# 2021 J3 League

The 2021 J3 League, referred to as the 2021 Meiji Yasuda J3 League (Japanese: 2021 明治安田生命J3リーグ, Hepburn: 2021 Meiji Yasuda Seimei J3 Rīgu) for sponsorship reasons, was the 8th season of J3 League under its current name.
Roasso Kumamoto won the J3 title for the first time in their history, in their debut campaign at the J3 League, just three years after being relegation from the J2 League. They were promoted to the 2022 J2 League alongside Iwate Grulla Morioka. Iwate team won promotion for the J2 League for the first time.

## Overview

There were no relegations from J2 League in 2020 and the number of teams decreased for 2021.
This is first season without three U-23 teams from J1 in 2021 season. Four teams from J2 League automatically relegation for 2021 and two teams from J3 League automatically promotion. J3 League has been scheduled for a expansion to 18 clubs before the 2022 season. This is the last season played with 15 teams.

## Changes from the previous season

| Promoted from 2020 JFL | Promoted to 2021 J2 League | Withdrawn / Disbanded |
| Tegevajaro Miyazaki | Blaublitz Akita SC Sagamihara | Cerezo Osaka U-23 Gamba Osaka U-23 FC Tokyo U-23 |
2020 was also the last season where U-23 teams played in the professional setup. After two separate stints involving youth clubs in this division. First it was the J.League U-22 Selection in 2014 and 2015, and then three U-23 teams were involved from 2016 to 2020. FC Tokyo U-23 pulled out of the competition prior to the start of the 2020 season. Cerezo Osaka U-23 and Gamba Osaka U-23 were disbanded at the end of 2020 after completing the full season.
Blaublitz Akita and SC Sagamihara were promoted to J2 League, the later being the last club from the original clubs which started the maiden season in 2014 to be promoted from the third division.
One new team was promoted to the professional ranks of Japanese football, Tegevajaro Miyazaki, as runners-up in the 2020 JFL season and were promoted.

## Participating clubs

| Club Name | Home Town | Stadium | Capacity | Last season | Licence |
| Azul Claro Numazu | Numazu | Ashitaka Stadium | 10,000 | J3（12th） | J3 |
| FC Gifu | All cities/towns in Gifu | Gifu Nagaragawa Stadium | 26,109 | J3（5th） | J1 |
| FC Imabari | Imabari | Arigato Service Dream Stadium | 5,000 | J3（6th） | J2 |
| Fukushima United FC | Fukushima | Toho Stadium | 21,000 | J3（13th） | J3 |
| Gainare Tottori | All cities/towns in Tottori | Axis Bird Stadium | 16,033 | J3（8th） | J2 |
| Iwate Grulla Morioka | All cities/towns in Iwate | Iwagin Stadium | 4,946 | J3（11th） | J2 |
| Kamatamare Sanuki | All cities/towns in Kagawa | Pikara Stadium | 30,099 | J3（16th） | J2 |
| Kagoshima United | Kagoshima | Shiranami Stadium | 19,934 | J3（4th） | J1 |
| Kataller Toyama | All cities/towns in Toyama | Toyama Athletic Stadium | 25,251 | J3（9th） | J1 |
| Fujieda MYFC | Cities/towns in Shizuoka Prefecture | Fujieda Soccer Field | 13,000 | J3（10th） | J3 |
| Nagano Parceiro | Nagano | Nagano U Stadium | 15,491 | J3（3rd） | J2 |
| Roasso Kumamoto | Kumamoto, Kumamoto | Egao Kenko Stadium | 32,000 | J3（7th） | J1 |
| Tegevajaro Miyazaki | Miyazaki & Shintomi, Miyazaki | Unilever Stadium Shintomi | 5,000 | Promoted from JFL（2nd） | J3 |
| Vanraure Hachinohe | Eastern cities/towns in Aomori | Prifoods Stadium | 5,200 | J3（15th） | J3 |
| YSCC Yokohama | Yokohama | Nippatsu Mitsuzawa Stadium | 15,454 | J3（17th） | J3 |
* ↑ centering on Gifu
* ↑ centering on Tottori, Yonago, Kurayoshi, Sakaiminato
* ↑ centering on Takamatsu, Marugame
* ↑ centering on Toyama
* ↑ Fujieda, Shimada, Yaizu, Makinohara, Yoshida, Kawanehonmachi
* ↑ Hachinohe, Towada, Gonohe, Sannohe, Takko, Hashikami, Nanbu, Shingo, Oirase, Misawa, Shichinohe, Rokunohe, Tohoku, Noheji, Yokohama, Rokkasho

