# 1998 J.League

The 1998 J.League season was the sixth season of the J.League. The league began in March 21 and ended in November 14. For this year, the division was contested by 18 teams. Júbilo Iwata won the 1st stage and Kashima Antlers won the 2nd stage. Kashima Antlers won the J.League title after winning both matches in the Suntory Championship.

## Clubs

The following eighteen clubs participated in J.League during the 1998 season. Of these clubs, Consadole Sapporo was the only newly promoted team from Japan Football League.
* Avispa Fukuoka
* Bellmare Hiratsuka
* Cerezo Osaka
* Consadole Sapporo
* Gamba Osaka
* JEF United Ichihara
* Júbilo Iwata
* Kashima Antlers
* Kashiwa Reysol
* Kyoto Purple Sanga
* Nagoya Grampus Eight
* Sanfrecce Hiroshima
* Shimizu S-Pulse
* Urawa Red Diamonds
* Verdy Kawasaki
* Vissel Kobe
* Yokohama Flügels
* Yokohama Marinos

### Personnel

| Club | Head coach |
| Avispa Fukuoka | Takaji Mori |
| Bellmare Hiratsuka | Shigeharu Ueki |
| Cerezo Osaka | Yasutaro Matsuki |
| Consadole Sapporo | Hugo Fernández |
| Gamba Osaka | Frédéric Antonetti |
| JEF United Ichihara | Jan Versleijen |
| Júbilo Iwata | Valmir Louruz |
| Kashima Antlers | Zé Mário |
| Kashiwa Reysol | Akira Nishino |
| Kyoto Purple Sanga | Hidehiko Shimizu |
| Nagoya Grampus Eight | Koji Tanaka |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Eddie Thomson |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | Osvaldo Ardiles |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | Hiromi Hara |
| Verdy Kawasaki | Ryoichi Kawakatsu |
| Vissel Kobe | Harumi Kori |
| Yokohama Flügels | Gert Engels |
| Yokohama Marinos | Xabier Azkargorta |

### Foreign players

| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Non-visa foreign | Former players |
| Avispa Fukuoka | Fernando | Dragan Đukanović | Miodrag Božović | Juan Carlos Villamayor | | Marcos Aurélio Michael Obiku Pablo Maqueda |
| Bellmare Hiratsuka | Cláudio | Ricardinho | Pavel Badea | Hong Myung-bo | | Park Kyung-hwan |
| Cerezo Osaka | Pericles | Pintado | Radivoje Manić | Hwang Sun-hong | | Ha Seok-ju Ko Jeong-woon |
| Consadole Sapporo | Hugo Maradona | Pereira | Walter | Jorge Dely Valdés | Dido Havenaar | |
| Gamba Osaka | Anto Drobnjak | Nebojša Krupniković | Claude Dambury | Amir Karić | | Patrick Mboma Boban Babunski |
| JEF United Ichihara | Matthew Bingley | Nenad Maslovar | Arnold Scholten | Kim Dae-eui | Kim Hwang-jung | |
| Júbilo Iwata | Adilson Batista | Dedimar | Dunga | | | Alessandro Cambalhota |
| Kashima Antlers | Bismarck | Jorginho | Mazinho | Ricardo | | |
| Kashiwa Reysol | Basílio | Bentinho | Buiú | Hristo Stoichkov | | Duda Elpídio Silva Marcão |
| Kyoto Purple Sanga | Edmílson Matias | Junior | Paulo Silas | | Park Kang-jo | |
| Nagoya Grampus Eight | Alexandre Torres | Dragan Stojković | Bernard Allou | Tarik Oulida | Ko Ishikawa | Valdo |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Aurelio Vidmar | Hayden Foxe | Tony Popovic | Don Goodman | | Graham Arnold Ian Crook |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | Fernando Oliva | Fabinho | Santos | | Alex | |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | Željko Petrović | Giuseppe Zappella | Txiki Begiristain | | | Alfred Nijhuis |
| Verdy Kawasaki | Daniel da Silva | Fumagalli | Henrique | Moacir | | Euller Edwin Ifeanyi |
| Vissel Kobe | Ha Seok-ju | Kim Do-hoon | Albert Tomàs | | Michael Yano | Matthew Bingley Budimir Vujačić |
| Yokohama Flügels | César Sampaio | Marco Ferreira | Paulo Futre | Igor Lediakhov | | Anderson Gils |
| Yokohama Marinos | Julio César Baldivieso | Dušan Petković | Jon Andoni Goikoetxea | Julio Salinas | | |

