# 2009 Japan Football League

The 2009 Japan Football League (Japanese: 第11回日本フットボールリーグ, Hepburn: Dai Jūikkai Nihon Futtobōru Rīgu) was the eleventh season of the Japan Football League, the third tier of the Japanese football league system.

## Overview

At the end of the 2008 season, three new clubs were promoted from the Japanese Regional Leagues by virtue of their final placing in the Regional League promotion series:
* Machida Zelvia, Kanto Football League First Division champions
* V-Varen Nagasaki, Kyushu Football League runners-up
* Honda Lock, 3rd place at the All Japan Senior Football Championship (3rd place in Kyushu Football League)
Machida Zelvia and V-Varen Nagasaki were approved as J. League associate members at the annual meeting in January.
Sagawa Shiga won their second championship title since 2007 season.

## Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Sagawa Shiga (C) | 34 | 19 | 9 | 6 | 62 | 36 | +26 | 66 | |
| 2 | Yokogawa Musashino | 34 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 48 | 34 | +14 | 60 | |
| 3 | Sony Sendai | 34 | 17 | 8 | 9 | 49 | 30 | +19 | 59 | |
| 4 | New Wave Kitakyushu (P) | 34 | 16 | 10 | 8 | 49 | 31 | +18 | 58 | Promotion to 2010 J. League Division 2 |
| 5 | Gainare Tottori | 34 | 16 | 8 | 10 | 65 | 37 | +28 | 56 | |
| 6 | Machida Zelvia | 34 | 14 | 12 | 8 | 38 | 30 | +8 | 54 | |
| 7 | Honda FC | 34 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 49 | 38 | +11 | 51 | |
| 8 | MIO Biwako Kusatsu | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 51 | 43 | +8 | 48 | |
| 9 | SP Kyoto | 34 | 14 | 5 | 15 | 56 | 46 | +10 | 47 | |
| 10 | TDK SC | 34 | 14 | 4 | 16 | 39 | 54 | −15 | 46 | |
| 11 | V-Varen Nagasaki | 34 | 12 | 8 | 14 | 38 | 43 | −5 | 44 | |
| 12 | JEF Reserves | 34 | 9 | 14 | 11 | 26 | 37 | −11 | 41 | |
| 13 | Honda Lock | 34 | 9 | 13 | 12 | 34 | 38 | −4 | 40 | |
| 14 | Arte Takasaki | 34 | 9 | 13 | 12 | 34 | 46 | −12 | 40 | |
| 15 | Ryutsu Keizai University | 34 | 11 | 7 | 16 | 41 | 55 | −14 | 40 | |
| 16 | FC Ryukyu | 34 | 11 | 5 | 18 | 42 | 57 | −15 | 38 | |
| 17 | FC Kariya (R) | 34 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 26 | 51 | −25 | 31 | Promotion/relegation Series |
| 18 | Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima (R) | 34 | 4 | 6 | 24 | 28 | 69 | −41 | 18 | Relegation to Okayama prefectural league |
* 1 2 3 4 Occupied one of the top 4 places at the end of the first half of the season (17th week) and were seeded for 2009 Emperor's Cup. These clubs were automatically qualified for the tournament, while each of other JFL clubs had to go through the prefectural qualifier.
* 1 2 J. League Associate Membership and submitted applications to J. League board by 30 September.
* ↑ Must hold J. League Associate Membership and submit applications to J. League board by 30 September, finish no less than in fourth place and pass a final inspection by J. League to be promoted. V-Varen Nagasaki and Machida Zelvia, both associate members, announced that they would not submit applications for this year due to some unresolved problems pointed out by J. League at the preliminary review.
* ↑ Series' occurrence is dependent on the number of places available after promotions to J2.
* ↑ Mitsubishi Mizushima F.C. submitted a letter to JFL headquarters on 30 September regarding withdrawal from JFL by the end of 2009 season regardless of their 2009 results due to "various factors including recent economic slump." However, Chugoku Soccer League, one of nine Japanese Regional Leagues, declined to accept Mizushima as its 2010 league member because of their voluntary withdrawal from JFL. Therefore, the highest division which Mizushima will be able to play in 2010 season is Okayama prefectural league division 1.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ART | GAI | HON | LOC | JER | KAR | RKU | MIO | MMM | NWK | PRI | RYU | SSH | SON | TDK | VVN | YMC | ZEL |
| Arte Takasaki | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–5 | 1–4 | 0–0 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–3 |
| Gainare Tottori | 2–2 | | 1–3 | 0–1 | 5–0 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 4–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 5–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 |
| Honda FC | 0–0 | 2–1 | | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 3–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–3 |
| Honda Lock | 1–0 | 3–3 | 0–0 | | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 4–2 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 |
| JEF Reserves | 0–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 0–0 |
| FC Kariya | 1–2 | 4–2 | 1–6 | 0–0 | 0–0 | | 2–2 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 1–1 |
| Ryutsu Keizai University | 0–2 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | | 3–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 5–0 | 4–3 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–4 |
| MIO Biwako Kusatsu | 2–1 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 4–0 | | 2–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 3–2 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 1–3 | 0–1 |
| Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima | 0–2 | 0–3 | 0–2 | 1–6 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | | 1–2 | 2–4 | 2–2 | 0–3 | 1–3 | 0–1 | 2–5 | 1–2 | 0–1 |
| New Wave Kitakyushu | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 2–3 | | 2–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 |
| SP Kyoto | 2–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 7–2 | 4–0 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 1–2 | | 1–2 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–4 | 2–0 | 0–1 |
| FC Ryukyu | 1–2 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 0–2 | 2–1 | | 0–5 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Sagawa Shiga | 2–0 | 2–1 | 0–4 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 4–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 2–3 | | 1–1 | 0–0 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 1–3 |
| Sony Sendai | 5–0 | 3–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 3–0 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | | 2–3 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–0 |
| TDK SC | 1–0 | 0–4 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 2–0 | 4–2 | 2–0 | 0–4 | 1–3 | 0–1 | | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–3 |
| V-Varen Nagasaki | 0–1 | 1–2 | 2–5 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–0 | | 2–0 | 0–0 |
| Yokogawa Musashino | 1–1 | 2–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 4–1 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 2–1 |
| Machida Zelvia | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–3 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 1–1 | 1–2 | |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Shogo Shiozawa | SP Kyoto | 17 |
| 2 | Shingo Kinoshita | MIO Biwako Kusatsu | 15 |
| 2 | Gen Nakamura | Sagawa Shiga | 15 |
| 4 | Keiichi Kubota | Arte Takasaki | 11 |
| 4 | Junya Nitta | Honda FC | 11 |
| 4 | Toshitaka Tsurumi | Gainare Tottori | 11 |
| 7 | Ryota Arimitsu | V-Varen Nagasaki | 10 |
| 7 | Hamed Koné | Gainare Tottori | 10 |
| 7 | Shoma Mizunaga | Honda Lock | 10 |
| 7 | Tomoya Osawa | Sagawa Shiga | 10 |
| 7 | Yuya Sano | New Wave Kitakyushu | 10 |
| 7 | Tatsuya Sekino | Yokogawa Musashino | 10 |

