# 2008 J.League Division 2

The 2008 J. League Division 2 season was the 37th season of the second-tier club football in Japan and the 10th season since the establishment of J2 League. The season started on March 8 and ended on December 6.
In this season, the number of participating clubs was increased by two, making the total number, fifteen. Unlike the first nine seasons, the clubs played in triple round-robin format, instead of quadruple round-robin format. At the end of the season, top two clubs were promoted and third-placed club advanced to the Pro/Rele Series. There were no relegation to third-tier Japan Football League.

## General
### Promotion and relegation

* At the end of the 2007 season, Consadole Sapporo, Tokyo Verdy 1969 and Kyoto Sanga were promoted to J1
* At the end of the 2007 season, Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Ventforet Kofu and Yokohama FC were relegated to J2
* At the end of the 2007 season, Rosso Kumamoto and FC Gifu were promoted from the JFL.

### Changes in competition format

* The Division 2 was expanded to 15 clubs.
* The new J2 format will consist of triple round-robin instead of quadruple round-robin to reduce the games played by team to 42 games.

### Changes in clubs

* Rosso Kumamoto was renamed Roasso Kumamoto before joining the League.

## Clubs

Following fifteen clubs played in J. League Division 2 during 2008 season. Of these clubs, Sanfrecce Hiroshima, Ventforet Kofu, and Yokohama F.C. relegated from Division 1 last year. Also, Roasso Kumamoto and F.C. Gifu newly joined from Japan Football League.
* Vegalta Sendai
* Montedio Yamagata
* Mito HollyHock
* Thespa Kusatsu
* Yokohama F.C.
* Shonan Bellmare
* Ventforet Kofu
* F.C. Gifu
* Cerezo Osaka
* Sanfrecce Hiroshima
* Tokushima Vortis
* Ehime F.C.
* Avispa Fukuoka
* Sagan Tosu
* Roasso Kumamoto

## League format

Fifteen clubs will play in triple round-robin format, a total of 42 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
* Disciplinary points
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

* Thirteen participating clubs (2006–2007) to fifteen clubs (2008)
* Quadruple round-robin format (1999–2007) to triple round-robin format (2008–2009)
* Introduction of Disciplinary points for tie breaker (2008–)

## Final league table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion |
| 1 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima (C, P) | 42 | 31 | 7 | 4 | 99 | 35 | +64 | 100 | Promotion to 2009 J. League Division 1 |
| 2 | Montedio Yamagata (P) | 42 | 23 | 9 | 10 | 66 | 40 | +26 | 78 | Promotion to 2009 J. League Division 1 |
| 3 | Vegalta Sendai | 42 | 18 | 16 | 8 | 62 | 47 | +15 | 70 | 2008 promotion/relegation Series |
| 4 | Cerezo Osaka | 42 | 21 | 6 | 15 | 81 | 60 | +21 | 69 | |
| 5 | Shonan Bellmare | 42 | 19 | 8 | 15 | 68 | 48 | +20 | 65 | |
| 6 | Sagan Tosu | 42 | 19 | 7 | 16 | 50 | 51 | −1 | 64 | |
| 7 | Ventforet Kofu | 42 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 56 | 47 | +9 | 59 | |
| 8 | Avispa Fukuoka | 42 | 15 | 13 | 14 | 55 | 66 | −11 | 58 | |
| 9 | Thespa Kusatsu | 42 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 45 | 52 | −7 | 53 | |
| 10 | Yokohama FC | 42 | 11 | 17 | 14 | 51 | 56 | −5 | 50 | |
| 11 | Mito HollyHock | 42 | 13 | 8 | 21 | 52 | 70 | −18 | 47 | |
| 12 | Roasso Kumamoto | 42 | 10 | 13 | 19 | 46 | 72 | −26 | 43 | |
| 13 | FC Gifu | 42 | 10 | 12 | 20 | 41 | 69 | −28 | 42 | |
| 14 | Ehime FC | 42 | 9 | 10 | 23 | 39 | 66 | −27 | 37 | |
| 15 | Tokushima Vortis | 42 | 7 | 8 | 27 | 40 | 72 | −32 | 29 | |

