# 1997 Japan Football League

Statistics of Japan Football League in the 1997 season.

## Overview

It was contested by 16 teams, and Consadole Sapporo won the championship.
As a result of Cosmo Oil Yokkaichi's closure the previous year, Jatco and Mito HollyHock were promoted before the season.

## Clubs

The following sixteen clubs participated in Japan Football League Division 1 during the 1997 season.
* Brummell Sendai
* Consadole Sapporo
* Denso
* Fukushima
* Honda Motors
* Jatco
* Kawasaki Frontale
* Mito HollyHock
* Montedio Yamagata
* NTT Kanto
* Oita Trinity
* Otsuka FC Vortis Tokushima
* Sagan Tosu
* Seino Transportation
* Tokyo Gas
* Ventforet Kofu

### Personnel

| Club | Head coach |
| Brummell Sendai | Branko Elsner |
| Consadole Sapporo | Hugo Fernández |
| Denso | |
| Fukushima | |
| Honda Motors | Kazuaki Nagasawa |
| Jatco | |
| Kawasaki Frontale | Kazuo Saito |
| Mito HollyHock | Yuji Nakano |
| Montedio Yamagata | Nobuhiro Ishizaki |
| NTT Kanto | Norio Sasaki |
| Oita Trinity | |
| Otsuka FC Vortis Tokushima | |
| Sagan Tosu | Hiroshi Sowa |
| Seino Transportation | |
| Tokyo Gas | Kiyoshi Okuma |
| Ventforet Kofu | |

### Foreign players

| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Non-visa foreign | Former players |
| Brummell Sendai | Slobodan Dubajić | Gerhard Schmidt | Peter Binkovski | | Pierre Littbarski Ante Šimundža |
| Consadole Sapporo | Hugo Maradona | Pereira | Jorge Dely Valdés | Dido Havenaar David Soria Yoshinari | |
| Denso | | | | | |
| Fukushima | Gwak Kyung-keun | | | | |
| Honda Motors | Marcus Vinícius | Walter | | Sandro | |
| Jatco | | | | | |
| Kawasaki Frontale | Betinho | Rafael Scheidt | Momodu Mutairu | | |
| Mito HollyHock | | | | | |
| Montedio Yamagata | Angelo | Marquinho | Sidiclei | | Aldro |
| NTT Kanto | | | | | |
| Oita Trinity | Kim Byung-soo | Lee Woo-young | | | |
| Otsuka FC Vortis Tokushima | | | | | |
| Sagan Tosu | Mario López | | | Pak Yong-ho | |
| Seino Transportation | | | | | |
| Tokyo Gas | Amaral | Edwin Ifeanyi | | | |
| Ventforet Kofu | | | | | |

