# 2003 J.League Division 2

The 2003 J. League Division 2 season was the 32nd season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 5th season since the establishment of J.League Division 2.
In this season, twelve clubs competed in the quadruple round-robin format. The top two received promotion to the J. League Division 1. There were no relegation to the third-tier Japan Football League.

## Clubs

The following twelve clubs participated in J. League Division 2 during 2003 season. Of these clubs, Consadole Sapporo and Sanfrecce Hiroshima were relegated from Division 1 last year.
* Albirex Niigata
* Avispa Fukuoka
* Consadole Sapporo
* Kawasaki Frontale
* Mito HollyHock
* Montedio Yamagata
* Omiya Ardija
* Sagan Tosu
* Sanfrecce Hiroshima
* Shonan Bellmare
* Ventforet Kofu
* Yokohama FC

### Personnel

| Club | Head coach |
| Albirex Niigata | Yasuharu Sorimachi |
| Avispa Fukuoka | Shigekazu Nakamura |
| Consadole Sapporo | Akihiro Nishimura |
| Kawasaki Frontale | Nobuhiro Ishizaki |
| Mito HollyHock | Masaaki Kanno |
| Montedio Yamagata | Koichi Hashiratani |
| Omiya Ardija | Henk Duut |
| Sagan Tosu | Hiroshi Soejima |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | Takeshi Ono |
| Shonan Bellmare | Koji Tanaka |
| Ventforet Kofu | Takeshi Oki |
| Yokohama FC | Pierre Littbarski |

### Foreign players

| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Non-visa foreign | Type-C contract | Former players |
| Albirex Niigata | Beto | Marcus Vinícius | Serjão | An Yong-hak | | |
| Avispa Fukuoka | Alen Avdić | Zoltan Sabo | Noh Jung-yoon | | | |
| Consadole Sapporo | Almir Turković | João Carlos | Yoon Jong-hwan | Jeong Yong-dae | | |
| Kawasaki Frontale | Bentinho | Marlon | Marquinho | | Alex | Jorge Dely Valdés |
| Mito HollyHock | An Seon-jin | | | Hwang Hak-sun | | |
| Montedio Yamagata | | | | | | |
| Omiya Ardija | Baré | Edson Araújo | Toninho | | | | Alexandre Finazzi |
| Sagan Tosu | David Bisconti | | | Erikson Noguchipinto | | |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | César Sampaio | Marcelo Ramos | Ricardo | | Ri Han-jae | | Tomislav Erceg |
| Shonan Bellmare | Ever Palacios | | | | Silva | |
| Ventforet Kofu | Jorginho | | | | Alair | |
| Yokohama FC | Rudi Vata | Fernando Moner | Dirk Lehmann | Mathieu Boots | | | Dirk van der Ven |

## League format

Twelve clubs played in quadruple round-robin format, a total of 44 games each. A club receives 3 points for a win, 1 point for a tie, and 0 points for a loss. The clubs are ranked by points, and tie breakers are, in the following order:
* Goal differential
* Goals scored
* Head-to-head results
A draw would be conducted, if necessary. However, if two clubs are tied at the first place, both clubs would be declared as the champions. The top two clubs are promoted to J1.

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Albirex Niigata (C, P) | 44 | 27 | 7 | 10 | 80 | 40 | +40 | 88 | Promotion to 2004 J. League Division 1 |
| 2 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima (P) | 44 | 25 | 11 | 8 | 65 | 35 | +30 | 86 | Promotion to 2004 J. League Division 1 |
| 3 | Kawasaki Frontale | 44 | 24 | 13 | 7 | 88 | 47 | +41 | 85 | |
| 4 | Avispa Fukuoka | 44 | 21 | 8 | 15 | 67 | 62 | +5 | 71 | |
| 5 | Ventforet Kofu | 44 | 19 | 12 | 13 | 58 | 46 | +12 | 69 | |
| 6 | Omiya Ardija | 44 | 18 | 7 | 19 | 52 | 61 | −9 | 61 | |
| 7 | Mito HollyHock | 44 | 15 | 11 | 18 | 37 | 41 | −4 | 56 | |
| 8 | Montedio Yamagata | 44 | 15 | 10 | 19 | 52 | 60 | −8 | 55 | |
| 9 | Consadole Sapporo | 44 | 13 | 13 | 18 | 57 | 56 | +1 | 52 | |
| 10 | Shonan Bellmare | 44 | 11 | 11 | 22 | 33 | 53 | −20 | 44 | |
| 11 | Yokohama FC | 44 | 10 | 12 | 22 | 49 | 88 | −39 | 42 | |
| 12 | Sagan Tosu | 44 | 3 | 11 | 30 | 40 | 89 | −49 | 20 | |