## Standings

First stage
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | PKW | OTL | PKL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Júbilo Iwata | 17 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 52 | 18 | +34 | 39 |
| 2 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 17 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 32 | 14 | +18 | 39 |
| 3 | Nagoya Grampus Eight | 17 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 37 | 21 | +16 | 33 |
| 4 | Yokohama Marinos | 17 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 39 | 21 | +18 | 32 |
| 5 | Kashima Antlers | 17 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 41 | 28 | +13 | 32 |
| 6 | Verdy Kawasaki | 17 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 34 | 25 | +9 | 30 |
| 7 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 17 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 30 | 23 | +7 | 28 |
| 8 | Yokohama Flügels | 17 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 33 | 32 | +1 | 26 |
| 9 | Cerezo Osaka | 17 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 36 | 47 | −11 | 23 |
| 10 | Kashiwa Reysol | 17 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 32 | 35 | −3 | 22 |
| 11 | JEF United Ichihara | 17 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 21 |
| 12 | Bellmare Hiratsuka | 17 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 27 | 34 | −7 | 20 |
| 13 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 17 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 22 | 33 | −11 | 19 |
| 14 | Gamba Osaka | 17 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 27 | 29 | −2 | 17 |
| 15 | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 17 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 20 | 33 | −13 | 16 |
| 16 | Consadole Sapporo | 17 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 28 | 44 | −16 | 11 |
| 17 | Vissel Kobe | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 20 | 48 | −28 | 9 |
| 18 | Avispa Fukuoka | 17 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 22 | 47 | −25 | 7 |
Second stage
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | PKW | OTL | PKL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Kashima Antlers | 17 | 12 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 38 | 15 | +23 | 42 |
| 2 | Júbilo Iwata | 17 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 55 | 21 | +34 | 39 |
| 3 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 17 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 32 | 17 | +15 | 33 |
| 4 | Yokohama Marinos | 17 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 40 | 27 | +13 | 32 |
| 5 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 17 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 39 | 21 | +18 | 31 |
| 6 | Nagoya Grampus Eight | 17 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 34 | 26 | +8 | 30 |
| 7 | Yokohama Flügels | 17 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 37 | 32 | +5 | 25 |
| 8 | Kashiwa Reysol | 17 | 8 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 24 | 26 | −2 | 25 |
| 9 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 17 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 23 | 19 | +4 | 24 |
| 10 | Consadole Sapporo | 17 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 29 | 30 | −1 | 24 |
| 11 | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 17 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 27 | 30 | −3 | 23 |
| 12 | Bellmare Hiratsuka | 17 | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 26 | 32 | −6 | 22 |
| 13 | Cerezo Osaka | 17 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | 20 | 32 | −12 | 21 |
| 14 | Vissel Kobe | 17 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 25 | 41 | −16 | 16 |
| 15 | Avispa Fukuoka | 17 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 11 | 38 | −27 | 14 |
| 16 | Gamba Osaka | 17 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 20 | 32 | −12 | 13 |
| 17 | Verdy Kawasaki | 17 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 28 | −15 | 9 |
| 18 | JEF United Ichihara | 17 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 18 | 44 | −26 | 4 |

## Playoffs
### Relegation playoffs

On the aggregate table, JEF United Ichihara, Avispa Fukuoka, and Vissel Kobe had earned within the 15th-18th places in the tables for both 1997 and 1998, while Consadole Sapporo had achieved within the same span on its sole season on the J.League. (Gamba Osaka, who had finished between Sapporo and Kobe, was reprieved because of the collapse and resignation of Yokohama Flügels.) These clubs thus were entered in an elimination promotion/relegation tournament along with Japan Football League runners-up Kawasaki Frontale, who unlike champions Tokyo Gas had a base more qualifiable for the J.League.

#### First round

Kawasaki forms J.League Division 2 the next season. Fukuoka advances to the next round.

#### Second round

The winners of this round stay in J.League Division 1 and the losers play a final elimination series to determine the club relegated to Division 2.

#### Final round

Fukuoka stays in J.League Division 1. Consadole is relegated to new J.League Division 2.

## Awards
### Individual awards

| Award | Recipient | Club |
| Most Valuable Player | Masashi Nakayama | Júbilo Iwata |
| Rookie of the Year | Shinji Ono | Urawa Red Diamonds |
| Manager of the Year | Osvaldo Ardiles | Shimizu S-Pulse |
| Top Scorer | Masashi Nakayama | Júbilo Iwata |

### Best Eleven

| Pos | Footballer | Club | Nationality |
| GK | Seigo Narazaki | Yokohama Flügels | Japan |
| DF | Makoto Tanaka | Júbilo Iwata | Japan |
| DF | Naoki Soma | Kashima Antlers | Japan |
| DF | Yutaka Akita | Kashima Antlers | Japan |
| MF | Dunga | Júbilo Iwata | Brazil |
| MF | Daisuke Oku | Júbilo Iwata | Japan |
| MF | Hiroshi Nanami | Júbilo Iwata | Japan |
| MF | Shinji Ono | Urawa Red Diamonds | Japan |
| MF | Toshiya Fujita | Júbilo Iwata | Japan |
| FW | Atsushi Yanagisawa | Kashima Antlers | Japan |
| FW | Masashi Nakayama | Júbilo Iwata | Japan |