2015 J1 League


The 2015 Meiji Yasuda J1 League season was the 50th season of top-flight football in Japan and the 23rd since the establishment of the J.League in 1992. This was first season of J1 League as renamed from J. League Division 1.
For a five-year period starting in 2015, the J.League changed to a newly conceived multistage system, with the year split into two halves and a third and final championship stage. The winners of the first and second stages and the highest ranking club of the aggregate table will qualify for the Championship Stage. Sanfrecce Hiroshima won the Championship Stage and advanced to the 2015 FIFA Club World Cup as the host nation's entrant.

Clubs

Club nameHome townStadiumCapacityNote
Albirex NiigataNiigata & Seirō, NiigataDenka Big Swan Stadium42,300
FC TokyoTokyoAjinomoto Stadium49,970
Gamba OsakaSuita, OsakaExpo '70 Commemorative Stadium21,0002015 AFC Champions League participant
Kashima AntlersKashima, IbarakiKashima Soccer Stadium40,7282015 AFC Champions League participant
Kashiwa ReysolKashiwa, ChibaKashiwa Soccer Stadium15,9002015 AFC Champions League play-off participant
Kawasaki FrontaleKawasaki, KanagawaTodoroki Athletics Stadium26,232
Matsumoto YamagaMatsumoto, NaganoMatsumotodaira Football Stadium20,000Promoted from J.League Division 2 in 2014
Montedio YamagataAll cities/towns in YamagataND Soft Stadium20,315Promoted from J.League Division 2 in 2014
Nagoya GrampusNagoya, AichiPaloma Mizuho Stadium27,000
Sagan TosuTosu, SagaTosu Stadium24,490
Sanfrecce HiroshimaHiroshimaHiroshima Big Arch50,000
Shimizu S-PulseShizuokaIAI Stadium Nihondaira20,339
Shonan BellmareHiratsuka, KanagawaShonan Stadium Hiratsuka18,500Promoted from J.League Division 2 in 2014
Urawa Red DiamondsSaitamaSaitama Stadium63,7002015 AFC Champions League participant
Vegalta SendaiSendai, MiyagiYurtec Stadium19,694
Ventforet KofuKōfu, YamanashiYamanashi Chuo Bank Stadium17,000
Vissel KobeKobe, HyōgoMisaki Park Stadium30,132
Yokohama F. MarinosYokohama & YokosukaNissan Stadium72,327

Format changes

Teams play a single round-robin in the first stage and a single round-robin in the second stage. After that an overall table is calculated and a championship stage is played. The winners of the first and second stages and any team that finishes in the top 3 of the overall rankings advance to the championship stage. The team that finishes atop the overall table automatically qualifies for the final, while the remaining teams play-off for the other spot in the final.

League table

First stage


Second stage


Overall table


Championship stage

Meiji Yasuda 2015 J.League Championship

The Championship stage consisted of a knockout tournament involving the champions of the First and Second Stages, and any team that finishes in the top 3 of the overall table. The team with the best aggregate record earned a bye to the final. The remaining teams playoff for the other spot in the final.
----
----
----

Top scorers

Updated to games played on 22 November 2015
Source: J.League Data

Awards

Individual

AwardRecipientClub
Most Valuable Player

Best Eleven

  • The number in brackets denotes the number of times that the footballer has appeared in the Best 11.