–2

1–1

3–2

2–4

2–1

0–3

1–0

3–1

3–0

3–1

1–0

2–1

3–0

2–0

Sanfrecce Hiroshima

1–0

2–1

4–2

0–0

1–3

2–3

4–1

0–3

3–1

3–2

1–3

4–0

0–0

0–0

1–1

1–0

3–2

Shimizu S-Pulse

2–1

0–0

3–0

1–0

3–3

2–3

1–3

2–0

0–0

2–1

1–2

0–1

1–0

1–0

3–0

1–5

0–0

Urawa Red Diamonds

1–1

2–2

0–1

3–0

1–1

2–0

1–1

3–0

0–3

0–1

1–3

1–1

1–3

0–0

2–0

2–3

0–2

Vegalta Sendai

2–0

0–1

0–1

1–0

2–1

0–0

2–1

1–1

3–3

2–1

0–0

0–0

0–0

1–0

4–0

2–0

1–1

Ventforet Kofu

3–0

1–1

1–1

2–1

0–2

0–1

4–3

3–1

0–1

1–1

1–4

0–2

1–2

3–2

1–2

1–1

1–2

Vissel Kobe

2–1

0–1

0–1

0–0

4–1

1–0

0–4

0–1

3–1

2–0

0–4

1–0

1–1

1–0

1–1

4–2

2–0

Yokohama F. Marinos

1–0

1–1

1–0

3–2

2–1

2–1

1–1

1–2

1–0

2–1

0–2

1–1

1–1

1–2

1–3

4–0

1–0

Updated to games played on December 3, 2011.
Source: J. League Division 1
^{1 ^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers

Rank	Scorer	Club	Goals
1	Joshua Kennedy	Nagoya Grampus	19
2	Mike Havenaar	Ventforet Kofu	17
3	Leandro Domingues	Kashiwa Reysol	15
	Lee Keun-Ho	Gamba Osaka	15
	Tadanari Lee	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	15
6	Shingo Akamine	Vegalta Sendai	14
	Ryoichi Maeda	Júbilo Iwata	14
	Keiji Tamada	Nagoya Grampus	14
9	Bruno Lopes	Albirex Niigata	13
	Junya Tanaka	Kashiwa Reysol	13

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Urawa Red Diamonds	576,477	54,441	20,240	33,910	-0.84900227836058−15.0%†
2	Albirex Niigata	442,836	37,830	13,644	26,049	-0.85289110077925−14.7%†
3	Yokohama F. Marinos	357,647	37,725	7,104	21,038	-0.81910917302601−18.0%†
4	Kawasaki Frontale	294,776	20,973	13,111	17,340	-0.93416657687749−6.5%†
5	Nagoya Grampus	284,590	28,515	6,793	16,741	-0.83792982631763−16.2%†
6	Gamba Osaka	278,981	20,991	11,364	16,411	-0.98540891077219−1.4%†
7	Kashima Antlers	274,655 1	25,061	7,810	16,156	-0.77058094057045−22.9%†
8	Shimizu S-Pulse	268,614	21,524	10,745	15,801	-0.87778456752403−12.2%†
9	Vegalta Sendai	266,144	19,224	11,356	15,656	-0.90330025386568−9.6%†
10	Cerezo Osaka	240,465	37,172	5,351	14,145	-0.94136829495541−5.8%†
11	Vissel Kobe	224,962	19,913	6,151	13,233	0.031893325015596+3.1%†
12	Sanfrecce Hiroshima	224,447	18,788	7,099	13,203	-0.90667490729295−9.3%†
13	Ventforet Kofu	205,808	21,589	6,893	12,106	-0.97581815250685−2.4%†
14	Kashiwa Reysol	202,593	30,807	6,855	11,917	0.47159792541368+47.1%†
15	Júbilo Iwata	200,525	30,516	6,386	11,796	-0.97190409491637−2.8%†
16	Avispa Fukuoka	177,054	19,421	4,028	10,415	0.18070513547217+18.0%†
17	Montedio Yamagata	158,527	18,008	5,053	9,325	-0.79632792485056−20.3%†
18	Omiya Ardija	154,681	12,221	5,627	9,099	-0.82239696312364−17.7%†
	League total	4,833,782	54,441	4,028	15,797	−14.2%†

Updated to games played on December 3, 2011
Source: J. League Division 1
Notes:
^† Team played previous season in J2.

Notes

• Note 1: Kashima Antlers played one game at the National Olympic Stadium in Tokyo as the Kashima Soccer Stadium in Kashima was damaged in the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.