2011 J.League Division 2

The 2011 J.League Division 2 season was the 40th season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 13th season since the establishment of J2 League. The season began on March 5 and finished on December 3.[1] Due to the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, the season was put on hold from March 12 to April 23.[2]

J.League Division 2
Season2011
ChampionsFC Tokyo
1st J2 title
2nd D2 title
PromotedFC Tokyo
Sagan Tosu
Consadole Sapporo
Matches played380
Goals scored939 (2.47 per match)
Top goalscorerYohei Toyoda (23 goals)
Highest attendance39,243
Consadole vs FC Tokyo
Lowest attendance1,266
Thespa vs Vortis
Average attendance6,423
← 2010
2012 →

FC Tokyo won the tournament and returned to J1 immediately after unfortunate relegation that happened last season. By virtue of winning the 2011 Emperor's Cup final, they earned a berth in the 2012 AFC Champions League as well. Sagan Tosu and Consadole Sapporo finished second and third, respectively, and also won the promotion. Consadole are returning to the top flight after three years of absence, while for Tosu this is the first promotion in their history.

Sagan became the last of original ten J2 teams to reach J1, passing the inglorious moniker of the longest-staying D2 dweller to Mito HollyHock.

Teams

As in the previous seasons, the size of the league was increased by one team to twenty overall. Gainare Tottori as 2010 Japan Football League champions were promoted.

Kashiwa Reysol as champions of the 2010 season, runners-up Ventforet Kofu and third-placed team Avispa Fukuoka were promoted to the 2011 J.League Division 1. Kashiwa made their immediate return to the top division, while Kofu and Fukuoka ended three- and four-year tenures in the J2. The three teams were replaced by FC Tokyo, Kyoto Sanga FC and Shonan Bellmare, who were relegated at the end of the 2010 J.League Division 1 season after finishing in the bottom three places of the table. Shonan only made a cameo appearance at the D1, Kyoto re-entered the second level of the Japanese league pyramid after three years, and Tokyo eventually had to return to the J2 for the first time after eleven seasons.

Locations of the 2011 J.League 2 teams
Club Name Home Town(s) Note(s)
Consadole Sapporo Sapporo, Hokkaidō
Ehime FC All cities/towns in Ehime
Fagiano Okayama All cities/towns in Okayama
Gainare Tottori All cities/towns in Tottori Promoted from JFL in 2010
FC Gifu All cities/towns in Gifu
Giravanz Kitakyushu Kitakyushu, Fukuoka
JEF United Chiba Chiba & Ichihara, Chiba
Kataller Toyama All cities/towns in Toyama
Kyoto Sanga FC Southwestern cities/towns in Kyoto Relegated from J1 League in 2010
Mito HollyHock Mito, Ibaraki
Oita Trinita All cities/towns in Ōita
Roasso Kumamoto Kumamoto
Sagan Tosu Tosu, Saga
Shonan Bellmare Southcentral cities/town in Kanagawa Relegated from J1 League in 2010
Thespa Kusatsu All cities/towns in Gunma
Tochigi SC Utsunomiya, Tochigi
Tokushima Vortis All cities/towns in Tokushima
FC Tokyo Tokyo Relegated from J1 League in 2010
Tokyo Verdy Tokyo
Yokohama FC Yokohama, Kanagawa

