2025 J3 League
12th season of J3 League
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The 2025 J3 League, also known as the 2025 Meiji Yasuda J3 League (Japanese: 2025 明治安田J3リーグ, Hepburn: 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.
| Season | 2025 |
|---|---|
| Dates | 15 February – 29 November 2025 |
| Champions | Tochigi City FC (1st title) |
| Promoted | Tochigi City FC Vanraure Hachinohe Tegevajaro Miyazaki |
| Relegated | Azul Claro Numazu |
| Matches | 368 |
| Goals | 936 (2.54 per match) |
| Top goalscorer | Keigo Hashimoto (25 goals) |
| Biggest home win | FC Osaka 7-1 Fukushima United FC (22 June 2025) |
| Biggest away win | Matsumoto Yamaga FC 0-5 Kochi United SC (5 April 2025) Kochi United SC 0-5 Tochigi City FC (13 April 2025) |
| Highest attendance | 15,242 Giravanz Kitakyushu 0–1 Nara Club (16 August 2025) |
| Lowest attendance | 374 FC Osaka 4–3 Thespa Gunma (18 April 2025) |
| Total attendance | 831,480[1] |
| Average attendance | 3,615 |
← 2024 2026–27 → | |
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
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
| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in the table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zweigen Kanazawa |  Akira Ito |
Appointed as general manager | 1 June 2025 | 11th | Masateru Tsujita |
3 June 2025 | [4] |
| Nara Club | Ichizo Nakata |
Sacked | 12 June 2025 | 8th | Michiharu Otagiri |
12 June 2025 | [5][6] |
| FC Gifu | Yasuaki Oshima |
Sacked | 2 July 2025 | 18th | Koji Ohashi |
2 July 2025 | [7] |
| FC Gifu | Koji Ohashi |
Replaced by permanent manager | 2 July 2025 | 18th | Kiyotaka Ishimaru |
7 July 2025 | [8] |
| Kamatamare Sanuki | Atsushi Yoneyama |
Sacked | 6 July 2025 | 20th |  Kim Jong-song |
8 July 2025 | [9][10] |
| FC Osaka | Naoto Otake |
Sacked | 31 August 2025 | 4th | Mitsukyo Yabuta (Interim) |
31 August 2025 | [11] |
| Azul Claro Numazu | Masashi Nakayama |
Sacked | 14 September 2025 | 20th | Hideto Suzuki |
14 September 2025 | [12] |
| Kochi United SC | Yutaka Akita |
Sacked | 23 September 2025 | 16th | Takahisa Shiraishi |
23 September 2025 |
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]
League table
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tochigi City FC (C, P) | 38 | 23 | 8 | 7 | 69 | 37 | +32 | 77 | Promotion to the J2 League |
| 2 | Vanraure Hachinohe (P) | 38 | 21 | 9 | 8 | 46 | 23 | +23 | 72 | |
| 3 | FC Osaka | 38 | 21 | 8 | 9 | 55 | 33 | +22 | 71 | Qualification for the promotion play-offs |
| 4 | Tegevajaro Miyazaki (O, P) | 38 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 61 | 45 | +16 | 67 | |
| 5 | Kagoshima United | 38 | 18 | 12 | 8 | 69 | 44 | +25 | 66 | |
| 6 | Zweigen Kanazawa | 38 | 18 | 5 | 15 | 53 | 45 | +8 | 59 | |
| 7 | Tochigi SC | 38 | 17 | 7 | 14 | 42 | 36 | +6 | 58 | |
| 8 | Giravanz Kitakyushu | 38 | 17 | 5 | 16 | 46 | 41 | +5 | 56 | |
| 9 | Nara Club | 38 | 15 | 11 | 12 | 50 | 46 | +4 | 56 | |
| 10 | Fukushima United | 38 | 16 | 8 | 14 | 60 | 67 | −7 | 56 | |
| 11 | Gainare Tottori | 38 | 15 | 6 | 17 | 44 | 49 | −5 | 51 | |
| 12 | SC Sagamihara | 38 | 13 | 11 | 14 | 38 | 50 | −12 | 50 | |
| 13 | FC Gifu | 38 | 13 | 8 | 17 | 52 | 60 | −8 | 47 | |
| 14 | Thespa Gunma | 38 | 12 | 10 | 16 | 56 | 59 | −3 | 46 | |
| 15 | Matsumoto Yamaga | 38 | 11 | 10 | 17 | 41 | 50 | −9 | 43 | |
| 16 | Ryukyu Okinawa | 38 | 10 | 10 | 18 | 41 | 57 | −16 | 40 | |
| 17 | Kamatamare Sanuki | 38 | 10 | 8 | 20 | 41 | 57 | −16 | 38 | |
| 18 | Kochi United | 38 | 10 | 8 | 20 | 40 | 60 | −20 | 38 | |
| 19 | Nagano Parceiro | 38 | 9 | 8 | 21 | 29 | 57 | −28 | 35 | |
| 20 | Azul Claro Numazu (R) | 38 | 6 | 10 | 22 | 40 | 57 | −17 | 28 | Qualification for the relegation/promotion play-offs |
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Head-to-head points; 5) Head-to-head goal difference; 6) Head-to-head goal scored; 7) Fair-play points.