### Personnel and kits

| Club | Manager | Captain | Kit manufacturer |
| Azul Claro Numazu | Masataka Imai | Masayuki Tokutake | Puma |
| FC Gifu | Takayoshi Amma | Kentaro Kai | RAZZOLI |
| FC Imabari | Keiichiro Nuno | Keishi Kusumi | Adidas |
| Fukushima United FC | Yu Tokisaki | Makoto Kawanishi Hiroto Morooka Tomoyasu Yoshida | hummel |
| Gainare Tottori | Kim Jong-song | Masataka Kani | Soccer Junky |
| Iwate Grulla Morioka | Yutaka Akita | Yusuke Muta | Under Armour |
| Kagoshima United FC | Yasuaki Oshima | Noriyuki Sakemoto | ANGUA |
| Kamatamare Sanuki | Zdravko Zemunović | Akira Takeuchi | ATHLETA |
| Kataller Toyama | Nobuhiro Ishizaki | Yohei Nishibe | GOLDWin |
| Fujieda MYFC | Yasuharu Kurata | Takuya Sugimoto | gol. |
| Nagano Parceiro | Yuji Yokoyama | TBA | Penalty |
| Roasso Kumamoto | Takeshi Oki | Tomotaka Okamoto | Puma |
| Tegevajaro Miyazaki | Naruyuki Naito | Kenji Dai | YONEX |
| Vanraure Hachinohe | Masahiro Kuzuno | Teppei Chikaishi | hummel |
| YSCC Yokohama | / Yuki Stalph | Kento Dodate | younger |

## Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing | Manner | Exit date | Exit date | Position in table | Incoming | Incoming date | Incoming date | Ref. |
| Team | Outgoing | Manner | Announced on | Departed on | Position in table | Incoming | Announced on | Arrived on | Ref. |
| Kamatamare Sanuki | Nobuyuki Uenoyama | Resigns | 31 March 2021 | 31 March 2021 | 15th | Toshihiro Nishimura (Interim) | 1 April 2021 | 1 April 2021 | |
| Kamatamare Sanuki | Toshihiro Nishimura | End of Interim period | 11 April 2021 | 11 April 2021 | 15th | Zdravko Zemunovic | 12 April 2021 | 12 April 2021 | |
| Gainare Tottori | Riki Takagi | Dismissed | 6 May 2021 | 4 May 2021 | 12th | Kim Jong-song | 10 May 2021 | 10 May 2021 | |
| FC Imabari | Lluís Planagumà | Dismissed | 19 May 2021 | 18 May 2021 | 13th | Kazuaki Hashikawa (Interim) | 19 May 2021 | 19 May 2021 | |
| FC Imabari | Kazuaki Hashikawa | End of Interim period | 23 May 2021 | 23 May 2021 | 13th | Keiichiro Nuno | 24 May 2021 | 24 May 2021 | |
| Kagoshima United | Arthur Papas | Resigned | 28 May 2021 | 28 May 2021 | 9th | Yasuaki Oshima | 28 May 2021 | 28 May 2021 | |
| Fujieda MYFC | Yasuharu Kurata | Resigned | 12 July 2021 | 12 July 2021 | 12th | Daisuke Sudo | 12 July 2021 | 12 July 2021 | |
| FC Imabari | Keiichiro Nuno | Resigned | 29 September 2021 | 29 September 2021 | 12th | Kazuaki Hashikawa | 29 September 2021 | 29 September 2021 | |

