1999 Japan Football League

Overview

After the dissolution of former Japan Football League in order to form J. League Division 2, the new Japan Football League was established from this season as the nationwide top division for amateur clubs. It was originally planned to have 8 clubs, including seven former JFL clubs and Yokogawa Electric !Yokogawa Electric, promoted from Kantō Soccer League, one of nine Japanese Regional Leagues. But it eventually became nine-club structure by accepting Yokohama FC !Yokohama FC, which was established by supporters of defunct Yokohama Flügels !Yokohama Flügels, as an associate member as an extralegal measures. Nine clubs played 24 matches each, in triple round-robin format. Yokohama F.C. won the championship but under the conditions of their associate membership were not eligible to promotion and had to stay in JFL for the next year.

Table

Updated to games played on 7 November 1999.
Source: Japan Football League
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
^† Denotes clubs that occupied top three places at the end of the first part of the season (9th week) and were seeded for 1999 Emperor's Cup. These clubs were automatically qualified for the tournament, while each of other JFL clubs had to go through the prefectural qualifier. Yokohama F.C. and Kokushikan University were not eligible to be seeded.
¹ Though Mito HollyHock haven't finished within top two, their promotion was unanimously accepted by the special J. League Board decision. The fact that championship has been won by associate JFL members, Yokohama F.C., was taken into account.
(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; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results

Updated to games played on 13 June 1999.
Source: Japan Football League
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Updated to games played on 15 August 1999.
Source: Japan Football League
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Updated to games played on 7 November 1999.
Source: Japan Football League
1 ^{^} The home team is listed in the left-hand column.
Colours: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Attendances

Source: Japan Football League
Notes:
^† The club was created by the supporters of disbanded J. League club Yokohama Flügels !Yokohama Flügels – therefore attendances are compared to Flügels' last record in J. League.
^‡ Team played previous season in Regional Leagues.

Promotion and relegation

No relegation has occurred because the league was expanding to 12 teams. At the end of the season, the winner and runner-up of the Regional League promotion series, ALO's Hokuriku !ALO's Hokuriku and Tochigi SC !Tochigi SC were promoted automatically. In addition, FC Kyoken !FC Kyoken and Shizuoka Sangyo University !Shizuoka Sangyo University were included by JFA and College FA recommendations.