# 1999 Japan Football League

The 1999 Japan Football League (Japanese: 第1回日本フットボールリーグ, Hepburn: Dai Ikkai Nihon Futtobōru Rīgu) was the first season of the Japan Football League, the third tier of the Japanese football league system.

## Overview

After the dissolution of former Japan Football League in order to form J. League Division 2, the new Japan Football League was established from this season as the nationwide top division for amateur clubs. It was originally planned to have 8 clubs, including seven former JFL clubs and Yokogawa Electric, promoted from Kantō Soccer League, one of nine Japanese Regional Leagues. But it eventually became nine-club structure by accepting Yokohama FC, which was established by supporters of defunct Yokohama Flügels, as an associate member as an extralegal measures. Nine clubs played 24 matches each, in triple round-robin format. Yokohama F.C. won the championship but under the conditions of their associate membership were not eligible to promotion and had to stay in JFL for the next year.

## Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | OTW | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion |
| 1 | Yokohama FC (C) | 24 | 16 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 57 | 32 | +25 | 55 | |
| 2 | Honda Motor | 24 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 69 | 34 | +35 | 50 | |
| 3 | Mito HollyHock (P) | 24 | 13 | 3 | 0 | 8 | 48 | 32 | +16 | 45 | Promotion to 2000 J. League Division 2 |
| 4 | Denso SC | 24 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 46 | 38 | +8 | 34 | |
| 5 | Sony Sendai | 24 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 29 | 42 | −13 | 26 | |
| 6 | Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | 24 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 14 | 35 | 47 | −12 | 25 | |
| 7 | Jatco SC | 24 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 40 | 53 | −13 | 25 | |
| 8 | Yokogawa Electric | 24 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 17 | 26 | 42 | −16 | 20 | |
| 9 | Kokushikan University | 24 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 36 | 65 | −29 | 16 | |
* 1 2 3 Occupied one of the top three places at the end of the first part of the season (9th week) and were seeded for 1999 Emperor's Cup. These clubs were automatically qualified for the tournament, while each of other JFL clubs had to go through the prefectural qualifier. Yokohama F.C. and Kokushikan University were not eligible to be seeded.
* ↑ Though Mito HollyHock haven't finished within top two, their promotion was unanimously accepted by the special J. League Board decision. The fact that championship has been won by associate JFL members, Yokohama F.C., was taken into account.

## Results
### Round 1

| Home \ Away | DEN | HOL | HON | JAT | KSU | OTP | SON | YEL | YFC |
| Denso SC | | | 2–4 | | 3–1 | | 0–0$^{OT}$ | 3–1 | 1–1$^{OT}$ |
| Mito HollyHock | 0–3 | | 1–2$^{OT}$ | | 1–0 | | | | |
| Honda Motors | | | | 6–4 | | 3–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 3–4 |
| Jatco SC | 2–1$^{OT}$ | 2–3$^{OT}$ | | | | | | | |
| Kokushikan University | | | 0–5 | 0–3 | | 0–1 | 1–3 | | |
| Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | 3–2 | 1–0 | | 2–0 | | | | 0–1 | 1–4 |
| Sony Sendai | | 0–4 | | 2–3 | | 1–0$^{OT}$ | | 0–1 | |
| Yokogawa Electric | | 0–1$^{OT}$ | | 2–1 | 2–1$^{OT}$ | | | | |
| Yokohama FC | | 4–1 | | 2–2$^{OT}$ | 5–2 | | 1–0 | 4–0 | |

### Round 2

| Home \ Away | DEN | HOL | HON | JAT | KSU | OTP | SON | YEL | YFC |
| Denso SC | | | 0–4 | | | | 3–0 | 1–0 | 2–2$^{OT}$ |
| Mito HollyHock | 2–1 | | 2–1 | | 4–3 | 4–0 | | | |
| Honda Motors | | | | | 1–2 | 8–2 | 4–1 | | 2–0 |
| Jatco SC | 0–4 | 0–5 | 1–3 | | | | | | 2–3 |
| Kokushikan University | 1–3 | | | 1–0$^{OT}$ | | 1–2$^{OT}$ | 2–1 | | |
| Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | 1–2$^{OT}$ | | | 1–1$^{OT}$ | | | | 2–0 | 2–3 |
| Sony Sendai | | 0–1 | | 1–3 | | 1–3 | | 3–1 | |
| Yokogawa Electric | | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 3–4$^{OT}$ | | | | |
| Yokohama FC | | 3–2 | | | 4–3$^{OT}$ | | 1–0 | 2–1 | |

### Round 3

| Home \ Away | DEN | HOL | HON | JAT | KSU | OTP | SON | YEL | YFC |
| Denso SC | | 3–2$^{OT}$ | | 0–0$^{OT}$ | | 1–0$^{OT}$ | | | |
| Mito HollyHock | | | | 2–1 | | 3–2$^{OT}$ | 4–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 |
| Honda Motors | 1–0$^{OT}$ | 2–1$^{OT}$ | | 2–1$^{OT}$ | 4–3$^{OT}$ | | | | |
| Jatco SC | | | | | 5–3 | 2–1$^{OT}$ | 1–5 | 2–1 | |
| Kokushikan University | 5–4 | 3–1 | | | | | | 0–3 | 0–3 |
| Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | | | 2–2$^{OT}$ | | 3–0 | | 2–3$^{OT}$ | | |
| Sony Sendai | 3–2 | | 0–1 | | 1–0 | | | | 1–0 |
| Yokogawa Electric | 2–3 | | 1–5 | | | 3–2 | 3–0 | | 0–1 |
| Yokohama FC | 3–2 | | 2–1 | 3–2$^{OT}$ | | 2–0 | | | |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Marcus | Honda Motors | 22 |
| 2 | Kenji Arima | Yokohama FC | 19 |
| 3 | Mitsunori Yabuta | Yokohama FC | 12 |
| 4 | Hiroyasu Ibata | Honda Motors | 11 |
| 4 | Hiroaki Tajima | Honda Motors | 11 |

## Attendances

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Yokohama FC | 53,045 | 11,283 | 1,494 | 4,080 | −74.3%$^†$ |
| 2 | Honda Motors | 14,733 | 3,109 | 283 | 1,133 | +62.1%$^†$ |
| 3 | Mito HollyHock | 10,695 | 2,531 | 412 | 891 | +16.6%$^†$ |
| 4 | Sony Sendai | 7,833 | 2,109 | 329 | 653 | −57.5%$^†$ |
| 5 | Jatco SC | 6,198 | 1,809 | 362 | 620 | +5.3%$^†$ |
| 6 | Yokogawa Electric | 7,194 | 1,556 | 268 | 600 | n/a$^‡$ |
| 7 | Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | 6,803 | 2,039 | 172 | 567 | −4.7%$^†$ |
| 8 | Denso SC | 6,270 | 1,372 | 211 | 523 | +28.5%$^†$ |
| 9 | Kokushikan University | 4,253 | 2,099 | 113 | 354 | 0.0%$^†$ |
| | League total | 117,024 | 11,283 | 113 | 1,084 | −39.7%$^†$ |
Source: Japan Football League Notes: $^†$ The club was created by the supporters of disbanded J. League club Yokohama Flügels – therefore attendances are compared to Flügels' last record in J. League. $^‡$ Team played previous season in Regional Leagues.

## Promotion and relegation

No relegation has occurred because the league was expanding to 12 teams. At the end of the season, the winner and runner-up of the Regional League promotion series, ALO's Hokuriku and Tochigi SC were promoted automatically. In addition, FC Kyoken and Shizuoka Sangyo University were included by JFA and College FA recommendations.
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