## Attendance

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Gainare Tottori | 58,128 | 6,188 | 1,267 | 3,419 | +6.3%$^†$ |
| 2 | New Wave Kitakyushu | 57,983 | 9,856 | 1,365 | 3,411 | +196.9%$^†$ |
| 3 | V-Varen Nagasaki | 46,966 | 5,122 | 1,020 | 2,763 | +95.0%$^†$ |
| 4 | Machida Zelvia | 32,059 | 3,861 | 1,067 | 1,886 | n/a$^†$ |
| 5 | FC Ryukyu | 22,919 | 2,747 | 618 | 1,348 | −53.2%$^†$ |
| 6 | Sagawa Shiga | 18,617 | 2,139 | 316 | 1,095 | +28.7%$^†$ |
| 7 | MIO Biwako Kusatsu | 16,929 | 2,058 | 338 | 996 | +16.6%$^†$ |
| 8 | Honda Lock | 13,865 | 1,796 | 501 | 816 | +109.8%$^†$ |
| 9 | Yokogawa Musashino | 12,950 | 1,326 | 281 | 762 | −24.2%$^†$ |
| 10 | Honda FC | 12,734 | 2,482 | 335 | 749 | −12.3%$^†$ |
| 11 | TDK SC | 12,594 | 2,563 | 259 | 741 | −22.1%$^†$ |
| 12 | Sony Sendai | 12,425 | 1,990 | 239 | 731 | −16.0%$^†$ |
| 13 | FC Kariya | 10,312 | 1,188 | 191 | 607 | +0.5%$^†$ |
| 14 | Ryutsu Keizai University | 7,747 | 725 | 183 | 456 | −16.2%$^†$ |
| 15 | Mitsubishi Motors Mizushima | 7,486 | 953 | 304 | 440 | +23.9%$^†$ |
| 16 | Arte Takasaki | 7,166 | 1,121 | 202 | 422 | +40.7%$^†$ |
| 17 | SP Kyoto | 6,715 | 834 | 109 | 395 | +7.3%$^†$ |
| 18 | JEF Reserves | 6,362 | 713 | 207 | 374 | −22.9%$^†$ |
| | League total | 363,957 | 9,856 | 109 | 1,189 | −24.3%$^†$ |
Source: JFL First Round, JFL Second Round Notes: $^†$ Team played previous season in Regional Leagues.

## Promotion and relegation

Due to Kitakyushu being promoted and Mitsubishi Mizushima being relegated, the Regional League promotion series winner and runner-up, Matsumoto Yamaga and Hitachi Tochigi Uva respectively, were promoted automatically. Third-placed team, Zweigen Kanazawa were set to play FC Kariya in the promotion and relegation series.
Zweigen Kanazawa won the series at 2–1 aggregate score and earned promotion to JFL. F.C. Kariya relegated to Tōkai regional league.