# 2001 Japan Football League

The 2001 Japan Football League (Japanese: 第3回日本フットボールリーグ, Hepburn: Dai San-kai Nihon Futtobōru Rīgu) was the third season of the Japan Football League, the third tier of the Japanese football league system.

## Overview

It was contested by 16 teams, and Honda Motors won the championship. No promotion or relegation took place due to the promotion-eligible teams not being autonomous clubs fit for the J. League, and at the other end of the table, due to the expansion of the league from 16 to 18 teams.

## Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Honda Motor (C) | 30 | 22 | 5 | 3 | 74 | 19 | +55 | 71 |
| 2 | Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | 30 | 21 | 5 | 4 | 78 | 35 | +43 | 68 |
| 3 | Jatco SC | 30 | 20 | 5 | 5 | 65 | 36 | +29 | 65 |
| 4 | Sagawa Express | 30 | 19 | 5 | 6 | 60 | 23 | +37 | 62 |
| 5 | Denso SC | 30 | 17 | 3 | 10 | 70 | 54 | +16 | 54 |
| 6 | YKK FC | 30 | 15 | 5 | 10 | 53 | 39 | +14 | 50 |
| 7 | Yokogawa FC | 30 | 12 | 5 | 13 | 37 | 54 | −17 | 41 |
| 8 | NTT West Kumamoto | 30 | 10 | 7 | 13 | 55 | 62 | −7 | 37 |
| 9 | Shizuoka Sangyo University | 30 | 11 | 4 | 15 | 41 | 59 | −18 | 37 |
| 10 | Kokushikan University | 30 | 10 | 6 | 14 | 47 | 53 | −6 | 36 |
| 11 | Kyoken Kyoto | 30 | 9 | 7 | 14 | 39 | 46 | −7 | 34 |
| 12 | Ehime FC | 30 | 9 | 6 | 15 | 39 | 43 | −4 | 33 |
| 13 | Tochigi SC | 30 | 9 | 5 | 16 | 28 | 46 | −18 | 32 |
| 14 | Sony Sendai | 30 | 9 | 5 | 16 | 28 | 46 | −18 | 32 |
| 15 | ALO's Hokuriku | 30 | 4 | 7 | 19 | 28 | 57 | −29 | 19 |
| 16 | SC Tottori | 30 | 2 | 2 | 26 | 23 | 90 | −67 | 8 |
* 1 2 Occupied one of the top two places at the end of the first half of the season (15th week) and were seeded for 2001 Emperor's Cup. These clubs were automatically qualified for the tournament, while each of other JFL clubs had to go through the prefectural qualifier.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ALO | DEN | EHI | HON | JAT | KSU | KYO | NTW | OTP | SET | SON | SSU | TOC | TOT | YKK | YOK |
| ALO's Hokuriku | | 4–1 | 0–0 | 0–5 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 2–3 | 2–3 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 |
| Denso SC | 3–2 | | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 4–0 | 5–3 | 2–0 | 5–2 | 4–1 | 1–3 | 2–0 |
| Ehime FC | 0–0 | 1–2 | | 1–0 | 2–3 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 4–0 | 0–2 | 2–3 |
| Honda Motors | 5–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 8–0 | 5–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 |
| Jatco SC | 1–0 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 0–0 | | 3–1 | 3–2 | 5–3 | 3–5 | 3–2 | 6–2 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 2–1 |
| Kokushikan University | 2–0 | 4–2 | 0–1 | 1–5 | 0–2 | | 4–2 | 1–1 | 0–5 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 6–0 | 2–2 | 3–0 | 0–2 | 0–1 |
| Kyoken Kyoto | 1–2 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 2–1 | | 2–2 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–3 |
| NTT West Kumamoto | 2–0 | 3–4 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 3–1 | 0–0 | | 1–6 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–3 | 0–1 |
| Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | 2–2 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–2 | | 0–1 | 3–0 | 3–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 2–2 | 4–1 |
| Sagawa Express | 3–0 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 2–0 | | 2–0 | 4–0 | 2–0 | 7–0 | 3–0 | 4–1 |
| Sony Sendai | 2–2 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–4 | 0–3 | | 0–1 | 2–4 | 4–2 | 1–1 | 2–0 |
| Shizuoka Sangyo University | 3–0 | 2–5 | 1–0 | 2–4 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–3 | 1–3 | 0–5 | 3–4 | | 4–0 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 |
| Tochigi SC | 1–0 | 2–4 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–0 |
| SC Tottori | 4–1 | 0–3 | 2–7 | 0–3 | 0–4 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 0–5 | 1–1 | 3–4 | 0–2 | 0–0 | | 0–1 | 0–2 |
| YKK FC | 0–1 | 4–3 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 5–2 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 4–1 | | 7–0 |
| Yokogawa FC | 1–1 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–4 | 3–2 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Takaaki Tokushige | Denso SC | 25 |
| 2 | Yasuhiko Niimura | Jatco SC | 21 |
| 3 | Takehiro Hayashi | Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | 20 |
| 4 | Mitsuru Hasegawa | YKK FC | 18 |
| 4 | Masao Yamamoto | Sagawa Express | 18 |

## Attendances

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Honda Motors | 13,178 | 3,305 | 402 | 879 | −11.9%$^†$ |
| 2 | SC Tottori | 12,281 | 2,124 | 401 | 819 | n/a$^†$ |
| 3 | NTT West Kumamoto | 10,394 | 1,378 | 324 | 693 | n/a$^†$ |
| 4 | Ehime FC | 9,896 | 1,250 | 348 | 660 | n/a$^†$ |
| 5 | Tochigi SC | 9,723 | 1,141 | 285 | 648 | −38.2%$^†$ |
| 6 | Otsuka Pharmaceuticals | 8,975 | 2,391 | 284 | 598 | +18.4%$^†$ |
| 7 | YKK FC | 8,093 | 2,477 | 198 | 540 | n/a$^†$ |
| 8 | Sony Sendai | 7,817 | 886 | 342 | 521 | −52.3%$^†$ |
| 9 | Yokogawa FC | 7,334 | 1,198 | 240 | 489 | −30.4%$^†$ |
| 10 | ALO's Hokuriku | 6,380 | 1,801 | 180 | 425 | −12.2%$^†$ |
| 11 | Jatco SC | 6,329 | 1,075 | 167 | 422 | −36.7%$^†$ |
| 12 | Sagawa Express | 5,365 | 1,054 | 48 | 358 | n/a$^†$ |
| 13 | Denso SC | 5,344 | 831 | 119 | 356 | −17.8%$^†$ |
| 14 | Kyoken Kyoto | 5,262 | 468 | 203 | 351 | −9.1%$^†$ |
| 15 | Shizuoka Sangyo University | 4,013 | 803 | 101 | 268 | −48.9%$^†$ |
| 16 | Kokushikan University | 3,298 | 414 | 54 | 220 | −28.3%$^†$ |
| | League total | 123,682 | 3,305 | 48 | 515 | −42.8%$^†$ |
Source: Notes: $^†$ Team played previous season in Regional Leagues.

## Promotion and relegation

No relegation has occurred due to expansion of the league to 18 teams. At the end of the season, the winner and runner-up of the Regional League promotion series, Sagawa Express Osaka and Profesor Miyazaki were promoted automatically.