## Final results

Rounds 1 & 2 :
| Home \ Away | ALB | SFR | FRO | AVI | VEN | ARD | HOL | MON | CON | BEL | YFC | SAG |
| Albirex Niigata | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 0–0 | | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 6–1 | 2–1 |
| Kawasaki Frontale | 0–4 | 1–0 | | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 5–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 6–3 |
| Avispa Fukuoka | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 5–2 |
| Ventforet Kofu | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–1 | | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Omiya Ardija | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 |
| Mito HollyHock | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Montedio Yamagata | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 2–3 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 4–1 |
| Consadole Sapporo | 2–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 3–3 | 6–2 | 2–4 | 1–0 | | 1–1 | 1–3 | 3–0 |
| Shonan Bellmare | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Yokohama FC | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–4 | 1–1 | 1–5 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 0–0 | 2–0 | | 1–1 |
| Sagan Tosu | 0–1 | 3–4 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 5–2 | |
Rounds 3 & 4 :
| Home \ Away | ALB | SFR | FRO | AVI | VEN | ARD | HOL | MON | CON | BEL | YFC | SAG |
| Albirex Niigata | | 3–1 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 4–1 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 2–1 |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 1–0 | | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 |
| Kawasaki Frontale | 3–0 | 2–1 | | 5–2 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–3 | 7–1 |
| Avispa Fukuoka | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–3 | | 3–0 | 5–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Ventforet Kofu | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| Omiya Ardija | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | | 3–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 3–0 |
| Mito HollyHock | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Montedio Yamagata | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 3–3 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 |
| Consadole Sapporo | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | | 1–2 | 2–2 | 4–1 |
| Shonan Bellmare | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 0–2 | | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Yokohama FC | 1–7 | 0–2 | 2–5 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 1–0 | | 3–1 |
| Sagan Tosu | 0–1 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Marcus Vinícius | Albirex Niigata | 32 |
| 2 | Juninho | Kawasaki Frontale | 28 |
| 3 | Baré | Omiya Ardija | 22 |
| 4 | Bentinho | Avispa Fukuoka | 20 |
| 5 | Augusto César | Kawasaki Frontale | 17 |
| 6 | Marcelo Ramos | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 14 |
| 7 | Kazuki Ganaha | Kawasaki Frontale | 13 |
| 7 | Yusaku Ueno | Albirex Niigata | 13 |
| 9 | Shoji Jo | Yokohama FC | 12 |
| 10 | Hiroyuki Hayashi | Avispa Fukuoka | 11 |
| 10 | Kosei Nakamura | Montedio Yamagata | 11 |

## Attendance figures

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Albirex Niigata | 667,447 | 42,223 | 8,644 | 30,339 | +41.3%$^†$ |
| 2 | Consadole Sapporo | 236,861 | 23,590 | 3,653 | 10,766 | −44.5%$^†$ |
| 3 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 198,004 | 26,158 | 3,471 | 9,000 | −17.7%$^†$ |
| 4 | Avispa Fukuoka | 163,165 | 13,921 | 3,448 | 7,417 | +14.3%$^†$ |
| 5 | Kawasaki Frontale | 159,678 | 22,087 | 2,438 | 7,258 | +38.3%$^†$ |
| 6 | Ventforet Kofu | 127,515 | 13,043 | 2,382 | 5,796 | +17.9%$^†$ |
| 7 | Omiya Ardija | 111,274 | 20,686 | 1,357 | 5,058 | −3.9%$^†$ |
| 8 | Shonan Bellmare | 104,085 | 8,276 | 2,772 | 4,731 | +4.0%$^†$ |
| 9 | Montedio Yamagata | 96,142 | 10,096 | 2,743 | 4,370 | +16.4%$^†$ |
| 10 | Yokohama FC | 82,351 | 8,574 | 1,851 | 3,743 | +7.7%$^†$ |
| 11 | Sagan Tosu | 69,789 | 5,756 | 1,585 | 3,172 | −18.5%$^†$ |
| 12 | Mito HollyHock | 67,874 | 5,889 | 1,337 | 3,085 | +12.6%$^†$ |
| | League total | 2,084,185 | 42,223 | 1,337 | 7,895 | +15.4%$^†$ |
Updated to games played on November 23, 2003 Source: J. League Division 2 Notes: $^†$ Team played previous season in J1.