# 2010 Japan Football League

The 2010 Japan Football League (Japanese: 第12回日本フットボールリーグ, Hepburn: Dai Jūni-kai Nihon Futtobōru Rīgu) was the twelfth season of the Japan Football League, the third tier of the Japanese football league system.

## Overview

At the end of the 2009 season, three new clubs were promoted from the Japanese Regional Leagues by virtue of their final placing in the Regional League promotion series:
* Matsumoto Yamaga and Hitachi Tochigi Uva were promoted automatically.
* Zweigen Kanazawa won the play-off series against FC Kariya.
Before the season corporate TDK SC were renamed to Blaublitz Akita and started operations as an independent football club. Hitachi Tochigi Uva S.C. has dropped the company prefix and changed its name to simply Tochigi Uva F.C.
Matsumoto Yamaga were approved as J. League associate members at the annual meeting in February. Zweigen Kanazawa applied for the membership later in April but the application was not accepted because of incomplete documentation.
Gainare Tottori are the first club to be promoted to J. League Division 2 as champions since Ehime FC in 2005 season.

## Table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion or relegation |
| 1 | Gainare Tottori (C, P) | 34 | 24 | 5 | 5 | 64 | 31 | +33 | 77 | Promotion to 2011 J.League Division 2 |
| 2 | Sagawa Shiga | 34 | 17 | 11 | 6 | 69 | 35 | +34 | 62 | |
| 3 | Machida Zelvia | 34 | 19 | 4 | 11 | 71 | 44 | +27 | 61 | |
| 4 | Honda FC | 34 | 18 | 5 | 11 | 52 | 43 | +9 | 59 | |
| 5 | V-Varen Nagasaki | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 50 | 38 | +12 | 53 | |
| 6 | SP Kyoto | 34 | 15 | 8 | 11 | 54 | 46 | +8 | 53 | |
| 7 | Matsumoto Yamaga | 34 | 15 | 7 | 12 | 48 | 41 | +7 | 52 | |
| 8 | Blaublitz Akita | 34 | 14 | 9 | 11 | 54 | 41 | +13 | 51 | |
| 9 | Zweigen Kanazawa | 34 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 46 | 41 | +5 | 48 | |
| 10 | FC Ryukyu | 34 | 14 | 6 | 14 | 51 | 51 | 0 | 48 | |
| 11 | MIO Biwako Kusatsu | 34 | 13 | 7 | 14 | 51 | 56 | −5 | 46 | |
| 12 | Yokogawa Musashino | 34 | 12 | 9 | 13 | 34 | 38 | −4 | 45 | |
| 13 | Honda Lock | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 36 | 39 | −3 | 42 | |
| 14 | Sony Sendai | 34 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 34 | 42 | −8 | 42 | |
| 15 | Tochigi Uva | 34 | 7 | 10 | 17 | 41 | 75 | −34 | 31 | |
| 16 | JEF Reserves | 34 | 7 | 9 | 18 | 31 | 55 | −24 | 30 | |
| 17 | Arte Takasaki | 34 | 7 | 8 | 19 | 28 | 51 | −23 | 29 | Promotion/relegation Series |
| 18 | Ryutsu Keizai University (R) | 34 | 5 | 4 | 25 | 33 | 80 | −47 | 19 | Relegation to Regional Leagues |
* 1 2 J. League Associate Membership and passed a final inspection by J. League.
* 1 2 3 Occupied one of the top 3 places at the end of the first half of the season (17th week) and were seeded for 2010 Emperor's Cup. These clubs were automatically qualified for the tournament, while each of other JFL clubs had to go through the prefectural qualifier.
* ↑ Must hold J. League Associate Membership, pass a final inspection by J. League and finish no less than in fourth place to be promoted. Machida Zelvia have announced that their stadium is not meeting the J. League standards so they are not eligible for the promotion till 2012 season. Later the announcement of the same kind was made by V-Varen Nagasaki, although their eligibility date is as far as 2013 season.
* 1 2 Play-off series' and direct relegation occurrence is dependent on the number of places available after promotions to J2.