## League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Promotion |
| 1 | Roasso Kumamoto (C, P) | 28 | 15 | 9 | 4 | 39 | 20 | +19 | 54 | Promotion to J2 League |
| 2 | Iwate Grulla Morioka (P) | 28 | 15 | 8 | 5 | 43 | 28 | +15 | 53 | Promotion to J2 League |
| 3 | Tegevajaro Miyazaki | 28 | 16 | 5 | 7 | 44 | 31 | +13 | 53 | |
| 4 | Kataller Toyama | 28 | 13 | 7 | 8 | 40 | 34 | +6 | 46 | |
| 5 | Fukushima United | 28 | 13 | 6 | 9 | 41 | 32 | +9 | 45 | |
| 6 | FC Gifu | 28 | 12 | 5 | 11 | 38 | 35 | +3 | 41 | |
| 7 | Kagoshima United | 28 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 34 | 35 | −1 | 40 | |
| 8 | YSCC Yokohama | 28 | 11 | 7 | 10 | 31 | 33 | −2 | 40 | |
| 9 | Nagano Parceiro | 28 | 8 | 12 | 8 | 35 | 28 | +7 | 36 | |
| 10 | Fujieda MYFC | 28 | 8 | 8 | 12 | 42 | 42 | 0 | 32 | |
| 11 | FC Imabari | 28 | 7 | 9 | 12 | 34 | 33 | +1 | 30 | |
| 12 | Gainare Tottori | 28 | 9 | 2 | 17 | 36 | 53 | −17 | 29 | |
| 13 | Vanraure Hachinohe | 28 | 7 | 8 | 13 | 24 | 44 | −20 | 29 | |
| 14 | Azul Claro Numazu | 28 | 7 | 6 | 15 | 32 | 44 | −12 | 27 | |
| 15 | Kamatamare Sanuki | 28 | 4 | 9 | 15 | 20 | 41 | −21 | 21 | |
* ↑ Only teams that hold a J2 license are eligible for promotion.
* 1 2 3 4 The team held neither a J1 nor J2 license, and so was ineligible for promotion to the J2 League.
* 1 2 The match between Fukushima United and Vanraure Hachinohe resulted in a 2–0 win for Fukushima, but was changed to an awarded 0–3 scoreline by the J.League, after Fukushima allowed a player who had not received a negative test to play in the game. The original result was restored following a decision by the JFA Appeal Committee.

## Stadiums

Primary venues used in the J3 League:
| Vanraure Hachinohe | Iwate Grulla Morioka | Fukushima United FC | YSCC Yokohama | Nagano Parceiro |
| Prifoods Stadium | Iwagin Stadium | Toho Stadium | Nippatsu Mitsuzawa Stadium | Nagano U Stadium |
| Capacity: 5,124 | Capacity: 5,046 | Capacity: 6,464 | Capacity: 15,440 | Capacity: 15,515 |
| Kataller Toyama | Fujieda MYFC | Azul Claro Numazu | FC Gifu | Gainare Tottori |
| Toyama Stadium | Fujieda Soccer Stadium | Ashitaka Park Stadium | Gifu Nagaragawa Stadium | Axis Bird Stadium |
| Capacity: 18,588 | Capacity: 5,056 | Capacity: 5,104 | Capacity: 16,310 | Capacity: 11,999 |
| Kamatamare Sanuki | FC Imabari | Roasso Kumamoto | Tegevajaro Miyazaki | Kagoshima United FC |
| Pikara Stadium | Arigato Service Dream Stadium | Egao Kenko Stadium | Unilever Stadium Shintomi | Shiranami Stadium |
| Capacity: 22,338 | Capacity: 5,063 | Capacity: 30,449 | Capacity: 5,354 | Capacity: 12,606 |

## Season statistics
### Top scorers

    As of December 5th, 2021
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Shota Kawanishi | FC Gifu | 13 |
| 2 | Kosuke Fujioka | Tegevajaro Miyazaki | 10 |
| 3 | Yohei Ono | Kataller Toyama | 9 |
| 3 | Naoki Sanda | Nagano Parceiro | 9 |
| 3 | Rei Yonezawa | Kagoshima United FC | 9 |
| 3 | Yuya Taguchi | Gainare Tottori | 9 |
| 3 | Hiroki Higuchi | Fukushima United | 9 |
| 3 | Kaito Umeda | Tegevajaro Miyazaki | 9 |
| 4 | Toshiki Takahashi | Roasso Kumamoto | 8 |
| 4 | Origbaajo Ismaila | Fukushima United | 8 |
| 5 | Ömer Tokac | Fukushima United | 7 |
| 5 | Ryo Watanabe | Azul Claro Numazu | 7 |

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Naoki Sanda | Nagano Parceiro | Gainare Tottori | 1–8 (A) | 13 June 2021 |