# 2004 J.League Division 2

The 2004 J. League Division 2 season was the 33rd season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 6th season since the establishment of J2 League.
In this season, twelve clubs competed in the quadruple round-robin format. Starting this season, promotion slots increased to 2.5 slots. The top two received automatic promotion and the third-placed finisher advanced to the Pro/Rele Series for the promotion. There were no relegation to the third-tier Japan Football League.

## General
### Promotion and relegation

To be completed

### Changes in competition formats

To be completed

### Changes in clubs

To be completed

## Clubs

Following twelve clubs played in J. League Division 2 during 2004 season. Of these clubs, Vegalta Sendai and Kyoto Purple Sanga relegated from Division 1 last year.
* Consadole Sapporo
* Vegalta Sendai
* Montedio Yamagata
* Mito HollyHocks
* Omiya Ardija
* Kawasaki Frontale
* Yokohama F.C.
* Shonan Bellmare
* Ventforet Kofu
* Kyoto Purple Sanga
* Avispa Fukuoka
* Sagan Tosu

## 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 will be declared as the champions. The top two clubs will be promoted to J1, while the 3rd placed club plays a two-legged Promotion/relegation series.

### Changes from previous year

* Inception of Pro/Rele series for the 3rd place.

## Final league table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Kawasaki Frontale (C, P) | 44 | 34 | 3 | 7 | 104 | 38 | +66 | 105 | Promotion to 2005 J. League Division 1 |
| 2 | Omiya Ardija (P) | 44 | 26 | 9 | 9 | 63 | 38 | +25 | 87 | Promotion to 2005 J. League Division 1 |
| 3 | Avispa Fukuoka | 44 | 23 | 7 | 14 | 56 | 41 | +15 | 76 | Promotion/relegation playoff |
| 4 | Montedio Yamagata | 44 | 19 | 14 | 11 | 58 | 51 | +7 | 71 | |
| 5 | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 44 | 19 | 12 | 13 | 65 | 53 | +12 | 69 | |
| 6 | Vegalta Sendai | 44 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 62 | 66 | −4 | 59 | |
| 7 | Ventforet Kofu | 44 | 15 | 13 | 16 | 51 | 46 | +5 | 58 | |
| 8 | Yokohama FC | 44 | 10 | 22 | 12 | 42 | 50 | −8 | 52 | |
| 9 | Mito HollyHock | 44 | 6 | 19 | 19 | 33 | 60 | −27 | 37 | |
| 10 | Shonan Bellmare | 44 | 7 | 15 | 22 | 39 | 64 | −25 | 36 | |
| 11 | Sagan Tosu | 44 | 8 | 11 | 25 | 32 | 66 | −34 | 35 | |
| 12 | Consadole Sapporo | 44 | 5 | 15 | 24 | 30 | 62 | −32 | 30 | |

## Final results

Rounds 1 & 2 :
| Home \ Away | FRO | ARD | AVI | MON | SAN | VEG | VEN | YFC | HOL | BEL | SAG | CON |
| Kawasaki Frontale | | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 5–2 | 5–0 | 3–2 | 6–0 |
| Omiya Ardija | 1–2 | | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Avispa Fukuoka | 0–1 | 2–1 | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–2 | 0–1 |
| Montedio Yamagata | 2–1 | 1–3 | 0–2 | | 1–3 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 |
| Kyoto Purple Sanga | 1–3 | 2–3 | 1–4 | 3–0 | | 1–2 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| Vegalta Sendai | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–5 | | 1–2 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 |
| Ventforet Kofu | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–2 | | 6–1 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 |
| Yokohama FC | 0–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 0–0 | | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 |
| Mito HollyHock | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–2 | | 0–0 | 0–1 | 2–1 |
| Shonan Bellmare | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | | 2–2 | 1–1 |
| Sagan Tosu | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | | 2–1 |
| Consadole Sapporo | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | |
Rounds 3 & 4 :
| Home \ Away | FRO | ARD | AVI | MON | SAN | VEG | VEN | YFC | HOL | BEL | SAG | CON |
| Kawasaki Frontale | | 0–3 | 3–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 4–2 | 4–0 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 5–0 | 2–0 |
| Omiya Ardija | 2–1 | | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Avispa Fukuoka | 2–1 | 0–3 | | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Montedio Yamagata | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–3 | | 1–2 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 |
| Kyoto Purple Sanga | 2–6 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 4–2 |
| Vegalta Sendai | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 4–3 | | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Ventforet Kofu | 0–0 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 | | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Yokohama FC | 2–5 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 0–1 | | 0–1 | 3–2 | 3–2 | 1–1 |
| Mito HollyHock | 1–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Shonan Bellmare | 0–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | | 3–0 | 1–1 |
| Sagan Tosu | 0–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | | 0–1 |
| Consadole Sapporo | 1–3 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | |

## Promotion / relegation Playoff

Kashiwa Reysol won on 4-0 on aggregate, and therefore both clubs remained in their respective leagues.

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Juninho | Kawasaki Frontale | 37 |
| 2 | Kazuki Ganaha | Kawasaki Frontale | 22 |
| 2 | Hideo Ōshima | Montedio Yamagata | 22 |
| 4 | Choi Yong-Soo | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 20 |
| 4 | Hisato Satō | Vegalta Sendai | 20 |
| 6 | Marcus | Kawasaki Frontale | 18 |
| 7 | Baré | Omiya Ardija | 15 |
| 8 | Baron | Ventforet Kofu | 14 |
| 9 | Michiaki Kakimoto | Shonan Bellmare | 10 |
| 9 | Hiroshi Morita | Omiya Ardija | 10 |

## Attendance figures

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Vegalta Sendai | 356,359 | 18,751 | 12,023 | 16,198 | −25.4%$^†$ |
| 2 | Consadole Sapporo | 208,241 | 19,873 | 5,061 | 9,466 | −12.1%$^†$ |
| 3 | Kawasaki Frontale | 201,264 | 20,043 | 4,402 | 9,148 | +26.0%$^†$ |
| 4 | Avispa Fukuoka | 192,349 | 15,444 | 5,130 | 8,743 | +17.9%$^†$ |
| 5 | Kyoto Purple Sanga | 171,764 | 10,579 | 3,124 | 7,807 | −28.0%$^†$ |
| 6 | Montedio Yamagata | 141,246 | 20,062 | 2,964 | 6,420 | +46.9%$^†$ |
| 7 | Ventforet Kofu | 140,141 | 10,121 | 2,401 | 6,370 | +9.9%$^†$ |
| 8 | Omiya Ardija | 134,365 | 12,004 | 1,901 | 6,108 | +20.8%$^†$ |
| 9 | Shonan Bellmare | 103,208 | 9,879 | 2,711 | 4,691 | −0.8%$^†$ |
| 10 | Yokohama FC | 92,818 | 12,180 | 2,011 | 4,219 | +12.7%$^†$ |
| 11 | Mito HollyHock | 83,002 | 9,155 | 1,338 | 3,773 | +22.3%$^†$ |
| 12 | Sagan Tosu | 79,415 | 9,565 | 2,269 | 3,610 | +13.8%$^†$ |
| | League total | 1,904,172 | 20,062 | 1,338 | 7,213 | −8.6%$^†$ |
Updated to games played on November 27, 2004 Source: J. League Division 2 Notes: $^†$ Team played previous season in J1.