## Results

| Home \ Away | ART | BLA | GAI | HON | LOC | JER | RKU | MIO | PRI | RYU | SSH | SON | UVA | VVN | YAM | YMC | ZEL | ZWE |
| Arte Takasaki | | 0–1 | 0–3 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 1–1 | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–4 | 1–1 |
| Blaublitz Akita | 2–0 | | 3–2 | 5–0 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 4–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–0 | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–2 |
| Gainare Tottori | 1–0 | 2–0 | | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 4–2 | 3–0 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 3–2 | 3–1 |
| Honda FC | 1–2 | 3–1 | 1–3 | | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 4–0 | 1–0 | 0–3 | 2–0 | 2–1 | 2–0 |
| Honda Lock | 0–1 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 2–2 | | 3–0 | 3–2 | 3–4 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| JEF Reserves | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 3–0 | | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 1–3 |
| Ryutsu Keizai University | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–2 | | 2–2 | 0–3 | 0–3 | 2–5 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 0–4 | 1–2 | 0–1 | 0–3 | 2–4 |
| MIO Biwako Kusatsu | 3–0 | 1–0 | 5–0 | 0–1 | 2–2 | 5–0 | 0–1 | | 2–0 | 2–1 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 2–3 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 4–3 | 1–0 |
| SP Kyoto | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 3–4 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 8–2 | | 2–1 | 0–3 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 3–3 | 0–2 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 1–2 |
| FC Ryukyu | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 0–2 | 4–1 | 3–3 | | 1–1 | 2–1 | 2–2 | 2–1 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 |
| Sagawa Shiga | 1–0 | 4–1 | 4–1 | 2–0 | 2–0 | 2–2 | 7–0 | 3–0 | 2–0 | 3–0 | | 1–2 | 5–1 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 2–2 |
| Sony Sendai | 1–1 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 0–3 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 1–1 | 2–3 | 1–0 | 1–1 | | 0–0 | 2–3 | 3–2 | 2–1 | 2–1 | 0–1 |
| Tochigi Uva | 2–1 | 1–5 | 0–6 | 4–4 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 2–5 | 2–3 | 4–0 | | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 1–3 |
| V-Varen Nagasaki | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | 1–2 | 2–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 4–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 5–2 | | 1–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 0–1 |
| Matsumoto Yamaga | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–0 | 0–2 | 5–1 | 2–1 | 6–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 2–3 | 1–1 | | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1–0 |
| Yokogawa Musashino | 3–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 1–4 | 0–1 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 0–1 | | 2–3 | 3–2 |
| Machida Zelvia | 2–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 2–1 | 5–1 | 2–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 3–1 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 6–1 | 1–2 | | 2–0 |
| Zweigen Kanazawa | 2–0 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 | 0–0 | 2–1 | 4–0 | 0–1 | 0–1 | 3–0 | 2–2 | 0–1 | 1–0 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 0–1 | |

## Top scorers

| Rank | Scorer | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Sho Gokyu | Sagawa Shiga | 27 |
| 2 | Masatoshi Matsuda | Blaublitz Akita | 24 |
| 3 | Yoshinori Katsumata | Machida Zelvia | 18 |
| 4 | Ryosuke Kijima | Machida Zelvia | 16 |
| 5 | Ryota Arimitsu | V-Varen Nagasaki | 13 |
| 5 | Shunta Takahashi | Tochigi Uva | 13 |
| 7 | Shintaro Hirai | SP Kyoto | 11 |
| 8 | Michiaki Kakimoto | Matsumoto Yamaga | 10 |
| 8 | Hamed Koné | Gainare Tottori | 10 |
| 8 | Junya Nitta | Honda FC | 10 |
| 8 | Kodai Suzuki | Honda FC | 10 |

## Attendance

| Pos | Team | Total | High | Low | Average | Change |
| 1 | Matsumoto Yamaga | 86,357 | 8,243 | 3,271 | 5,080 | +45.9%$^†$ |
| 2 | Machida Zelvia | 59,552 | 7,081 | 1,411 | 3,503 | +85.7%$^†$ |
| 3 | Gainare Tottori | 59,318 | 9,499 | 1,837 | 3,489 | +2.0%$^†$ |
| 4 | V-Varen Nagasaki | 42,917 | 5,942 | 1,155 | 2,525 | −8.6%$^†$ |
| 5 | FC Ryukyu | 30,207 | 3,698 | 424 | 1,777 | +31.8%$^†$ |
| 6 | Zweigen Kanazawa | 26,314 | 6,894 | 476 | 1,548 | +4.1%$^†$ |
| 7 | Blaublitz Akita | 21,349 | 2,183 | 845 | 1,256 | +69.5%$^†$ |
| 8 | Sagawa Shiga | 20,108 | 2,801 | 517 | 1,183 | +8.0%$^†$ |
| 9 | MIO Biwako Kusatsu | 13,474 | 2,144 | 163 | 793 | −20.4%$^†$ |
| 10 | Honda FC | 13,258 | 2,489 | 316 | 780 | +4.1%$^†$ |
| 11 | Yokogawa Musashino | 13,196 | 1,212 | 449 | 776 | +1.8%$^†$ |
| 12 | Sony Sendai | 12,919 | 1,958 | 400 | 760 | +4.0%$^†$ |
| 13 | Tochigi Uva | 12,753 | 1,313 | 361 | 750 | n/a$^†$ |
| 14 | Honda Lock | 9,135 | 1,225 | 0 | 537 | −34.2%$^‡$ |
| 15 | Ryutsu Keizai University | 7,454 | 958 | 184 | 438 | −3.9%$^†$ |
| 16 | Arte Takasaki | 7,318 | 1,021 | 186 | 430 | +1.9%$^†$ |
| 17 | SP Kyoto | 6,830 | 743 | 169 | 402 | +1.8%$^†$ |
| 18 | JEF Reserves | 5,515 | 555 | 133 | 324 | −13.4%$^†$ |
| | League total | 447,974 | 9,499 | 0 | 1,464 | +23.1%$^†$ |
Updated to games played on November 28, 2010 Source: First round, Second round Notes: $^†$ Team played previous season in Regional Leagues. $^‡$ Some Honda Lock games were played without spectators because of the foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Miyazaki Prefecture.

## Promotion and relegation

Due to Gainare Tottori being promoted to J2, the Regional League promotion series champions and runners-up, Kamatamare Sanuki and Nagano Parceiro, were promoted automatically. The third-placed Sanyo Electric Sumoto S.C. faced Arte Takasaki in the promotion and relegation series.
Arte Takasaki won the series 4–1 on aggregate and stayed in JFL.