2022 Japan Football League

The 2022 Japan Football League was the ninth season having a fourth-tier status in Japanese football, and the 24th season since the establishment of Japan Football League. The slogan for this season was "Enchant with a different play!" The matches were mostly broadcast/streamed live at Japan Football League's channel. The league's awards, not held since 2020 due to special measures regarding COVID-19, was held on 6 December 2022.

League structure and organisation

Iwaki FC won the league for the first time in their history, after joining the league only two seasons ago. So, they were promoted and joined J3 for the 2022 season. Then, sixteen clubs featured in this season of Japan Football League. FC Kariya were relegated after losing the playoff against Criacao Shinjuku, who were duly promoted to the JFL after qualifying in the top two spots of the 45th Regional Play-off Series. Honda Lock kept their stay at JFL, as despite having finished 16th last season, they won their playoff match against FC Ise-Shima to avoid relegation to the Regional Leagues.
As of November 2022, there were six teams eligible for promotion to the J3 League, as the only way teams from JFL can be promoted to the J3, is by having a license. Up from none to 2 teams could be promoted from the Japan Football League, or relegated to the Regional Leagues, depending on the circumstances.
The league is played under a round-robin format, with the 16 teams playing home-and-away matches against each other, playing in total 30 matches across the competition, starting from 13 March and ending on 20 November. It features the usual point-earning format, with 3 points for winning, 1 for drawing, and no points for losing.
Regarding the breaks during the match, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the JFL continued to follow FIFA's recommendation of a maximum of 5 available substitutions, and 3 substitution windows per team in each match. The teams are allowed a water break at each half of the matches regardless of the WBGT on the matchday. The decision to have or not to have a water break is up to whose teams are playing the match.

Participating clubs

The teams which possess promotion-enabler licenses are highlighted in green in the following table.

Club name	Home town	Stadium	Capacity	Position	Notes
Criacao Shinjuku	Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo	AGF Field	2,800	Winners of KSL and 45th RPS	100 Year Plan status. J3 license application was declined by J.League.
Honda FC	Hamamatsu, Shizuoka	Honda Miyakoda Soccer Stadium	2,506	JFL
	Miyazaki, Miyazaki	Hinata Athletic Stadium	20,000	JFL
Kochi United	Kōchi, Kōchi	Kōchi Haruno Athletic Stadium	25,000	JFL	100 Year Plan status and J3 license holders.
Maruyasu Okazaki	Okazaki, Aichi	Okazaki Ryūhoku Stadium	5,000	JFL
Kagura Shimane	Matsue, Shimane	Matsue Municipal Athletic Stadium	24,000	JFL	Renamed from "Matsue City FC"
MIO Biwako Shiga	Kusatsu, Shiga	Higashiōmi Nunobiki Green Stadium	5,060	JFL	100 Year Plan status applicants
Nara Club	All cities/towns in Nara	Rohto Field Nara	30,600	JFL	100 Year Plan status and J3 license holders
	Higashiōsaka, Osaka	Hanazono Rugby Stadium 2nd Ground	1,722	JFL	100 Year Plan status and J3 license holders; renamed from "F.C. Osaka"
	Aomori, Aomori	Kakuhiro Group Athletic Stadium	20,809	JFL	100 Year Plan status and J3 license holders
Sony Sendai	Tagajō, Miyagi	Miyagi Seikyō Megumino Soccer Stadium	10,000	JFL
Suzuka Point Getters	Suzuka, Mie	AGF Suzuka Athletic Stadium	1,450	JFL	Former J3 license holders
	Hirakata, Osaka	Hirakata Municipal Athletic Stadium	2,500	JFL
Tokyo Musashino United	Musashino, Tokyo	Musashino Municipal Athletic Stadium	5,188	JFL
Veertien Mie	All cities/towns in Mie	Asahi Gas Energy Tōin Stadium	5,142	JFL	100 Year Plan status and J3 license holders
Verspah Oita	Yufu, Beppu & Ōita, Ōita	Shōwa Denkō Soccer/Rugby Field	4,700	JFL	100 Year Plan status and J3 license holders.

League table

Nara Club and FC Osaka have been promoted to J3 League, so there will be no relegation from the 2022 JFL.

Season statistics

Top scorers

Rank

Player

Club

Goals

Hat-tricks

As of 20 November 2022.

Name	For	Against	Result	Date
Tatsuma Sakai³	Maruyasu Okazaki	Suzuka Point Getters	4–2	20 March 2022
Tomoki Hino⁴	Honda Lock	Kagura Shimane	5–1	3 April 2022
Yuhi Hayashi³	Maruyasu Okazaki	Kochi United	5–3	3 July 2022
Daiki Kawato³	Tokyo Musashino United	Criacao Shinjuku	4–2	31 July 2022
Himan Morimoto³	Tiamo Hirakata	Honda Lock	3–0	20 November 2022

Awards

The awards were announced and presented on 6 December 2022.