2025 J3 League

The 2025 J3 League, also known as the 2025 Meiji Yasuda J3 League (2025 明治安田J3リーグ, 2025 Meiji Yasuda J3 Rīgu) for sponsorship reasons, was the 12th season of the J3 League, the third-tier Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 2013.

Overview

This was the last J.League season played in a whole calendar year from late winter to early winter, with the following season onwards played from summer to spring.

The league continued with 20 teams for 2025 season since 2023.

The top two teams in the league are automatically promoted to the J2 League, teams ranked 3rd to 6th dispute the promotion play-offs. There is the possibility that as many as two clubs will be relegated to the Japan Football League. Promotion from the JFL is conditional on holding a valid J3 license. If the JFL champions hold a license, the club is automatically promoted and the J3's 20th-placed team is automatically relegated. If the JFL runners-up hold a license, the club needs to play promotion/relegation play-offs against J3's 19th or 20th-placed team for the season, depending on whether the JFL champions hold the J3 license. The club(s) who do not hold a license cannot be promoted and no teams are relegated from the J3 League.^[2]

Schedule

The league and match format was announced on 25 November 2024. The league began on 15 February and ended on 29 November in a round-robin format of 38 matches.^[2]

The J3 promotion play-offs were held in a similar manner to the J2 playoffs, with the dates confirmed in November.^[3]

Changes from the previous season

Tochigi SC, Kagoshima United and Thespa Gunma were relegated to J3 League finishing in 18th, 19th, and 20th places, respectively. Tochigi SC were relegated after eight years in the second division. Kagoshima United returned to the third tier after just one season in J2, while Thespa Gunma dropped back to the J3 following five years in J2.

From J3, the promoted teams were RB Omiya Ardija (formerly known as Omiya Ardija), the team was recently acquired by the Red Bull Group, who were promoted after only one season in J3, runner-up FC Imabari got promotion for the first time ever and played the Ehime derby against Ehime FC in J2 League, and the last team promoted was Kataller Toyama after eleven seasons in J3 thanks to an epic draw in the play-off final against Matsumoto Yamaga with a double from the striker Shosei Usui in the last ten minutes.

Tochigi City got promoted from Japan Football League for the first time ever and played the Tochigi Derby against Tochigi SC. The second team promoted was Kochi United SC, who finished as runner-up and thus qualified for the relegation play-off where they defeated YSCC Yokohama with an aggregate score of 3-1; they are the first team from Kochi Prefecture to play in the J.League.

Clubs

Personnel and kits

Managerial changes

Foreign players

From the 2021 season onwards, there are no limitations on signing foreign players, but clubs could only register up to five of them for a single matchday squad.^[14] Players from J.League partner nations (Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Malaysia, Cambodia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Qatar) were exempted from these restrictions.

• Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the summer 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.^[15]

Play-offs

Promotion play-offs

The usual format was applied in the 2025 season. Promotion play-offs, officially called the Meiji Yasuda Road To J2 Play-offs 2025^[A] (Japanese: 明治安田J2昇格プレーオフ2025), was held from the semi-finals, where the match-ups were previously semi-determined. Based on the J3 placements at the end of the regular season, the third-placed team played against the sixth-placed, while the fourth-placed team played against the fifth-placed. The winners of the semi-finals played the final, with the winners promoted to the J2.

If a match was tied in the play-offs, the team with the highest league position are declared the winner. The rank order was: J3's third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-placed teams.^[16]

Semi-finals

Relegation play-offs

The relegation play-offs, officially called the 2025 J3/JFL Play-Offs (Japanese: 2025 J3・JFL入れ替え戦^[B]), took place on 7 and 14 December 2025. If two teams were level, the match went to extra time and a penalty shoot-out. The away goals rule does not count. Since the champions of the 2025 Japan Football League, Honda FC, did not hold a J3 professional license, they were ineligible for promotion. As a result, the bottom placed team faced the runners-up in the relegation play-off, while the 19th-place team avoided it.

Overview

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Season statistics

Top scorers

Awards

Monthly awards

See also

• 2025 Japanese Super Cup
• 2025 Emperor's Cup
• 2025 J1 League
• 2025 J2 League
• 2025 J.League Cup
• 2025 Japan Football League

Footnotes

1. ^ On the official J.League English website, it is listed as J2 Promotion Play-Offs
2. ^ The logo and signage reads 2025 J.League J3・JFL入れ替え戦

