2018 J1 League
The 2018 J1 League, also known as the '''2018 Meiji Yasuda Life for sponsorship reasons, was the 26th season of J1 League, the top Japanese professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1992. This was fourth season of J1 League as renamed from J. League Division 1.
Kawasaki Frontale were the defending champions.
Clubs
A total of 18 clubs contested the league. The 2017 J2 League champion Shonan Bellmare and the winner of the promotion play-offs Nagoya Grampus returned to the top flight a year after being relegated from J1 in the 2016 season. V-Varen Nagasaki, J2 runner-up in 2017, played in the J1 League for the first time.Managerial changes
| Team | Outgoing manager | Date of vacancy | Incoming manager | Date of appointment | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Yokohama F. Marinos |  Foreign playersThe total number of foreign players is restricted to five per club. Clubs can register up to four foreign players for a single match-day squad, of which a maximum of three are allowed from nations outside the Asian Football Confederation. Players from J.League partner nations are exempt from these restrictions.Players marked in bold indicate players that were registered during the mid-season transfer window. Players marked in ITALICS indicate players that were out of squad or left their respective clubs during the mid-season transfer window.
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