# 1999 J.League Division 1

The 1999 J.League Division 1 season was the seventh season of the J.League Division 1. The league began in March 6 and ended in November 27. For this year, the division was contested by 16 teams following the folding of Yokohama Flügels and the relegation of Consadole Sapporo to the newly formed Division 2.
In a year dominated by Shizuoka Prefecture, Júbilo Iwata won the 1st stage with neighbours Shimizu S-Pulse winning the 2nd stage. Iwata won the J.League Division 1 title for the after triumphing on penalty kicks in the Suntory Championship.

## Clubs

The following sixteen clubs participated in J.League Division 1 during 1999 season.
| Club | Last season | Last season | Head coach |
| Avispa Fukuoka | 18th | 15th | Yoshio Kikugawa |
| Bellmare Hiratsuka | 12th | 12th | Mitsuru Komaeda |
| Cerezo Osaka | 9th | 13th | René Desaeyere |
| Gamba Osaka | 14th | 16th | Hiroshi Hayano |
| JEF United Ichihara | 11th | 18th | Nicolae Zamfir |
| Júbilo Iwata | 1st | 2nd | Takashi Kuwahara |
| Kashima Antlers | 5th | 1st | Zico |
| Kashiwa Reysol | 10th | 8th | Akira Nishino |
| Kyoto Purple Sanga | 15th | 11th | Shu Kamo |
| Nagoya Grampus Eight | 3rd | 6th | João Carlos |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 13th | 9th | Eddie Thomson |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | 2nd | 5th | Steve Perryman |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | 7th | 3rd | Aad de Mos |
| Verdy Kawasaki | 6th | 17th | Hideki Matsunaga |
| Vissel Kobe | 17th | 14th | Ryoichi Kawakatsu |
| Yokohama F. Marinos | 4th | 4th | Antonio de la Cruz |

### Foreign players

| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Non-visa foreign | Former players |
| Avispa Fukuoka | Fernando | Ranielli | Nenad Maslovar | | | Juan Carlos Villamayor |
| Bellmare Hiratsuka | Chay Hews | Stephen Laybutt | Jailton | | | Cláudio Ricardinho Pavel Badea |
| Cerezo Osaka | Pericles | Hwang Sun-hong | Noh Jung-yoon | | | |
| Gamba Osaka | Luizinho Vieira | Taílson | Claude Dambury | | | Anto Drobnjak Piotr Świerczewski |
| JEF United Ichihara | Baron | Peter Bosz | Roberto Blanco | Robert Vancea | Kim Hwang-jung | Paulo Henrique |
| Júbilo Iwata | Adilson Batista | Roberto Torres | Dmitri Radchenko | | | |
| Kashima Antlers | Bismarck | Mazinho | Ricardo | | | |
| Kashiwa Reysol | Bentinho | Hristo Stoichkov | Pavel Badea | Hong Myung-bo | | |
| Kyoto Purple Sanga | Paulo Magino | Paulo Silas | Sidiclei | | Park Kang-jo | |
| Nagoya Grampus Eight | Alexandre Torres | Dragan Stojković | Tarik Oulida | | Ko Ishikawa | |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Hayden Foxe | Phil Stubbins | Tony Popovic | | | Aurelio Vidmar |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | Fabinho | Santos | | | Alex | |
| Urawa Red Diamonds | Željko Petrović | Giuseppe Zappella | Txiki Begiristain | Fernando Picun | | |
| Verdy Kawasaki | Henrique | Jé | Júlio César | | | |
| Vissel Kobe | Choi Sung-yong | Ha Seok-ju | Kim Do-hoon | | Park Song-gi | |
| Yokohama F. Marinos | Válber | Igor Jovićević | Yoo Sang-chul | | | |