## Final results

Rounds 1 & 2 :
| Home \ Away | SFR | MON | VEG | CER | BEL | SAG | VEN | AVI | SPA | YFC | HOL | ROS | GIF | EHI | VOR |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | | 1–0 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 5–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–2 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 |
| Montedio Yamagata | 2–1 | | 3–0 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 3–5 | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| Vegalta Sendai | 1–1 | 3–2 | | 0–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 3–3 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| Cerezo Osaka | 1–2 | 1–3 | 2–1 | | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–3 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 |
| Shonan Bellmare | 0–2 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 2–3 | 4–1 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 4–2 | 4–1 | 2–3 |
| Sagan Tosu | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | | 2–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 |
| Ventforet Kofu | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 0–4 | 1–2 | | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 |
| Avispa Fukuoka | 0–3 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 0–2 | | 1–1 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 2–4 | 1–5 | 2–0 | 2–1 |
| Thespa Kusatsu | 0–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Yokohama FC | 1–2 | 2–5 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 3–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | | 1–0 | 5–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 |
| Mito HollyHock | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–4 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 2–2 | | 2–2 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 |
| Roasso Kumamoto | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 3–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–3 | | 0–2 | 1–0 | 3–0 |
| FC Gifu | 1–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–5 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 0–0 | | 0–3 | 2–1 |
| Ehime FC | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | | 1–0 |
| Tokushima Vortis | 1–4 | 1–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 3–1 | 2–3 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 0–3 | |
Round 3 :
| Home \ Away | SFR | MON | VEG | CER | BEL | SAG | VEN | AVI | SPA | YFC | HOL | ROS | GIF | EHI | VOR |
| Sanfrecce Hiroshima | | | | | 2–0 | 5–1 | | 4–0 | 4–3 | | | | 7–1 | 4–1 | 3–0 |
| Montedio Yamagata | 0–4 | | | | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | | | 1–0 | 1–1 | | | |
| Vegalta Sendai | 1–1 | 0–1 | | | | | | 3–0 | 1–0 | | 2–3 | | 1–0 | 1–0 | |
| Cerezo Osaka | 2–3 | 2–2 | 3–4 | | 2–1 | | | | | | 2–1 | | | 2–1 | 3–2 |
| Shonan Bellmare | | | 1–2 | | | | 1–0 | | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 3–0 | | |
| Sagan Tosu | | | 4–1 | 1–4 | 0–1 | | 1–1 | | 3–2 | 3–2 | | 1–2 | | | |
| Ventforet Kofu | 2–0 | | 1–1 | 2–3 | | | | 0–1 | 2–2 | | | 5–1 | 4–0 | | |
| Avispa Fukuoka | | | | 3–2 | 3–1 | 2–2 | | | | 0–0 | | 2–2 | | 2–2 | 3–1 |
| Thespa Kusatsu | | 0–0 | | 0–4 | | | | 1–1 | | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 3–1 | | 1–0 |
| Yokohama FC | 1–1 | 1–4 | 2–2 | 2–2 | | | 0–0 | | 1–1 | | | | | 2–2 | |
| Mito HollyHock | 1–4 | | | | | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | | 2–3 | | | 1–4 | | 2–0 |
| Roasso Kumamoto | 1–2 | | 0–4 | 2–2 | | | | | | 1–0 | 0–2 | | 1–1 | | 2–2 |
| FC Gifu | | 1–2 | | 0–6 | | 1–0 | | 1–1 | | 0–1 | | | | 0–1 | 1–1 |
| Ehime FC | | 2–3 | | | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | | 1–0 | | 2–2 | 0–1 | | | |
| Tokushima Vortis | | 0–3 | 1–1 | | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–2 | | | 1–2 | | | | 5–0 | |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Hisato Satō | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 28 |
| 2 | Yutaka Takahashi | Roasso Kumamoto | 19 |
| 3 | Naoki Ishihara | Shonan Bellmare | 18 |
| 3 | Yoshihito Fujita | Sagan Tosu | 18 |
| 5 | Tomoyuki Arata | Mito HollyHock | 17 |
| 6 | Anderson | Yokohama FC | 16 |
| 6 | Rui Komatsu | Cerezo Osaka | 16 |
| 6 | Shinji Kagawa | Cerezo Osaka | 16 |
| 9 | Kōji Morisaki | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 14 |
| 9 | Yojiro Takahagi | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 14 |
| 9 | Tetsuya Ōkubo | Avispa Fukuoka | 14 |

## Attendance

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Vegalta Sendai | 295,679 | 23,745 | 10,317 | 14,080 | −4.1%$^†$ |
| 2 | Sanfrecce Hiroshima | 227,631 | 19,349 | 4,622 | 10,840 | −5.1%$^†$ |
| 3 | Cerezo Osaka | 221,629 | 21,200 | 5,554 | 10,554 | +59.3%$^†$ |
| 4 | Ventforet Kofu | 217,428 | 14,521 | 7,267 | 10,354 | −24.6%$^†$ |
| 5 | Avispa Fukuoka | 211,651 | 15,158 | 5,729 | 10,079 | +5.8%$^†$ |
| 6 | Sagan Tosu | 152,486 | 21,029 | 3,869 | 7,261 | +18.8%$^†$ |
| 7 | Yokohama FC | 142,655 | 36,945 | 2,536 | 6,793 | −51.6%$^†$ |
| 8 | Montedio Yamagata | 131,725 | 15,422 | 2,479 | 6,273 | +47.8%$^†$ |
| 9 | Shonan Bellmare | 125,865 | 11,660 | 3,543 | 5,994 | +28.2%$^†$ |
| 10 | Roasso Kumamoto | 110,860 | 20,635 | 2,026 | 5,279 | +47.9%$^‡$ |
| 11 | Thespa Kusatsu | 88,510 | 8,096 | 1,819 | 4,215 | +10.7%$^†$ |
| 12 | Tokushima Vortis | 81,093 | 11,897 | 2,146 | 3,862 | +17.4%$^†$ |
| 13 | FC Gifu | 78,650 | 8,374 | 2,028 | 3,745 | +6.1%$^‡$ |
| 14 | Ehime FC | 77,775 | 7,809 | 2,088 | 3,704 | +11.7%$^†$ |
| 15 | Mito HollyHock | 63,933 | 5,573 | 1,036 | 3,044 | +26.0%$^†$ |
| | League total | 2,227,570 | 36,945 | 1,036 | 7,072 | +8.4%$^†$ |
Updated to games played on December 6, 2008 Source: J. League Division 2 Notes: $^†$ Team played previous season in J1. $^‡$ Team played previous season in JFL.