(C) Champions; (O) Play-off winners; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated
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 | Final | ||||||||
| 3 | FC Osaka | 1 | |||||||
| 6 | Zweigen Kanazawa | 0 | |||||||
| 3 | FC Osaka | 0 | |||||||
| 4 | Tegevajaro Miyazaki | 4 | |||||||
| 4 | Tegevajaro Miyazaki | 2 | |||||||
| 5 | Kagoshima United | 0 | |||||||
Semi-finals
| Tegevajaro Miyazaki | 2–0 | Kagoshima United |
|---|---|---|
R. Inoue  45+2'Y. Matsumoto 63' |
Report |
Final
| FC Osaka | 0–4 | Tegevajaro Miyazaki |
|---|---|---|
| Report | (o.g.) Riku Hashimoto 42' Shu Yoshizawa 63' Hayate Take 70' Mahiro Ano |
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
| Team 1 | Agg. | Team 2 | 1st leg | 2nd leg |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Azul Claro Numazu (J3) | 3–4 | Reilac Shiga (JFL) | 2–3 | 1–1 |
Matches
| Reilac Shiga | 3–2 | Azul Claro Numazu |
|---|---|---|
| T. Nishiyama 3' F. Romero 23'K. Miyake 81' |
Report | K. Shirawachi 13' K. Kawamata 74' |
| Azul Claro Numazu | 1–1 | Reilac Shiga |
|---|---|---|
| Keita Shirawachi 23' Kaiyo Yanagimachi  83' Guirone Gueguim 90+4' |
Report | 22' Shun Akiyama |
Season statistics
- As of 26 July 2025
Top scorers
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals[17][18] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Keigo Hashimoto |
Tegevajaro Miyazaki | 25 |
| 2 | Ryuji Sawakami |
Vanraure Hachinohe | 12 |
| Yusei Toshida |
Zweigen Kanazawa | ||
| Takumi Shimada |
FC Osaka | ||
| Yuta Togashi |
Gainare Tottori | ||
| 6 | Paulo Junichi Tanaka |
Tochigi City | 11 |
 Patric |
Zweigen Kanazawa | ||
| Yuki Okada |
Nara Club | ||
| 9 | Hiroki Higuchi |
Fukushima United | 10 |
| Kota Mori |
Fukushima United | ||
| Ryunosuke Ota |
Tochigi SC | ||
| Kokoro Kobayashi |
Kōchi United SC | ||
| Keito Kawamura |
Kagoshima United |
Awards
Monthly awards
| Month | Manager of the Month | Monthly MVP | Goal of the Month | Young Player of the Month | Save of the Month | References | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manager | Club | Player | Club | Player | Club | Player | Club | Player | Club | ||
| February/March | Naoto Otake | FC Osaka | Paulo Junichi Tanaka | Tochigi City | Yoshihito Kondo | Kagoshima United | Yuto Kunitake | Nara Club | Toi Yamamoto | FC Osaka | [19] |
| April | Naoki Imaya | Tochigi City | Kokoro Kobayashi | Kochi United SC | Daisuke Inazumi | Vanraure Hachinohe | Sora Tanaka | Matsumoto Yamaga | Takumi Yamanoi | Zweigen Kanazawa | [20] |
| May | Yuji Okuma | Tegevajaro Miyazaki | Takumi Shimada | FC Osaka | Toi Kagami | Thespa Gunma | Sora Tanaka | Matsumoto Yamaga | Hisaya Sato | FC Ryukyu | [21] |
| June | Nobuhiro Ishizaki | Vanraure Hachinohe | Genki Egawa | Tegevajaro Miyazaki | Keito Kawamura | Kagoshima United | Sora Tanaka | Roasso Kumamoto | Kaito Konomi | Giravanz Kitakyushu | [22] |