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion or relegation
1 FC Tokyo (C, P) 38 23 8 7 67 22 +45 77 Promotion to 2012 J.League Division 1 and Qualification to 2012 Champions League[lower-alpha 1]
2 Sagan Tosu (P) 38 19 12 7 68 34 +34 69 Promotion to 2012 J.League Division 1
3 Consadole Sapporo (P) 38 21 5 12 49 32 +17 68
4 Tokushima Vortis 38 19 8 11 51 38 +13 65
5 Tokyo Verdy 38 16 11 11 69 45 +24 59
6 JEF United Chiba 38 16 10 12 46 39 +7 58
7 Kyoto Sanga 38 17 7 14 50 45 +5 58
8 Giravanz Kitakyushu 38 16 10 12 45 46 −1 58
9 Thespa Kusatsu 38 16 9 13 51 51 0 57
10 Tochigi SC 38 15 11 12 44 39 +5 56
11 Roasso Kumamoto 38 13 12 13 33 44 −11 51
12 Oita Trinita 38 12 14 12 42 45 −3 50
13 Fagiano Okayama 38 13 9 16 43 58 −15 48
14 Shonan Bellmare 38 12 10 16 46 48 −2 46
15 Ehime FC 38 10 14 14 44 54 −10 44
16 Kataller Toyama 38 11 10 17 36 53 −17 43
17 Mito HollyHock 38 11 9 18 40 49 −9 42
18 Yokohama FC 38 11 8 19 40 54 −14 41
19 Gainare Tottori 38 8 7 23 36 60 −24 31
20 FC Gifu 38 6 6 26 39 83 −44 24
Updated to match(es) played on December 3, 2011. Source: J.League Division 2
Rules for classification: 1st points; 2nd goal differential; 3rd goals scored; 4th head-to-head results; 5th disciplinary points; 6th draw. If two clubs are tied for first place, both clubs will be declared champions.
(C) Champion; (P) Promoted.
Notes:
  1. FC Tokyo, as winners of the 2011 Emperor's Cup, also qualified for the group stage of the 2012 AFC Champions League

Results
Home \ Away BEL CON EHI FAG GAI GIF GIR HOL JEF KAT ROS SAG SAN SPA TOC TOK TRI VER VOR YFC
Shonan Bellmare 0–2 1–1 5–0 0–1 7–1 1–1 3–2 2–0 2–0 1–0 1–0 0–1 2–0 0–2 1–2 2–2 1–3 1–2 0–1
Consadole Sapporo 0–1 3–1 2–1 2–0 1–0 0–0 2–1 4–0 0–0 3–0 0–1 2–1 1–0 1–0 2–1 2–0 4–2 0–0 0–2
Ehime FC 0–0 2–0 2–3 3–2 2–0 0–3 0–1 0–1 1–0 1–1 2–2 0–2 1–2 2–2 0–5 1–1 2–1 0–1 0–0
Fagiano Okayama 1–1 1–0 1–1 2–1 1–2 3–0 0–1 0–1 1–1 4–0 2–4 2–1 1–2 2–2 0–2 0–0 0–4 1–0 1–0
Gainare Tottori 4–0 1–0 2–4 1–1 1–1 0–1 1–1 0–1 0–0 0–1 3–6 2–1 1–1 0–5 1–5 0–0 0–1 0–2 0–1
FC Gifu 0–1 1–3 1–1 1–3 2–3 1–3 2–1 0–2 1–1 1–1 4–4 3–2 0–1 0–1 0–2 0–1 1–3 0–2 4–3
Giravanz Kitakyushu 0–0 0–3 2–2 1–2 0–2 3–2 1–0 0–3 2–1 2–0 0–0 1–0 2–1 2–1 1–0 3–1 1–2 1–1 2–2
Mito HollyHock 0–0 1–2 3–1 1–1 3–1 1–2 1–0 1–0 3–0 0–0 0–5 2–1 2–2 0–1 2–3 0–2 1–1 2–1 0–1
JEF United Chiba 2–0 2–0 2–1 2–1 1–0 3–1 1–0 2–1 0–0 1–1 3–3 0–1 2–3 2–2 3–0 3–2 1–1 0–1 1–1
Kataller Toyama 2–3 1–2 2–1 0–2 4–2 1–0 1–2 2–0 1–2 1–1 0–3 1–1 2–3 1–3 1–0 1–0 1–5 0–2 0–2
Roasso Kumamoto 1–1 1–0 2–1 1–0 2–0 2–1 0–0 2–1 1–1 1–1 0–0 1–2 1–0 0–1 0–1 2–1 1–0 0–1 0–1
Sagan Tosu 2–0 1–0 1–2 6–0 1–0 2–0 2–3 2–1 1–0 0–1 2–2 2–1 1–2 1–2 0–0 2–1 3–1 1–1 2–0
Kyoto Sanga 1–0 4–0 0–0 2–1 1–0 3–1 1–0 0–2 2–1 0–0 0–1 0–0 3–1 1–1 1–4 2–0 1–0 1–2 1–1
Thespa Kusatsu 1–0 2–1 0–0 1–2 0–5 4–2 2–2 1–2 3–1 0–0 1–0 0–0 2–4 4–0 2–1 1–1 0–0 2–0 1–1
Tochigi SC 0–3 1–1 1–2 0–0 1–0 0–1 2–1 0–0 0–0 1–2 0–1 0–0 1–0 2–1 2–1 2–1 2–4 0–1 2–1
FC Tokyo 1–1 0–0 1–1 3–0 3–0 4–0 2–0 2–0 1–0 1–0 5–0 1–0 6–1 1–0 0–0 1–2 1–1 1–0 3–0
Oita Trinita 3–1 0–1 2–1 1–0 2–1 2–1 2–2 0–0 1–1 1–2 2–2 0–0 1–3 1–2 1–0 0–0 0–0 2–2 1–0
Tokyo Verdy 2–2 2–1 1–2 4–0 0–0 3–0 4–0 3–2 1–0 1–2 5–2 0–2 1–1 1–3 0–0 0–0 1–2 1–0 7–2
Tokushima Vortis 4–0 0–2 2–2 2–2 1–0 4–1 0–1 1–1 1–0 3–1 1–0 0–3 2–1 3–0 0–4 0–2 1–2 2–2 4–1
Yokohama FC 3–2 1–2 0–1 0–1 0–1 1–1 1–2 1–0 1–1 1–2 1–2 1–2 1–2 2–0 2–0 0–1 2–2 2–1 0–1
Updated to match(es) played on December 3, 2011. Source: J. League Division 2
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top scorers
Rank Scorer Club Goals[3]
1 Yohei Toyoda Sagan Tosu
23
2 Takuma Abe Tokyo Verdy
16
3 Masaki Fukai JEF United Chiba
14
Manabu Saitō Ehime FC
14
5 Ricardo Lobo Tochigi SC
12
Yoshihiro Uchimura Consadole Sapporo
12
7 Yasuhito Morishima Oita Trinita
11
8 Roberto César FC Tokyo
10
Ryota Hayasaka Sagan Tosu
10
Tomoki Ikemoto Giravanz Kitakyushu
10
Yuya Kubo Kyoto Sanga
10

