J3 League

Amateur era (until 2013)

A national third tier of Japanese association football was first established along with its professionalization in 1992, when the newly created Japan Football League kicked off with two tiers below the professional J. League. But after a number of clubs were lost for various reasons – some were promoted to J.League and the others folded – the league contracted the second division in 1994 and continued with the single second-tier division.

The third tier football was reintroduced in 1999 upon creation of fully professional J2. The old JFL was dissolved but a new Japan Football League was formed the same year in order to establish a nationwide top-tier amateur league. But despite its officially amateur status the league quickly became de facto semi-professional, serving as the cradle of the future J. League members. Since the establishment of associate membership system in 2006 the number of professional clubs holding or actively seeking for this status has grown steadily and reached its peak in 2013 season when 6 full members and 2 former candidates made up to almost half of the league's 18 teams. Through the course of the season this number grew even bigger, to 10 full associate members that formed the core of J3.

Professionalization and establishment (2013)

Close to the end of 2012 football season Japanese media began to spread rumors about the upcoming professional third-tier league, referred to as either "J3" or "J.Challenge League". Most of the sources agreed that the new league will feature around 10–12 clubs, most of which will be associate members. The league would also provide more relaxed licensing criteria in comparison to J2 – e.g. the stadium seating capacity of just 3,000 with no mandatory floodlighting.

After the discussion on J1-J2 Joint Committee on 16 January 2013, all J.League clubs agreed in principle with an establishment of the new league starting 2014. This decision was formally put into force by J.League Council on 26 February executive meeting. The league was planned to launch with 10 teams, but another session of J.League Council in July decided that inaugural season of J3 will feature 12 teams.

In order to participate, a club must have held an associate membership, or have submitted an application before 30 June 2013, and then passed an inspection in order to obtain a participation licence issued by J.League Council. On November 19, J.League confirmed the following clubs to participate in the inaugural J3 season:

Future plans

The league has not provided a clear expansion timeline yet but it is most likely that J3 will continue to accommodate new teams after its inaugural season. The following is a list of clubs that have applied for participation in 2013 but have been rejected by J.League for various reasons:

Most of these clubs continue to aim for J3 as their ultimate goal.

Some sources claim that J3 is intended to reach up to 60 clubs in the future, being split into three regionalized divisions running in parallel.

League format

For this season, the league is played in two rounds (home-and-away), each team playing a total of 32 matches.

Each team must have at least 3 players holding professional contracts. Also for this season, three foreign players are allowed per team, plus 1 more from the ASEAN partner country of J.League or from other AFC countries. The matchday roster will consist of 18 players, and up to 3 substitutes will be allowed in a game. The three under-23 clubs can have up to three overage players and one of them must be a goalkeeper.

Promotion and relegation

Rules for promotion to J2 are largely similar to those of Japan Football League in recent seasons: to be promoted, a club must hold or be granted a J2 license and finish in top 2 of the league. Since 2017, the champions and the runners-up will be promoted directly, in exchange with 21st and 22nd-placed J2 clubs. If only the champion or runner-up holds or is given a J2 license, one of the bottom two in J2 will be relegated, and if both top 2 finishers are ineligible for promotion or under-23 teams, the direct exchange will not be held in accordance with the exact positions of promotion-eligible clubs. Also, the two licensed clubs take automatic promotion to J2 if an under-23 team finishes in either one of the top 2 positions, but there is no exchange if the two clubs other than the under-23 team are not licensed.

No relegation to JFL is planned in the foreseeable future.

Participating clubs (2017)

Former clubs

Championship/Promotion History

* Bold designates the promoted club;
† Lost the J2–J3 playoffs;
‡ Won the J2–J3 playoffs and got promoted;

Most successful clubs

Clubs in bold compete in J3 as of 2017 season.