## League standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | PKW | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion |
| 1 | Consadole Sapporo (C, P) | 30 | 24 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 77 | 26 | +51 | 76 | Promoted to 1998 J.League |
| 2 | Tokyo Gas | 30 | 21 | 2 | 1 | 6 | 70 | 30 | +40 | 68 | |
| 3 | Kawasaki Frontale | 30 | 21 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 87 | 36 | +51 | 67 | |
| 4 | Honda Motors | 30 | 20 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 60 | 37 | +23 | 65 | |
| 5 | Montedio Yamagata | 30 | 18 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 57 | 36 | +21 | 56 | |
| 6 | Ventforet Kofu | 30 | 15 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 59 | 41 | +18 | 52 | |
| 7 | Otsuka FC Vortis Tokushima | 30 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 50 | 45 | +5 | 41 | |
| 8 | Brummell Sendai | 30 | 12 | 1 | 2 | 15 | 37 | 43 | −6 | 40 | |
| 9 | NTT Kanto | 30 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 16 | 48 | 49 | −1 | 39 | |
| 10 | Fukushima | 30 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 48 | 59 | −11 | 38 | Folded |
| 11 | Sagan Tosu | 30 | 12 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 38 | 54 | −16 | 38 | |
| 12 | Oita Trinity | 30 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 19 | 42 | 64 | −22 | 29 | |
| 13 | Denso | 30 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 19 | 29 | 49 | −20 | 27 | |
| 14 | Seino Transportation | 30 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 25 | 24 | 67 | −43 | 15 | Folded |
| 15 | Jatco | 30 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 24 | 25 | 70 | −45 | 11 | |
| 16 | Mito HollyHock | 30 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 26 | 24 | 69 | −45 | 10 | |
* ↑ After the season, Fukushima has folded due to financial difficulties.
* ↑ Seino Transportation were disbanded by parent company after the season.
| Home \ Away | BRU | CON | DEN | FRO | FFC | HOL | HON | JAT | MON | NTK | OVT | SAG | SET | TGA | TRI | VEN |
| Brummell Sendai | | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 1–1$^{PK3–4}$ | 2–0 | 1–3 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| Consadole Sapporo | 3–0 | | 1–0 | 4–3$^{OT}$ | 2–0 | 6–1 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 5–1 | 4–0 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 |
| Denso | 1–0$^{OT}$ | 1–6 | | 1–4 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 4–3 | 2–1 | 0–0$^{PK4–3}$ | 1–5 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 3–3$^{PK5–4}$ | 0–2 |
| Kawasaki Frontale | 3–0 | 3–4$^{OT}$ | 1–0 | | 3–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 4–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | 2–3 |
| Fukushima | 1–0 | 2–5 | 1–0 | 2–6 | | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 3–1 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 4–3$^{OT}$ | 2–2$^{PK3–4}$ |
| Mito HollyHock | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 0–2 | | 0–3 | 0–0$^{PK5–6}$ | 0–4 | 2–3 | 1–6 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 1–5 |
| Honda Motors | 4–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–4 | 5–0 | 3–2 | | 1–5 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 2–1 |
| Jatco | 2–2$^{PK1–4}$ | 0–3 | 0–1 | 0–6 | 0–1 | 1–0$^{OT}$ | 1–2 | | 0–3 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 1–1$^{PK4–1}$ | 0–1 | 1–4 | 0–1$^{OT}$ | 0–3 |
| Montedio Yamagata | 3–1 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 1–2$^{OT}$ | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–0$^{OT}$ | 2–1 | | 1–2$^{OT}$ | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–3 |
| NTT Kanto | 0–3 | 3–5 | 1–2$^{OT}$ | 0–1 | 2–0 | 3–2 | 0–1 | 3–2 | 0–2 | | 2–1$^{OT}$ | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 3–2$^{OT}$ | 0–1 |
| Otsuka FC Vortis Tokushima | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–0$^{OT}$ | 0–1$^{OT}$ | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 1–5 | | 1–1$^{PK3–5}$ | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–2$^{OT}$ | 3–0 |
| Sagan Tosu | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–0$^{PK3–1}$ | 0–3 | 4–1 | 1–1$^{PK3–5}$ | 3–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 4–1 | 0–1 | | 2–1$^{OT}$ | 0–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Seino Transportation | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 1–5 | 0–2 | 4–1 | 2–3$^{OT}$ | 1–1$^{PK2–4}$ | 1–4 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 2–1 | | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–4 |
| Tokyo Gas | 5–0 | 0–0$^{PK6–5}$ | 2–1 | 4–3$^{OT}$ | 1–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 4–1 | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 5–2 | 2–0 | | 3–2$^{OT}$ | 3–0 |
| Oita Trinity | 1–2$^{OT}$ | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–7 | 1–2 | 4–2 | 1–2 | 2–1$^{OT}$ | 0–1 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 2–3$^{OT}$ | 1–0$^{OT}$ | 0–4 | | 2–0 |
| Ventforet Kofu | 1–1$^{PK3–4}$ | 2–0 | 2–1$^{OT}$ | 3–0 | 3–0 | 2–1$^{OT}$ | 1–2$^{OT}$ | 3–0 | 2–5 | 3–2 | 4–0 | 2–3$^{OT}$ | 3–0 | 1–0$^{OT}$ | 3–1 | |

## Promotion and relegation

Because Fukushima and Seino Transportation were disbanded, no relegation has occurred. At the end of the season, the winner and runner-up of Regional League promotion series, Sony Sendai and Albirex Niigata were promoted automatically.
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