# 2016 J3 League

The 2016 Meiji Yasuda J3 League (2016 明治安田生命J3リーグ) was the 20th season of the third tier in Japanese football, and the 3rd season of the professional J3 League.

## Clubs

* Cerezo Osaka U-23
* Gamba Osaka U-23
To participate, a club must have held an associate membership, or have submitted an application before 30 June 2015, and then passed an inspection to obtain a participation license issued by the J.League Council. The J.League has confirmed the following clubs participating in the 2016 J3 season:
| Club Name | Home Town | Notes |
| Blaublitz Akita | All cities/towns in Akita | |
| Cerezo Osaka U23 | Osaka, Osaka | New club, ineligible for J2 promotion |
| Fukushima United | Fukushima | |
| Gainare Tottori | All cities/towns in Tottori | |
| Gamba Osaka U-23 | Suita, Osaka, Osaka | New club, ineligible for J2 promotion |
| Grulla Morioka | Morioka, Iwate | |
| Kagoshima United | Kagoshima, Kagoshima | Promoted from 2015 JFL |
| Kataller Toyama | All cities/towns in Toyama | Eligible for J2 promotion |
| Fujieda MYFC | Fujieda, Shizuoka | |
| Nagano Parceiro | Nagano | Eligible for J2 promotion |
| FC Ryukyu | All cities/towns in Okinawa | |
| SC Sagamihara | Sagamihara, Kanagawa | |
| Tochigi SC | Tochigi, Tochigi | Relegated from 2015 J2, eligible for J2 promotion |
| FC Tokyo U23 | Tokyo | New club, ineligible for J2 promotion |
| Oita Trinita | Ōita | Relegated from 2015 J2, eligible for J2 promotion |
| YSCC Yokohama | Yokohama, Kanagawa | |

## Competition rules

For this season, the league is played in two rounds (home-and-away), each team playing a total of 30 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 the Japan Football League in recent seasons: to be promoted, a club must hold a J2 license and finish in top 2 of the league. The champions will be promoted directly, in exchange with the 22nd placed J2 club, and the runners-up will participate in the playoffs with the 21st placed J2 club. If either or both top 2 finishers are ineligible for promotion, the playoffs and/or direct exchange will not be held in accordance with the exact positions of promotion-eligible clubs. Also, if an under-23 squad finishes in either one of the top 2 or both positions, the next-placed, promotion-eligible club takes automatic promotion to J2. Another next-placed eligible club will contest the playoff if any under-23 club occupies third to fourth place or both and the J3 champion is eligible for promotion.
No relegation to the JFL is planned. Up to 2 clubs may be promoted if they are licensed by the J.League for J3 participation and finish within the top 4 of the JFL.

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Date of separation | Manner of departure | Incoming manager | Date of announcement |
| Grulla Morioka | Naoki Naruo | 18 November 2015 | Retired | Akihiko Kamikawa | 18 November 2015 |
| Tochigi SC | Yasuharu Kurata | 11 December 2015 | Contract expired | Yuji Yokoyama | 11 December 2015 |
| Gainare Tottori | Masanobu Matsunami | 22 November 2015 | Contract expired | Tetsuji Hashiratani | 13 December 2015 |
| Nagano Parceiro | Hajime Eto | 1 December 2015 | Contract expired | Fumitake Miura | 14 December 2015 |
| FC Ryukyu | Norihiro Satsukawa | 31 October 2015 | Contract expired | Kim Jong-song | 14 December 2015 |
| SC Sagamihara | Yoshika Matsubara | 3 December 2015 | End of caretaker spell | Norihiro Satsukawa | 26 December 2015 |
| Kataller Toyama | Shigeo Sawairi (GM) | – | End of caretaker spell | Yasutoshi Miura | 26 December 2015 |
| Oita Trinita | Nobuaki Yanagida | 7 December 2015 | Resigned | Tomohiro Katanosaka | 4 January 2016 |
| FC Tokyo U23 | Takayoshi Amma | 26 July 2016 | Promoted to first team coach | Tadashi Nakamura | 26 July 2016 |
| SC Sagamihara | Norihiro Satsukawa | 18 August 2016 | Resigned | Sotaro Yasunaga | 20 August 2016 |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Oita Trinita (C, P) | 30 | 19 | 4 | 7 | 50 | 24 | +26 | 61 | Promotion to 2017 J2 League |
| 2 | Tochigi SC | 30 | 17 | 8 | 5 | 38 | 20 | +18 | 59 | Qualification to J2 promotion playoffs |
| 3 | Nagano Parceiro | 30 | 15 | 7 | 8 | 33 | 22 | +11 | 52 | |
| 4 | Blaublitz Akita | 30 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 37 | 26 | +11 | 50 | |
| 5 | Kagoshima United | 30 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 39 | 29 | +10 | 50 | |
| 6 | Kataller Toyama | 30 | 13 | 10 | 7 | 37 | 29 | +8 | 49 | |
| 7 | Fujieda MYFC | 30 | 14 | 3 | 13 | 48 | 42 | +6 | 45 | |
| 8 | FC Ryukyu | 30 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 46 | 46 | 0 | 44 | |
| 9 | Gamba Osaka U-23 | 30 | 10 | 8 | 12 | 42 | 41 | +1 | 38 | |
| 10 | FC Tokyo U-23 | 30 | 9 | 9 | 12 | 32 | 31 | +1 | 36 | |
| 11 | SC Sagamihara | 30 | 9 | 8 | 13 | 29 | 46 | −17 | 35 | |
| 12 | Cerezo Osaka U-23 | 30 | 8 | 8 | 14 | 38 | 47 | −9 | 32 | |
| 13 | Grulla Morioka | 30 | 6 | 12 | 12 | 43 | 47 | −4 | 30 | |
| 14 | Fukushima United | 30 | 7 | 9 | 14 | 35 | 44 | −9 | 30 | |
| 15 | Gainare Tottori | 30 | 8 | 6 | 16 | 30 | 47 | −17 | 30 | |
| 16 | YSCC Yokohama | 30 | 5 | 5 | 20 | 15 | 51 | −36 | 20 | |
* ↑ Only teams that hold a J2 license are eligible for promotion.

