2023 J3 League

Iwaki FC and Fujieda MYFC were promoted to the J2 League after being champions and runners-up of last season's J3.

FC Ryukyu and Iwate Grulla Morioka were relegated from the J2 League after relatively short stints at the 2nd division, with Ryukyu spending four seasons, and Iwate spending just a single season. The clubs finished as 21st and 22nd-placed team at the 2022 J2 League, respectively.

Nara Club and FC Osaka were promoted to the J3 League after being respectively, champions and runners-up of last season's JFL. Both teams are making their debut in the J3 League after obtaining a J.League License, to enable their promotion from the JFL.

This season is the first of the J3 League to have 20 teams, seeing an increase from last season's 18 teams. About the number of teams, there will be no future changes, as the J.League confirmed that from 2024, all the three professional leagues would have 20 teams in each.

This season was the first to feature promotion/relegation from the Japan Football League, enabling the possibility for teams to be relegated from the J3.^[2] The system of promotion/relegation between the leagues can be determined by the eligibility (Promotion to J3 requires a J.League license) of the JFL's champions and runners-up for the season.

• If only the JFL champions holds a license, there will be automatic promotion/relegation with the J3's 20th-placed team.
• If only the JFL runners-up holds a license, there will be promotion/relegation play-offs with the J3's 20th-placed team.
• If both the JFL champions and runners-up hold a license, there will be automatic promotion/relegation between the JFL champions and the J3's 20th-placed team, and promotion/relegation play-offs with the J3's 19th-placed team.
• If both the JFL champions and runners-up do not hold a license, no promotion/relegation between J3 and JFL will take place.

The dates and the host teams of the promotion/relegation play-off were pre-determined by the J.League. In case it happens, it will be played in two legs on 9 and 16 December, with the J3 team hosting the second leg.

From the 2021 season onwards, there is no limitations on signing foreign players, but clubs could only register up to five of them for a single matchday squad.^[15] 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.^[16]

Club	Player 1	Player 2	Player 3	Player 4	Player 5	Player 6	Left mid-season
Azul Claro Numazu	Igor Gabriel	Mikhael Akatsuka	Raul Sudati	Shunkun Tani
Ehime FC	Ben Duncan
Fukushima United
Gainare Tottori	Mun In-ju
FC Gifu	Ono Cholhwan
Giravanz Kitakyushu	Koh Seung-jin	Mikel Agu	Eduardo de Queiroz Melo	Ikechukwu Eboko
FC Imabari	Marcus Índio	Jon Ander Serantes	Park Soo-bin	Ralf Seuntjens	Filip Piszczek		Dudu
Iwate Grulla Morioka	Cristiano	Douglas Oliveira	Au Yeung Yiu Chung	Jang Hyun-soo	Kenneth Otabor	Ri Yong-jik
Kagoshima United	Weslley
Kamatamare Sanuki
Kataller Toyama	Arthur Silva	Gabriel Nascimento	Matheus Leiria
Matsumoto Yamaga	Lucas Rian	Paulinho	Víctor Ibáñez
Nagano Parceiro	Ryu Nugraha	Kim Min-ho
Nara Club	Arnau Riera
FC Osaka	Woo Sang-ho						Efrain Rintaro João Victor Maykon Douglas Jean Marie Dongou
FC Ryukyu	Kelvin	Cho Eun-su	Jeon Ji-wan	Danny Carvajal	Sadam Sulley
SC Sagamihara
Tegevajaro Miyazaki
Vanraure Hachinohe	Oriola Sunday
YSCC Yokohama	Carlos Arroyo	Loris Tinelli	Promise Ugochukwu

Primary venues to be used in the 2023 J3 League season:

Azul Claro Numazu	Ehime FC	Fukushima United	Gainare Tottori	FC Gifu	Giravanz Kitakyushu	FC Imabari
Ashitaka Park Stadium	Ningineer Stadium	Toho Stadium	Axis Bird Stadium	Gifu Nagaragawa Stadium	Mikuni World Stadium Kitakyushu	ASICS Satoyama Stadium
Capacity: 10,000	Capacity: 21,401	Capacity: 21,000	Capacity: 16,310	Capacity: 11,999	Capacity: 15,300	Capacity: 5,316
Iwate Grulla Morioka	Kagoshima United	Kamatamare Sanuki	Kataller Toyama	Matsumoto Yamaga	Nagano Parceiro	Nara Club
Iwagin Stadium	Shiranami Stadium	Pikara Stadium	Toyama Stadium	Sunpro Alwin	Nagano U Stadium	Rohto Field Nara
Capacity: 4,946	Capacity: 12,606	Capacity: 22,338	Capacity: 18,588	Capacity: 20,000	Capacity: 15,515	Capacity: 30,600
FC Osaka	FC Ryukyu	SC Sagamihara	Tegevajaro Miyazaki	Vanraure Hachinohe	YSCC Yokohama	All J3 stadiums
Hanazono Rugby Stadium	Tapic Kenso Hiyagon Stadium	Sagamihara Gion Stadium	Unilever Stadium Shintomi	Prifoods Stadium	Nippatsu Mitsuzawa Stadium
Capacity: 27,346	Capacity: 12,270	Capacity: 15,300	Capacity: 5,354	Capacity: 5,124	Capacity: 15,440

Rank	Player	Club	Goals[17]
1	Ren Komatsu	Matsumoto Yamaga	19
2	Hayato Asakawa	Nara Club	16
3	Noah Kenshin Browne	Azul Claro Numazu	12
	Riki Matsuda	Ehime FC
5	Sho Fukuda	YSCC Yokohama	11
	Ryunosuke Noda	FC Ryukyu
	Masashi Wada	Iwate Grulla Morioka

Rank	Player	Club	Assists[18]
1	Yusuke Kikui	Matsumoto Yamaga	9
	Marcus Índio	FC Imabari
	Shunsuke Motegi	Ehime FC
4	Kaili Shimbo	Iwate Grulla Morioka	8
5	Noah Kenshin Browne	Azul Claro Numazu	7
	Nao Eguchi	Kamatamare Sanuki
	Kotaro Tokunaga	Azul Claro Numazu

Rank	Player	Club	C.S.[19]
1	Tatsunari Nagai	FC Osaka	16
2	Kenta Tanno	Iwate Grulla Morioka	12
3	Jun Kodama	YSCC Yokohama	9
	Shinji Okada	Nara Club
	Yusuke Taniguchi	Vanraure Hachinohe

• Most yellow cards: 11^[20]
  • Takahiro Nakazato (YSCC Yokohama)
• Most red cards: 2 ^[21]
  • Ayumu Matsumoto (FC Gifu)
  • Marcus Índio (FC Imabari)

• Most yellow cards: 65 ^[22] (FC Ryukyu)
• Most red cards: 4 ^[23] (FC Gifu)