List of football clubs in Japan

This is a list of association football clubs in Japan from the 2024 season.

Japan Professional Football League (J.League)

Three leagues will consist of 20 teams from 2024 onwards.

J1 League

First division of the Japanese professional football system with 20 clubs:

J2 League

Second division of the Japanese professional football system with 20 clubs:

J3 League

Third and last division of the Japanese professional football system with 20 clubs:

Japan Football League (JFL)

First division of the Japanese amateur football system and the only nationwide division for amateur clubs, from where are located some teams aiming to be promoted to the J.League in the near future through associate membership system. Such teams are indicated with (A) in parentheses.

16 clubs:

Japanese Regional Leagues

It are a group of nine parallel association football leagues in Japan that are organized on the regional basis. They form the fifth and sixth tier of the Japanese association football league system.

Hokkaidō League

Tōhoku League

Division 1

Division 2

North
South

Kantō Soccer League (KSL)

Division 1

Division 2

Hokushin'etsu League (HFL)

Division 1

Division 2

Tōkai League

Division 1

Division 2

Kansai League

Division 1

Division 2

Chūgoku League

Shikoku League

Kyūshū League (Kyu-League)

Notes

  • Teams with * are company teams.
  • Teams with "Un" are feeder (or "B") teams for their universities' main football teams.
  • In the Regional Leagues, First divisions equals to Japanese fifth tier of league football, while 2nd divisions equals to the sixth tier. So, regional leagues who only have one single division, such as Shikoku, have teams going straight from the seventh to the fifth tier in case of a promotion.

See also