References

1. ^ "J. League Data Site". data.j-league.or.jp. Retrieved 19 August 2025.
2. ^ "２０２４明治安田Ｊ３リーグ 大会方式および試合方式について：Ｊリーグ公式サイト（J.LEAGUE.jp）" (in Japanese). Ｊリーグ.jp（日本プロサッカーリーグ）. 19 December 2023. Retrieved 31 January 2024.
3. ^ "２０２５明治安田Ｊ３リーグ 大会方式および試合方式について" (in Japanese). Ｊリーグ.jp（日本プロサッカーリーグ）. 25 November 2024. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
4. ^ "Announcement of change of head coach of the first team". www.zweigen-kanazawa.jp. Retrieved 11 June 2025.
5. ^ "Notice of Termination of Coach Kazuzo Nakata's Contract". naraclub.jp. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
6. ^ "Announcement of the appointment of Michiharu Odagiri as Director". naraclub.jp. Retrieved 12 June 2025.
7. ^ "Notice of contact termination of coach Yasuaki Oshima". www.fc-gifu.com. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
8. ^ "Kiyotaka Ishimaru Announcement of Director Inauguration". www.fc-gifu.com. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
9. ^ "Notice of dismissal of Atsushi Yoneyama, Coach". kamatamare.jp/. Retrieved 15 July 2025.
10. ^ "Announcement of the appointment of Mr. Kim Jong-sung as Head Coach". kamatamare.jp. Retrieved 15 July 2025.
11. ^ "Notice of retirement of coach Naoto Otake". www.fc-osaka.com. Retrieved 6 September 2025.
12. ^ "Announcement of retirement of coach Masashi Nakayama". www.azul-claro.jp. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
13. ^ "Announcement of the appointment of Hideto Suzuki as coach". www.azul-claro.jp. Retrieved 23 November 2025.
14. ^ "「ホームグロウン制度」の導入と「外国籍選手枠」の変更について" [About the introduction of the "homegrown system" and the change of the "foreign player quota"] (in Japanese). JLeague.jp. Japan Professional Football League. 20 November 2018. Archived 20 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine.
15. ^ "プロサッカー選手の契約、登録および移籍に関する規則" [Rules for contracting, registering and transferring professional soccer players] (in Japanese). JFA.jp. Japan Football Association. Retrieved 1 March 2022.
16. ^ "明治安田Ｊ２昇格プレーオフ２０２５ 出場チーム決定" (in Japanese). 29 November 2025.
17. ^ "All Positions | Goals | All clubs | MEIJI YASUDA J3 LEAGUE | 2025 Player Stats". J.LEAGUE. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
18. ^ "J. League Data Site". data.j-league.or.jp. Retrieved 25 February 2025.
19. ^ "2・3月度「2025 明治安田Jリーグ KONAMI 月間MVP」を発表！「月間ベストゴール」「月間優秀監督賞」「月間ヤングプレーヤー賞」「月間ベストセーブ賞」の各賞も決定！" [The "2025 Meiji Yasuda J.League KONAMI Monthly MVP" for February and March has been announced! The awards for "Best Goal of the Month," "Excellent Manager of the Month," "Young Player of the Month," and "Best Save of the Month" have also been decided!] (in Japanese). JLeague.jp. Japan Professional Football League. 15 April 2025. Retrieved 23 April 2025.
20. ^ "4月度「2025 明治安田Ｊリーグ KONAMI 月間MVP」を発表！「月間ベストゴール」「月間優秀監督賞」「月間ヤングプレーヤー賞」「月間ベストセーブ賞」の各賞も決定！" [The "2025 Meiji Yasuda J.League KONAMI Monthly MVP" for April has been announced! The winners of the "Monthly Best Goal," "Monthly Outstanding Manager," "Monthly Young Player," and "Monthly Best Save" awards have also been decided!] (in Japanese). JLeague.jp. Japan Professional Football League. 20 May 2025. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
21. ^ "5月度「２０２５明治安田Ｊリーグ KONAMI 月間MVP」を発表！「月間ベストゴール」「月間優秀監督賞」「月間ヤングプレーヤー賞」「月間ベストセーブ賞」の各賞も決定！：Ｊリーグ公式サイト（J.LEAGUE.jp）" (in Japanese). Ｊリーグ.jp（日本プロサッカーリーグ）. Retrieved 28 July 2025.
22. ^ "6月度「2025明治安田Jリーグ KONAMI 月間MVP」を発表！「月間ベストゴール」「月間優秀監督賞」「月間ヤングプレーヤー賞」「月間ベストセーブ賞」の各賞も決定！" [The "2025 Meiji Yasuda J.League KONAMI Monthly MVP" for June has been announced! The winners of the "Monthly Best Goal", "Monthly Outstanding Manager", "Monthly Young Player", and "Monthly Best Save" awards have also been decided!] (in Japanese). JLeague.jp. Japan Professional Football League. 15 July 2025. Retrieved 16 July 2025.

External links

• Official website on jleague.co (in English)