Attendance
Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 FC Tokyo 333,680 35,911 6,795 17,562 −30.1%†
2 Consadole Sapporo 199,162 39,243 4,609 10,482 −2.4%†
3 JEF United Chiba 183,911 16,360 6,955 9,680 −17.2%†
4 Oita Trinita 166,807 27,519 4,859 8,779 −16.1%†
5 Sagan Tosu 146,893 22,532 3,724 7,731 +16.6%†
6 Fagiano Okayama 137,911 10,490 4,111 7,258 +1.4%†
7 Shonan Bellmare 131,918 10,425 3,680 6,943 −37.4%†
8 Roasso Kumamoto 131,624 25,005 2,847 6,928 +0.3%†
9 Kyoto Sanga 119,591 12,287 2,386 6,294 −40.1%†
10 Yokohama FC 109,632 16,813 1,853 5,770 −0.4%†
11 Tokyo Verdy 108,482 28,832 2,164 5,710 +1.3%†
12 Tokushima Vortis 98,925 11,916 2,165 5,207 +12.9%†
13 Tochigi SC 93,848 9,953 2,493 4,939 +18.8%†
14 FC Gifu 78,273 6,684 2,150 4,120 +32.6%†
15 Giravanz Kitakyushu 76,976 7,080 1,336 4,051 −3.3%†
16 Gainare Tottori 70,152 8,212 1,787 3,692 +5.8%‡
17 Ehime FC 66,022 7,634 1,563 3,475 −20.8%†
18 Mito HollyHock 63,637 5,227 1,273 3,349 −7.2%†
19 Kataller Toyama 62,233 8,663 1,716 3,275 −26.6%†
20 Thespa Kusatsu 61,018 6,520 1,266 3,211 −27.4%†
League total 2,440,695 39,243 1,266 6,423 −4.1%†

Updated to games played on December 3, 2011
Source: J. League Division 2
Notes:
† Team played previous season in J1.
‡ Team played previous season in JFL.

References
  1. "2011 J. League tournament details" (in Japanese). J.League official website. Archived from the original on 2010-12-24.
  2. "J.League agrees to resume games on April 23". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved 27 March 2011.
  3. "J2 Top Scorers". j-league.or.jp. J-League. Archived from the original on 9 February 2013. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
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