## Results

| Home \ Away | BLA | C23 | FUK | GAI | G23 | GRU | KGU | KAT | MYF | PAR | RYU | SGM | TOC | T23 | TRI | YSC |
| Blaublitz Akita | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 |
| Cerezo Osaka U-23 | 1–2 | | 2–2 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Fukushima United | 1–1 | 2–2 | | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 2–0 |
| Gainare Tottori | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | | 0–4 | 3–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–4 | 2–1 |
| Gamba Osaka U-23 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | | 4–1 | 6–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 |
| Grulla Morioka | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 0–0 | | 2–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 5–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 |
| Kagoshima United | 1–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 4–0 |
| Kataller Toyama | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–3 | 2–1 | | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Fujieda MYFC | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–5 | 4–0 | 3–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | | 3–2 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 4–0 |
| Nagano Parceiro | 1–0 | 1–3 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| FC Ryukyu | 1–1 | 0–3 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–1 | | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–5 | 1–0 | 0–1 |
| SC Sagamihara | 2–2 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–4 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 1–3 | | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 |
| Tochigi SC | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| FC Tokyo U-23 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 4–1 | 1–1 | | 1–2 | 2–0 |
| Oita Trinita | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 4–3 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | | 3–0 |
| YSCC Yokohama | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 3–4 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Noriaki Fujimoto | Kagoshima United FC | 15 |
| 2 | Yusuke Goto | Oita Trinita | 14 |
| 3 | Keita Tanaka | FC Ryukyu | 13 |
| 4 | Yuichiro Edamoto | Fujieda MYFC | 12 |
| 5 | Tsugutoshi Oishi | Tochigi SC | 11 |
| 5 | Yu In-soo | FC Tokyo U-23 | 11 |
| 7 | Ritsu Doan | Gamba Osaka U-23 | 10 |
| 7 | Kazushi Mitsuhira | Oita Trinita | 10 |
| 9 | Taku Ushinohama | Grulla Morioka | 9 |
| 9 | Hiroki Higuchi | Fukushima United FC | 9 |
Updated to games played on 20 November 2016 Source: J.League Data

## Attendances

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Oita Trinita | 116,563 | 11,065 | 5,408 | 7,771 | +3.2%$^†$ |
| 2 | Nagano Parceiro | 75,274 | 10,377 | 3,905 | 5,018 | +6.0%$^†$ |
| 3 | Tochigi SC | 73,756 | 8,586 | 2,864 | 4,917 | −4.8%$^†$ |
| 4 | SC Sagamihara | 65,161 | 7,582 | 2,912 | 4,344 | +32.0%$^†$ |
| 5 | Kagoshima United | 54,979 | 4,975 | 2,024 | 3,665 | +39.7%$^‡$ |
| 6 | Kataller Toyama | 54,113 | 5,081 | 2,691 | 3,608 | +27.9%$^†$ |
| 7 | FC Tokyo U-23 | 41,957 | 7,653 | 1,375 | 2,797 | n/a$^†$ |
| 8 | Blaublitz Akita | 36,371 | 5,371 | 1,339 | 2,425 | +21.4%$^†$ |
| 9 | Gamba Osaka U-23 | 36,021 | 8,038 | 1,066 | 2,401 | n/a$^†$ |
| 10 | Gainare Tottori | 28,471 | 3,450 | 1,321 | 1,898 | −1.8%$^†$ |
| 11 | Fukushima United | 25,172 | 3,052 | 1,045 | 1,678 | +30.2%$^†$ |
| 12 | FC Ryukyu | 23,418 | 4,565 | 948 | 1,561 | +4.2%$^†$ |
| 13 | Fujieda MYFC | 22,965 | 2,257 | 904 | 1,531 | +38.8%$^†$ |
| 14 | Cerezo Osaka U-23 | 22,326 | 4,915 | 713 | 1,488 | n/a$^†$ |
| 15 | Grulla Morioka | 17,816 | 2,888 | 486 | 1,188 | −4.1%$^†$ |
| 16 | YSCC Yokohama | 15,277 | 1,614 | 568 | 1,018 | +10.8%$^†$ |
| | League total | 709,640 | 11,065 | 486 | 2,957 | +21.6%$^†$ |
Updated to games played on 20 November 2016 Source: J. League Data Notes: $^†$ from J2, $^‡$ from JFL