2017 J1 League
The 2017 J1 League was the 25th season of the J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. This was third season of J1 League as renamed from J. League Division 1. The season began on 25 February 2017 and ended on 2 December. Fixtures for the 2017 season were announced on 26 January 2017.
Kashima Antlers were the defending champions. Consadole Sapporo, Shimizu S-Pulse and Cerezo Osaka entered as the three promoted teams from the 2016 [J2 League].
The league was won by Kawasaki Frontale, winning their first major title while in J1 and 40 years after their first season in the Japanese top division.
Clubs
A total of 18 clubs participated in this season, including 15 sides from the 2016 season and three promoted from the 2016 J2 League. These included the two top teams; Consadole Sapporo and Shimizu S-Pulse from the J2 League, and the winners of the play-offs; Cerezo Osaka.The three promoted clubs replace Nagoya Grampus, Shonan Bellmare and Avispa Fukuoka. Former J1 League champion Nagoya Grampus were relegated to the J2 League for the first time in their history.
Foreign players
The total number of foreign players is restricted to five per club. For matchday squad registration, a club can register up to four foreign players, but a maximum of three can be from outside the AFC. Players from J.League partner nations are exempt from these club registration and matchday squad registration restrictions.- Players name in bold indicate players that were registered during the mid-season transfer window.
- Players name in ITALICS indicate players that were out of squad or left their respective clubs during the mid-season transfer window.
| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | Player 4 | Player 5 | Other | Former players | ||||||
| Albirex Niigata |  Season statisticsTop scorersAs of matches played on December 2nd, 2017.
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