## Overview
### First stage

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | D | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Júbilo Iwata | 15 | 10 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 29 | 15 | +14 | 34 | Qualification to the Suntory Championship 1999 |
| 2 | Verdy Kawasaki | 15 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 15 | +5 | 32 | |
| 3 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 15 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 28 | 23 | +5 | 30 | |
| 4 | Kashiwa Reysol | 15 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 26 | 18 | +8 | 29 | |
| 5 | Cerezo Osaka | 15 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 25 | 21 | +4 | 29 | |
| 6 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 15 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 30 | 18 | +12 | 27 | |
| 7 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 15 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 31 | 20 | +11 | 23 | |
| 8 | Nagoya Grampus Eight | 15 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 30 | 23 | +7 | 21 | |
| 9 | Kashima Antlers | 15 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 23 | 19 | +4 | 18 | |
| 10 | Gamba Osaka | 15 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 21 | 25 | −4 | 17 | |
| 11 | Avispa Fukuoka | 15 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 23 | 30 | −7 | 16 | |
| 12 | Vissel Kobe | 15 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 20 | 24 | −4 | 15 | |
| 13 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 15 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 33 | −12 | 13 | |
| 14 | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 15 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 18 | 28 | −10 | 12 | |
| 15 | JEF United Ichihara | 15 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 19 | 34 | −15 | 12 | |
| 16 | Bellmare Hiratsuka | 15 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 15 | 33 | −18 | 9 | |
* ↑ Champion from 1998 J.League

### Second stage

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | D | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 15 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 28 | 13 | +15 | 35 | Qualification to the Suntory Championship 1999 |
| 2 | Nagoya Grampus Eight | 15 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 32 | 23 | +9 | 33 | |
| 3 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 15 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 30 | 15 | +15 | 30 | |
| 4 | Kashiwa Reysol | 15 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 23 | 18 | +5 | 29 | |
| 5 | Cerezo Osaka | 15 | 6 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 39 | 24 | +15 | 24 | |
| 6 | Kashima Antlers | 15 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 30 | 18 | +12 | 22 | |
| 7 | Vissel Kobe | 15 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 18 | 21 | −3 | 22 | |
| 8 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 15 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 24 | 25 | −1 | 21 | |
| 9 | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 15 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 20 | 30 | −10 | 19 | |
| 10 | Verdy Kawasaki | 15 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 23 | 28 | −5 | 17 | |
| 11 | JEF United Ichihara | 15 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 22 | 22 | 0 | 16 | |
| 12 | Júbilo Iwata | 15 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 23 | 27 | −4 | 15 | |
| 13 | Gamba Osaka | 15 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 15 | 21 | −6 | 15 | |
| 14 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 15 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 18 | 25 | −7 | 15 | |
| 15 | Avispa Fukuoka | 15 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 18 | 29 | −11 | 12 | |
| 16 | Bellmare Hiratsuka | 15 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 10 | 15 | 39 | −24 | 4 | |
* ↑ Champion from 1998 J.League

### Suntory Championship
## Overall table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | D | OTL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1/2 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 30 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 56 | 36 | +20 | 65 | |
| 1/2 | Júbilo Iwata | 30 | 14 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 52 | 42 | +10 | 49 | Champion and qualified to the Asian Club Championship 2000–01 Second Round |
| 3 | Kashiwa Reysol | 30 | 17 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 49 | 36 | +13 | 58 | |
| 4 | Nagoya Grampus Eight | 30 | 16 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 62 | 46 | +16 | 54 | Cup-Winner 1999 Emperor's Cup and qualified to the Asian Cup Winners' Cup 2000–01 Second Round |
| 5 | Yokohama F. Marinos | 30 | 14 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 8 | 61 | 35 | +26 | 53 | |
| 6 | Cerezo Osaka | 30 | 15 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 64 | 45 | +19 | 53 | |
| 7 | Verdy Kawasaki | 30 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 9 | 43 | 43 | 0 | 49 | |
| 8 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 30 | 15 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 54 | 43 | +11 | 48 | |
| 9 | Kashima Antlers | 30 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 53 | 37 | +16 | 40 | |
| 10 | Vissel Kobe | 30 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 12 | 38 | 45 | −7 | 37 | |
| 11 | Gamba Osaka | 30 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 36 | 46 | −10 | 32 | |
| 12 | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 30 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 15 | 38 | 58 | −20 | 31 | |
| 13 | JEF United Ichihara | 30 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 14 | 41 | 56 | −15 | 28 | |
| 14 | Avispa Fukuoka | 30 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 18 | 41 | 59 | −18 | 28 | |
| 15 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 30 | 7 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 39 | 58 | −19 | 28 | Relegated to the 2000 J.League Division 2 |
| 16 | Bellmare Hiratsuka | 30 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 30 | 72 | −42 | 13 | Relegated to the 2000 J.League Division 2 |
* ↑ Champion from 1998 J.League

## Awards

* Most Valuable Player: Alex (Shimizu S-Pulse)
* Top Scorer: Hwang Sun-hong (Cerezo Osaka)